Tabasco
Tabasco is the McIlhenny Company's red pepper sauce, made on Avery Island, Louisiana, since 1868 from three ingredients: aged red peppers, salt and distilled vinegar. The pepper mash ages for up to three years in white oak barrels, and the company rates the sauce at 2,500 to 5,000 on the Scoville scale. In our Bloody Mary it goes in to taste, starting at about three dashes.
Quick Facts
Cool and dark, sealed. The vinegar makes it effectively self-preserving and an opened bottle keeps for years, though the bright red darkens over time and the flavour deepens as it does. Refrigeration slows that and is not necessary.
None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes change: check the bottle.
About Tabasco
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Sharp vinegar and salt over a clean capsicum heat, with a fermented tang from the barrel ageing that separates it from the sweeter, thicker hot sauces beside it.
Three ingredients and up to three years in oak
McIlhenny's red sauce is aged red pepper, salt and distilled vinegar. The peppers are ground into a mash with salt on the day they are picked and packed into white oak barrels that once held whiskey, with the charred lining scraped out. The mash ages for up to three years, is mixed with the vinegar and stirred for about a month, then strained of skins and seeds.
Most of the peppers are now grown in Central and South America and Africa, but the mash is aged and the sauce finished on Avery Island, where Edmund McIlhenny first made it in 1868.
One maker's sauce, chosen for its vinegar
Tabasco is a brand; hot sauce is the wider family, from thin Mexican table sauces to sweet chilli. Our Bloody Mary names Tabasco because its sharp vinegar and moderate heat suit tomato juice, which is thick and low in acid. A thicker, sweeter sauce would add sugar the drink does not need.
The original sits in the middle of its own range
McIlhenny publishes a Scoville rating for each of its sauces, a measure of capsaicin, the compound that makes chillies hot.
Tabasco sauces by heat (McIlhenny's ratings)
Green Jalapeño
- Pepper
- Jalapeño
- Scoville rating
- 600 to 1,200
- In a drink
- Mild and green; thickened with cornstarch
Chipotle
- Pepper
- Smoked jalapeño
- Scoville rating
- 1,500 to 2,500
- In a drink
- Smoky, with a little sugar, onion and garlic
Original Red
- Pepper
- Aged red pepper
- Scoville rating
- 2,500 to 5,000
- In a drink
- Our Bloody Mary: vinegar first, then heat
Habanero
- Pepper
- Habanero
- Scoville rating
- Over 7,000
- In a drink
- Fruit purées and cane sugar; much hotter
Scorpion
- Pepper
- Scorpion
- Scoville rating
- 23,000 to 33,000
- In a drink
- A drop, not a dash
| Sauce | Pepper | Scoville rating | In a drink |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Jalapeño | Jalapeño | 600 to 1,200 | Mild and green; thickened with cornstarch |
| Chipotle | Smoked jalapeño | 1,500 to 2,500 | Smoky, with a little sugar, onion and garlic |
| Original Red | Aged red pepper | 2,500 to 5,000 | Our Bloody Mary: vinegar first, then heat |
| Habanero | Habanero | Over 7,000 | Fruit purées and cane sugar; much hotter |
| Scorpion | Scorpion | 23,000 to 33,000 | A drop, not a dash |
Dash it in early, and keep the bottle cool
The Bloody Mary recipe says to taste, and about three dashes is where to start. Shake them in alongside the Worcestershire and celery salt, stir before the ice goes in, taste, and go on one dash at a time.
An opened bottle keeps for years in a cool cupboard. The red darkens with age, faster in a warm kitchen, and the fridge slows that.
Using Tabasco
Usage
Into the mixing glass for a Bloody Mary, about three dashes to start, in with the rest of the seasoning before the ice. Stir, taste and add more one dash at a time; the vinegar sharpens the tomato while the pepper warms it.
Pro Tip
Tip the bottle fully over the glass and flick the wrist once per dash. McIlhenny designed the narrow neck to sprinkle the sauce rather than pour it.
Top Tips
- Start at three dashes and taste. Heat tolerance varies more than any other seasoning in the glass.
- Dash it into the empty mixing glass; on top of ice it sits on the surface.
- Use the original red for a Bloody Mary. The green jalapeño is milder and the chipotle smokier.
- Keep the neck clean; dried sauce clogs it.
Possible Substitutions
- Hot Sauce: another thin, vinegar-led sauce; avoid sweet or thick ones
Production Method
Red peppers mashed with salt on the day they are picked, aged for up to three years in white oak barrels that once held whiskey, then mixed with distilled vinegar, stirred for about a month, strained and bottled.
History & Context
Edmund McIlhenny grew his first commercial crop of peppers on Avery Island in 1868 and, the company says, sent 658 bottles of sauce to grocers around the Gulf Coast the following year. McIlhenny Company is still owned by the family and still makes the sauce on the island.