Hot sauce reminds me of almost passing out in New Orleans.
Here’s an important lesson for you, kids: when a bottle is ‘XXX-rated’ don’t try dipping a cracker into it. It will only end in chilli-infused tears and heartache.
Tabasco is a slightly less dangerous pepper sauce but just as synonymous with Louisiana. The home of Tabasco is Avery Island, situated about 140 miles from New Orleans and you’ll find bottles of the stuff on any self-respecting Southern table.
I learned a little about the history of “that famous sauce Mr McIlhenny makes” at theAbout Time x Tabasco Bloggers Brunch, in between drinking Bloody Marys and chatting to wonderful food bloggers.
It turns out that the brains behind the operation, Edmund McIlhenny, was first inspired to create a pepper sauce to liven up the bland food of the Reconstruction South. 146 years later and the careful process of making Tabasco has largely remained the same, even if our uses for it are expanding wildly. At the brunch we were encouraged to think outside the box when it came to where we sloshed our Tabasco – Frittata? Avocado? Even brownies?
Inspired by this fantastic collection of oral histories, recipes and Bar-B-Que pioneers on the South Foodways Alliance website, I decided to celebrate Tabasco in a more traditional way: with pulled pork.
It seems like every Southern state has its own recipe for slow cooked pork butt. In South Carolina it comes with a mustard sauce, whereas in Georgia barbecue comes with a tomato-based sauce. In this version it just involves lots of dark, rich, Tabasco spiked sauce.
This recipe is ridiculously simple and outright delicious. Perfect for warming up a crowd at a Christmas gathering.
Tabasco Pulled Pork
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 joint of pork shoulder (about 2 ½ lbs)
- one onion, sliced thinly
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 135ml ketchup
- 45ml cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tsp tabsco sauce
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 6 rolls
- Heat oil in large pan. Season pork with salt and pepper and brown on all sides.
- Combine onion, ketchup, vinegar, sugar,tabasco, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce in slow cooker.
- Add pork and the pan drippings; cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Shred meat, toss in sauce and serve on rolls (preferably with coleslaw and homemade baked beans).
To The Table 