TABASCO

a long-podded red pepper cultivated chiefly in southern Louisiana. It is best known to commerce in the form of ‘‘tabasco pepper sauce,’’ a rich, red, concentrated extract generally put up in small bottles with corks shaped for dropping. It is also sold powdered but to le extent. Tabasco sauce is excellent for flavoring soups and salads, and some people like it on oysters. Only small quantities should be used, for it is very strong. In making sauces, mix with vinegar if a sharp, quick effect is desired. If otherwise, mix first with olive oil and salt, and then with vinegar—the result will be soft and delicate, but still strongly marked by the characteristic tabasco flavor.