Itasca Travels 2017: 5000 Eggs & Tabasco

Wednesday, March 1…

What a fun day! Drove into town (Abbēville) to learn a bit more about the Acadians who, after being deported to France from Nova Scotia in the 1750s, eventually resettled in Louisiana. (Also learned that Longfellow’s epic Evangeline tells a tragic tale of young lovers separated during that mass deportation. All I remember about Evangeline is the opening line – “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks…” and that I never read much more because I really didn’t like my 8^th grade LA teacher. Maybe it’s time to give Longfellow another chance.

Even more interesting (though certainly not as significant) is that Abbeville hosts a 5000 Egg Omelette Celebration every November. According to delish.com, “The origin of the omelette is said to date back to the days of Napoleon, when the general ordered townspeople to gather every egg in the village and prepare a giant omelette for his army. Today, in Abbeville, Louisiana, they celebrate their French roots — and this classic recipe — with an international cooking collaboration that has drawn crowds for the last 23 years.”

Tabasco.com explains: “It’s a 2-day celebration, but the main event – the cooking of the giant omelette – begins on Sunday morning with an Omelette Mass at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church. From there, a procession of local officials, dignitaries and chefs carry 5,000 eggs in baskets to the omelette cooking area in Magdalen Square. Onlookers gather as a forklift lowers the 12-foot skillet over the fire. A team of chefs crack the 5,000 eggs, and using their six-foot-long paddles, begin stirring together all the ingredients in the skillet: the eggs, 52 pounds of butter, 4 gallons of chopped green onions, 75 chopped bell peppers, 40 pounds of crawfish tails and a variety of spices. The best part: everyone gets a serving.” (Cooking takes several hours.)

From the Internet, but this is Abbeville.

We left the historical society’s little museum just before noon, as folks were filing into Mary Magdalen for the Ash Wednesday service. (Schools are closed today.) Half an hour later we reached Avery Island (again, not an island, but also not a chenier (ridge, Monday’s blog). Avery Island is actually a salt dome. (Salt domes are formed when a thick bed of salt thrusts vertically into surrounding rock.) It’s here that the McIlhenny (Mac’ ill henny) family created a hot pepper sauce called Tabasco (named after a state in Mexico – the original pepper seeds were apparently given to Edmund McIlhenny by a Mexican). That was in 1868, and the sauce is still manufactured only on Avery Island, and the company is still owned and managed by the McIllhenny family. We were able to watch almost every step of the process, some of which are shown in the pictures below. The salt used to seal the barrels is mined on Avery as well. A great tour! (Another portion of the “island” was developed as a botanical garden and bird sanctuary by another branch of the McIllhenny family. It’s really a very impressive family.)

These plants are grown for their seeds, which are sent to South America and planted. The resulting peppers are shipped back to Avery Island right after they are harvested, then mashed wth a little salt, packed in barrels (with a thick layer of salt on top), and left to cure for up to 3 years.