My husband and I chose to celebrate our late January anniversary this year aboard ship. Our itinerary, sailing from Galveston, was to ports we had previously visited, but we were eager to warm our bodies and refresh our spirits during a brief seven-day getaway.
On this voyage, we enjoyed beach time, beach cocktails, and beach vendors in Costa Maya, the first port we visited in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a perfect day, and it fulfilled our need to dip our toes in the water and feel the sand beneath our feet. We spent our hours ashore doing exactly that. We snagged comfortable loungers, enjoyed a few cool libations, and watched people having fun. That was our brand of enjoyment — doing nothing other than enjoying the people around us, and savoring every moment of sun and warmth. I even succumbed to the temptation of a henna tatoo!
Then, we returned to our floating resort hotel for dinner and evening entertainment.
Tabasco: How Hot Is It?
Earlier, in October 2023, I toured the Tabasco plant, home of the world’s best-known hot sauce. The history of The McIlhenny Company which produces the Tabasco brand is fascinating. Still a family-owned business after more than 150 years, the company ships its products from a small factory on tiny Avery Island, Louisiana to 195 countries worldwide.
Cozumel was the final port of our seven-day itinerary. There, I once again encountered Tabasco, this time in the form of a culinary adventure I couldn’t resist.
I had booked the “Chef Maestro Tabasco” excursion, a culinary adventure I couldn’t resist, through Princess. Following my visit to Avery Island, the “home” of Tabasco, I was eager to learn more about cooking with the hot sauce.
This excursion did not disappoint!
That little bottle of red pepper sauce has been a staple in my kitchen for many years, but I have seldom used Tabasco for food preparation in my home. Instead, I have typically placed it on the table at casual gatherings, allowing guests to ramp up the “hot” to their own preferences. We were somewhat surprised that on this Gulf of Mexico sailing, there was also a bottle of Tabasco on each dining table, along with the salt and pepper shakers!
During my Louisiana trip, I was able to sample food specialties associated with Cajun history, culture, and tradition. I learned how the flavors of simple foods are enhanced by various herbs, spices, peppers, and sauces. I learned that hot sauce can be flavorful as well as fiery, and that spice can elevate common ingredients to levels of haute cuisine.
Feasting on Entertainment
I also realized that the hot red peppers used to create Tabasco sauce had most likely been brought back to Texas and Louisiana by soldiers who fought on the nearby Mexican mainland during the Mexican-American war. Cozumel is not far from the Mexican state of Tabasco.
As it turned out, this cooking excursion was one of the highlights of the voyage, both for the foodie experience and for the pure fun of it. Who would pass up a culinary adventure that includes Margaritas as well as tips for cooking with Tabasco?
We were entertained from the time we entered the second-floor demonstration kitchen at Cozumel’s Hotel Blu until the moment we were ushered into a waiting cab for our return trip to the pier. At the outset, we donned tall, white, pleated-paper chef’s hats as we awaited further instructions.
Our chef for the day, Luis Esquivel, was personable and enormously engaging — full of energy, wit, talent, and knowledge.
Let the Cooking Begin
The class may have been two-thirds “show biz” to one-third serious food preparation, but it was nonetheless informative. Chef Luis introduced us to his assistant, Antonio, and to the distinctive flavors of Mexico with an island twist. We learned how to adjust the spice to our personal preferences, and we learned that hot, spicy dishes can be tempered with cool or creamy sauces and tamed by accompanying drinks. These lessons returned with me to my kitchen.
Drinks flowed freely throughout this lighthearted cooking demonstration. The first question put to each of us was “Margarita or Pina Colada?” With that, we took our places at our assigned cooking stations where ingredients had been laid out for the dishes we would prepare.
Floor-to-ceiling windows framed a view of the blue sea beyond and the hotel’s dolphin pool just below. We were tempted to simply sip on our Margaritas and watch the dolphins frolic, but there was serious food prep to be completed. Chef Luis and his sous chefs tried their best to keep us on track.
We first prepared a simple shrimp cocktail, with fresh greens, boiled shrimp, lime juice, cocktail sauce, and Tabasco to taste. It was to become the first course of our dinner, so it was put aside to chill.
The learning experience was underway.
The first order of business was to identify the ingredients and discuss the flavors — cubed pork, sliced red onion, slivered bell pepper, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns and a clove, vinegar, catchup, cubed sweet potatoes (for dessert), shrimp, fresh lemon, raw sugar, freshly ground peppers, and other spices. We did not yet have any idea of the dishes we would be preparing, and we had little time to relax before the chef and his assistants lit the fires under our personal gas burners.
After another sip of Margarita, we set to work under the watchful eyes of Antonio and Chef Luis, who kept up a running commentary about how to do what we needed to do. We learned a technique to “quick pickle” onions that would accompany the pork dish, and we were instructed about easy ways to combine common ingredients to produce unusual flavors. We learned to use intense flavors and hot sauces judiciously.
A Frivolous Approach to Serious Cooking
We prepared simple, no-fuss dishes, perfectly suited for recreating at home. We were supposed to receive the recipes and ingredient lists by email. Alas, ours never arrived, although we have the photos and the memories. We might not be able to reproduce the menu exactly, but we feel relatively confident about how to recreate the savory flavors of the meal we enjoyed. It all begins with fresh ingredients. And, of course, Tabasco!
Not only did this cooking interlude provide us with an introduction to Mexican-flavored dishes, but it was high-level entertainment. It was one of the most informative and enjoyable cooking experiences we can remember. We prepared and plated a shrimp cocktail, a pork entree, and a yam dessert with sweet syrup. We consumed our fill of tasty alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages as well. Plus, we were picked up and returned to the ship’s pier, all for a reasonable fee.
Then we moved to an adjacent dining room to consume what we had created and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know our fellow students. We drank a final toast to our accomplishment with a frothy after-dinner cocktail, prepared by Chef Luis.
The Tabasco cooking experience provided us a memorable day ashore. We gained a new appreciation for hot peppers and flavorful cooking in the region where those hot peppers originated. We left with a desire to recreate the experience for our friends and neighbors at home. And we have put some of the tips we brought home to good use.
This pampering “getaway” cruise was focused on food and relaxation. My next post, however, is about a much different excursion during our port call in Roatan, the small island off the coast of Honduras. Roatan is known for its reef diving and its remarkable clear water. We discovered much more during our island tour with a private guide.
I explain what was so special about our day on Roatan in Uncovering an Island‘s Hidden Treasures, scheduled for publication next week.
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