Tabasco C-Ration Cookbook
Shane K. Bernard Ph.D. Historian & Curator for the McIlhenny Company (makers of Tabasco hot sauce) kindly provided the following copy of their C-Ration Cookbook. I hope that you will enjoy viewing this cookbook and remember the McIlhenny Company (Tabasco sauce) who cared about their soldiers over in Vietnam.
Doesn’t this just make you want to run out to the local Army/Navy surplus store to purchase a case of C-rats?
This cookbook was originally posted on http://www.tom.pilsch.com/Vietnam.html (Vietnam War Resources) – a website rich in information about the war and its warriors.
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CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website 
I just gagged at the thought of opening a can of ham and eggs chopped … the vision of that putrid green still lingers…
But… let’s talk about the B2 unit dough ball … what to do…
Well …I polka’d a hole in the can with my P38 John Wayne…
Stuck it back in the cardboard box it came in … lit the box on fire before dark …it was so hot after that you couldn’t touch the can.
When I finally opened the can the aroma of moms fresh baked bread lingered in the air… my friend next to me looked in amazement … he says I’ve got some peanut butter and jam…
We sat there slowly eating enjoying every bite … we’ll up we sprung and he went one way and I went the other walking around our 155 man permitter asking if anyone had a B2 unit bread they didn’t want …it was dark by then but you can bet we had fresh baked bread for breakfast …well the word soon got out and you couldn’t buy a can… but every evening you could see these small fires burning all around our permitter …
You know that green eggs and ham might have not tasted half bad after a small crucification … 1st Cavalry 1967-68 …
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I was in Vietnam 1st Cav 1967-68 …I saw this guy with a bottle of Tabasco …asked him where he got it … so I wrote Tabasco and one evening while in the field here was this large box addressed to me… it was on the last chopper mail food run of the day.
I think their were 24 bottles in those cardboard containers along with the cookbook…I kept three bottles for the nine of us in the weapons platoon… I took the remainder over to the CP and gave them to the old white haired Top Sargent … you see he was from down south… I made a friend for life…he passed out the remainder to our three platoon leader lieutenants …and the rest is history…my dance card was punched for several days …I sat down with a few guys and wrote a thank you letter to Tabasco…
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Enjoyed the article. Still use insane amount of Tabasco sauce on almost everything and, no, STILL avoid the “Ham and Mother****rs”
Vietnam 70-71, Americal I-Corp.
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Just popped in cause I got an email saying someone posted a comment on another thread. I began watching that recent VietNam series but with two to go began losing my patience with the predictable message that began creeping in.
Anyway on one of the segments I noticed something that may have escaped many and certainly did most all that did not attend. Short scene of a grunt talking to a reporter and getting ready to eat some C’s. Watch close cause it’s just an eye blink. You’ll see him tear off a chunk of C4 right before the scene switches. Unmistakable.
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My husband received monthly shipments from his Mother . He was a sales man for his Louisiana product and gave the bottles away ..for the whole year starting 1966 to thru 1967 . Tabasco was the fuel to making food taste like home. for me… Perry L. Lopez
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I would NEVER eat anything not in a can out in the bush. I was a big fish eater when I entered the Army. Just a few weeks in country I saw my first pond full of cat fish. I thought the platform was to collect the fish. I watched papa son go out to the end of the platform, squat and do his business. As his “offerings” hit the water it looked like a school of Parana going crazy. I never ate anything but “C’s” in the field. And NEVER ate any fish while I was in country.
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Great post. Keep up the good work…
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As for C-rations. There is/was one, I liked. That was, Ham & Eggs Chopped. Nothing else.
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Reblogged this on justafly and commented:
I saw these in-country but never was able to get one.
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My favorite C-Ration was, Ham & Egg Chopped. Nothing else.
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OMG,,You forgot about the green color of H&EC’d I couldn’t get past that color to eat it. traded it off everytime.
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Articles are, entered to, show people’s personal thoughts. I imsagine they are, all good.
I could, make suggestions. But not, now.
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Some would not like, my comment.
On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 4:32 PM, Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel wrote:
> pdoggbiker posted: “Tabasco C-Ration Cookbook Shane K. Bernard Ph.D. > Historian & Curator for the McIlhenny Company (makers of Tabasco hot sauce) > kindly provided the following copy of their C-Ration Cookbook. I hope that > you will enjoy viewing this cookbook and remember” >
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