Created in the 1830s by chemists John Willie Lee and William Henry Perrins, Worcestershire sauce is a staple of kitchen cabinets and bar counters (for the perfect Bloody Mary and beyond) all over the world. Its seemingly magical ability to hit all taste points – savory spicy, salty, sweet, sour – is born from a complex blend of ingredients such as malt vinegar, tamarind, garlic, citrus and the essential anchovies. And making a sauce at home that tastes almost identical to Worcestershire is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
The composition of the traditional Worcestershire sauce (or Worcestershire sauce, or Worcestershire sauce, or Worcestershire sauce), sold in the UK as “The Original & Genuine Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce” includes: malt vinegar, “alcohol” vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies, tamarind extract, onion, garlic, spices and flavors. The spice and flavoring ingredients are company trade secrets, but most have been identified and included in most homemade Worcester imitations.
We have found for you the perfect recipe for Worcestershire sauce, which was suggested by the famous US blogger Kresha Faber (did not dare to translate such an extravagant name – прим. ред.) in his book The DIY Pantry: 30 Minutes to Healthy, Homemade Food, 2014. It has been tried by hundreds of housewives and bartenders in the west, who noted its exceptional taste and similarity to the original Lee and Perrins sauce.
Worcestershire sauce recipe
Good, time-tested and hundreds of housewives imitation of Worcestershire sauce without fermentation.
A type sauce
Kitchen english
Prepare 10 minutes
Cooking 10 minutes
Total 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 120 ml malt vinegar
- 120 ml apple cider vinegar
- 120 ml molasses (blackstrap)
- 4 Art. l. fermented fish sauce
- 2 Art. l. tamarind paste
- 1 Art. l. natural soy sauce (optional)
- 3 Art. l. onion juice (or 1 teaspoon dehydrated onion)
- 1 h. l. black pepper (ground)
- ½ h. l. Clove (ground)
- ¼ h. l. cayenne pepper (ground)
- 2 Art. l. olive oil
- 2 pcs. shallot (finely chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 1 h. l. fresh ginger root (grated)
- 8 pcs. anchovies (ground meat)
- 1 large lime (juice)
Instructions
Whisk together malt and apple cider vinegar, molasses, fish sauce, tamarind paste, soy sauce and onion juice. Set aside.
Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Saute all spices for about 1 minute until fragrant. Transfer to a small plate and set aside.
In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the shallots in it until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, anchovies and toasted spices. Continue frying until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the previously whipped mixture of vinegar and other ingredients, mix well and bring the sauce to a boil. Remove from fire, cool.
Strain the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, add the juice of 1 lime, mix and pour into a sterilized jar with a hermetically sealed lid. Homemade Worcestershire sauce can be stored this way in the refrigerator for 1-2 months.
Worcestershire is a simple yet elegant ingredient that, in small amounts, adds depth of flavor to marinades, dipping sauces, salad dressings, and a whole host of complex dishes. It is also an important component of Bloody Mary and making Worcestershire sauce at home means one step closer to making this cocktail entirely from home ingredients, because we have already prepared Tabasco sauce before, as well as a huge amount of liqueurs (on celery, bacon, horseradish etc.), which will be the best substitute for regular vodka.
For the curious
Lea & Perrins was founded in 1837 and is still the world’s leading brand of Worcestershire sauce. The origin of the Worcester Talented Chemists’ recipe is unclear. On the first bottle of the sauce, it was said that it was prepared “according to the recipe of a nobleman from the county.” The company then said that “Lord Marcus Sandys, former governor of Bengal” encountered it while in India with the East India Company in the 1830s and commissioned the local apothecaries, Lee and Perrins, to recreate it. However, it later turned out that according to the records, no Lord Sandys, as the governor of Bengal, ever existed and all this is fiction.
Sauce advertisement from 1900
According to one version, “Lord Marcus Sandys” is Arthur Moises William Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys (1793-1860) of Ombersle in Worcestershire, who at the time of the legend was a lieutenant general in the British army and a member of the House of Commons for County Down. His first name may have been confused with that of his brother, Arthur Marcus Cecil Hill, 1798rd Baron Sandys (1863-1861), although he did not receive his title until 1802, when the sauce had already entered the British market. So, at the time of the formation of Worcester sauce, only the mother of William Sandys, Lady Mary Hill, who was awarded this title in 1885, could be a baron. In accordance with the norms of decency of those years, a woman’s name could not be on a commercial product. Later, in XNUMX, a story was published according to which Lady Hill received the recipe for a certain mixture of curry powder from Mrs. Gray, a famous writer, who in turn received it from her uncle, the Chief Justice of India. It was with this recipe that Lady Sandys came to Lee and Perrins.
The High Court of Great Britain ruled on 26 July 1876 that Lea & Perrins had no right to the term “Worcester Sauce”, so it was not a trademark. Lea & Perrins claims that only their sauce is authentic, but other brands legally offer similar recipes.
When apothecaries mixed the first Worcestershire sauce, they found it overpowering and inedible. They left the barrel of sauce in the basement, and when a couple of years later they needed storage space, the barrel was discovered and a pleasant surprise awaited the apothecaries. In 1838, Britain first saw Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce. On October 16, 1897, Lea & Perrins moved the production of the sauce from their pharmacy to a factory on Midland Road in Worcester, where it remains to this day. In 1930, the Lea & Perrins brand was acquired by HP Foods. In 1967 HP Foods was sold to the Imperial Tobacco Company. HP was sold to Danone in 1988 and then to famed sauce maker Heinz in 2005.