2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Worcester sauce (Worcestershire Sauce) is a slightly spicy, sweet and sour, fermented English sauce that is traditionally made from vinegar, fish, sugar and spices. It's amazing how many flavors and tastes can be gathered in just one small bottle, in which you can find one of the most popular sauces in the world. The sauce is named after the western English county of Worcester.
An interesting fact is that the sauce has different names in different parts of the world. For example, in Japan he is known as the Bulldog. However, people who do not like fish should not use this otherwise amazing sauce, because one of its main ingredients is anchovies.
History of Worcester sauce
The main ingredient in the sauce is anchovies, and making sauces based on fish products is not a practice that has existed since yesterday. An interesting fact is that the first fish sauce known to mankind was used in Greco-Roman cuisine and was called garum.
The use of fermented anchovy-based sauces has been practiced in Europe since the 17th century. The first brand to feel how popular this sauce can become is Lea & Perrins. To this day, this is the company's main producer Worcestershire sauce worldwide.
It is not clear exactly where the company got its inspiration for its recipe. The original label on the sauce claimed that the recipe belonged to an English lord named Marcus Sandis, who was governor of Bengal. He discovered the recipe for Worcestershire sauce, thanks to the East India Company, in the 1930s. However, according to other sources, such a lord never existed.
In any case, the prescription was first made quite by accident in the pharmacy of John Willie Lee and William Henry Paris, but the end result is an extremely strong product that the two pharmacists considered inedible, and the vessel in which it is involved is forgotten in the basement..
It was not until a few years later that chemists accidentally discovered that the sauce had fermented, giving it a very different and pleasant taste. In 1838, the first bottles proudly bearing the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce label appeared on the market.
So far, the company produces both ready-to-eat sauce for the UK and concentrate, which is intended for export and bottling on site.
In 1930, the company was acquired by HP Foods, which was acquired by the Imperial Tobacco Company years later. As a result, HP Foods was acquired by Danone in 1988 and acquired by Heinz in 2005.
Ingredients for Worcestershire sauce
The traditional Worcestershire sauce, which is intended for the market in the United Kingdom, contains alcohol vinegar, malt vinegar, molasses, anchovies, salt, sugar, onion, garlic, tamarind extract, flavorings and spices. The list of the last two includes lemons, pickles, cloves, soy sauce and peppers. In general, the preparation of the sauce is kept strictly secret, but its ingredients are still known.
The ingredient that determines the incredible taste of the sauce is the exotic and rare fruit tamarind. One of the secrets of Worcestershire sauce is that after adding all the products and cooking, it is left to mature for a certain period of time and so we get the familiar taste. The final sauce is filtered and bottled.
Selection and storage of Worcestershire sauce
Although not very popular in our country, Worcestershire sauce it can now be found in large food chains. It is sold in small dark bottles, and its price is about BGN 5 for 200 ml. Store it in a dry and cool place, and after opening it should be stored only in the refrigerator.
Worcester sauce in cooking
Undoubtedly Worcestershire sauce is one of the major reasons for the pride of the former British Empire. One of the most recognizable sauces in the world occupies an important place in cooking and is a valuable ingredient in many dishes.
Worcester sauce is an indispensable part of the well-known Bloody Mary cocktail, but it manifests its taste not only in the combination of vodka with tomato sauce, but is used as a complement to various types of meat and steaks. Many chefs believe that Caesar salad is not real if it is not flavored with a little Worcestershire sauce.
Worcestershire sauce can be served with both hot and cold dishes. Suitable for salads, sauces, pâtés and mayonnaise.
Worcestershire sauce can give a pleasant spicy taste to various dips. It is often used to flavor fish dishes. Just a few drops of Worcestershire sauce are enough to change the taste of any dish.
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Worcester is not only the name of a county in the UK, but also one of the most popular and distinctive sauces in the world. According to legend, the famous sauce was the result of a mistake by two pharmacists. As with many other discoveries, the mistake turned out to be true and became a great addition to meat or fish dishes.
