Friday, September 7, 2012

Worcestershire Sauce

Ever wonder where Worcestershire sauce comes from? Nowadays, it comes in a bottle from the supermarket. Wikipedia's article claims that the original version was bottled by Messers. Lea and Perrins, two pharmacists from Worcester, England, (hence the name) in 1837. 

Interestingly, Wikipedia's article notes that the basic formula includes fermenting anchovies in a vinegar solution, making Worcesterhshire sauce a cousin of the ancient Roman condiment garum.  Maybe modern cooking isn't so far from Roman cooking as everyone has assumed.

6 comments:

  1. Much as I like Worcestershire sauce on actual rice or meat or what not, I find its source a little queasiness-inducing. Like thinking too hard about how sausage is made, I suspect.

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  2. Trying to remember where I read about this before. Apparently, the invention included forgetting about the barrel for a while. Hence the fermentation.

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  3. I've an SCA friend who's into early (sca) period roman foods, and makes a mean fish sauce (the garum). I really like it. She often mixes it with lazer sauce (i don't recall how it's really spelled). I was washing a show where they showed the fermenting and all, and talked about how much in-demand it was (i wish i could remember what documentary!), and turns out the fermenting creates an umami profile similar to naturally occurring MSG.

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  4. I hadn't even realized that Worcestershire sauce *contained* anchovies, until now. My take on it is closest to @synj-munki's--to me, it's a pleasant source of additional umami for meat dishes and stews. If anything, I tended to assume that the characteristics I liked about it were due to the fact that it is contains tamarind.

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  5. Yeah. That's why vegans tend to steer clear of the Chex Mix at parties -- the traditional recipe uses Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies.

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  6. @ Rob: I've never made Chex Mix, and I have few vegans (as opposed to vegetarians) as friends, so I did not know that vegans avoid Chex Mix, but knowing the ingredients of Worcestershire sauce now I can understand it.

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