Worcester sauce, or Worcester sauce, is a fermented liquid seasoning created from seemingly incompatible ingredients by chemists John Willie Lee and William Henry Perrins, founders of Lea & Perrins. The anchovies that are used in the preparation of the sauce are fermented in vinegar for 18 months before mixing and bottling in Worcester, where the exact recipe is still kept in the strictest confidence.
In this article we will consider the history of the sauce, its composition, benefits and harms, calories, variations, as well as various dishes in which it is added.
History of creation
A fermented fish sauce called “Garum” was a staple of Greco-Roman cuisine and the Mediterranean economy of the Roman Empire. The use of similar fermented anchovy sauces in Europe can be traced back to the 17th century.
The origin of the original Worcester sauce recipe is still unclear. On the packaging it was originally written that the sauce came from a "recipe for a nobleman in the county." The founders of the company also claimed that a certain Lord Marcus Sandis, the former governor of Bengal, who returned from India from the East India Company in the 1830s, instructed them to recreate the recipe for a special sauce. Nevertheless, the writer Brian Keo concluded in his private published history of Lea & Perrins on the 100th anniversary of the Midland Road plant that no Lord Sandys has ever been Governor of Bengal or, as far as any records indicate, ever in India .
There is also a version of a certain captain Henry Lewis Edward (1788-1866), who was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and served as deputy lieutenant of Carmarthenshire. It is believed that it was he who brought the recipe home after a trip to India.
To date, it is believed that Lee and Perrins first tried to make the sauce in the 1830s, however, he did not like it and was left in the basement of their pharmacy, and then completely forgotten. Only after the barrels of sauce were discovered and opened many months later did it turn out that the taste of the sauce improved, softened and looked like the one now known as Worcester sauce.
The Lea & Perrins company itself was founded in 1837 and continues to be the leading global brand for the production of this sauce. In 1838, the first bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce were released to the general public.
On July 26, 1876, the High Court ruled that the Lea & Perrins brand was not entitled to the name “Worcester Sauce” and therefore could not be a trademark. The company claims that it is their sauce that is original, but other brands offer similar recipes.
On October 16, 1897, Lea & Perrins transferred the production of sauce from their pharmacy to a factory in Worcester on Midland Road, where it is still being produced. The plant produces ready-made bottles for domestic sales and concentrate for bottling abroad.
Application
What is Worcester sauce used for? It is a product complex and specific in taste and aroma. It is often used in recipes to improve various foods and drinks.
For example, it is an ingredient in dishes such as Welsh cheese croutons, Caesar salad, Kilpatrick oysters, chili con carne, stewed beef, or other beef dishes. The sauce is also often added to flavor Bloody Mary and Caesar cocktails.
- Worcester sauce can be an alternative to soy sauce if you want to update the marinade recipe and add new flavors. It is suitable for tofu, meat or poultry.
- The sauce enhances and complements the aroma of complex meat dishes. For example, it can be stews and even simple grilled burgers.
- This sauce can also be used in soup. It helps to reveal the taste of chili and other thick soups.
Try adding this sauce to your usual dishes, and your taste buds will undoubtedly be pleasantly surprised.
Structure
The ingredients that are listed on a traditional bottle of Worcester sauce sold in the UK:
- Barley Malt Vinegar.
- Sugarcane vinegar.
- Molasses.
- Sugar.
- Salt.
- Anchovies.
- Tamarind extract.
- Bow.
- Garlic.
- Spices.
- Flavors (soy sauce, lemons, pickles and peppers).
Anchovies, which are part of the sauce, often cause concern for people who are allergic to fish, vegetarians, vegans, and those who for one reason or another avoid eating fish.
How to replace Worcester sauce? Instead, you can use soy sauce or teriyaki sauce. There are many alternatives on the market today.
Calorie content
For 100 grams, the calorie content of Worcester sauce in its classic version is 78 kilocalories.
Distribution of the main macro- and micronutrients:
- 0 g of fat.
- 0 g of protein.
- 19 g of carbohydrates (of which 10 g of sugar).
- 980 mg of sodium.
- 800 mg of potassium.
- 107 mg of calcium.
- 13 mg of magnesium.
- 13 mg of vitamin C.
- 5.3 mg of iron.
- 0 mg of cholesterol.
Benefit
Worcester sauce adds flavor to dishes of chicken, turkey, beef, pasta and salads, but the taste of dishes is not the only advantage that it has. The sauce contains vitamins that can help improve your health. Let's see what benefit the addition of Worcester sauce can bring to the diet.
- The sauce has the ability to activate the immune system, as it contains vitamin B6 (molasses, garlic, cloves and chili). Vitamin A helps build red blood cells and maintain a healthy nervous system.
- An added benefit is healthy skin. Some of the ingredients in the sauce (anchovies, cloves and chili pepper extracts) contain vitamin E, which also boosts the immune system. They act as antioxidants that provide protection against aging, improve the appearance of the skin and control hair loss.
- The sauce is made with ingredients containing vitamin C, such as garlic, onions, cloves and chili peppers. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant that can help prevent cancer and heart disease. Younger skin is another consequence, since vitamin C is involved in the production of collagen, which is the main part of connective tissue.
- Vitamin K provides protection against hemorrhage. It is especially useful for women who have heavy periods, as it helps to reduce the amount of blood lost. Vitamin K also helps stop bone destruction. Vitamin K sauce products are anchovies, cloves and chili peppers.
- Anchovy niacin helps in digestion, normalizes the condition of joints in people suffering from osteoarthritis.
- Thiamine, found in onions and chili, benefits the nervous system and promotes a healthy mindset. It can also help those who suffer from motion sickness.
Harm
Despite the fact that the sauce has undoubted benefits, it contains ingredients that can cause allergies. Therefore, people who are allergic to anchovies or gluten should exclude this sauce from their diet or seek a safe substitute.
Also, the excessive content of sugar and salt in some variations of the Worcester sauce does not allow attributing it to an exceptionally healthy product. The most important thing is to know the measure and not abuse it.
Variations
Today on the market there are a large number of Worcester sauce options, the composition is for every taste. Below are some of them.
- Gluten free. The popularity of gluten-free diets may be one reason why the American version of Worcester sauce is made using distilled white vinegar rather than malt vinegar, which contains gluten.
- Vegetarian. Some versions of the sauce are vegetarian and may have an anchovy-free formulation.
- Low in sodium. Lea & Perrins and some other brands produce lower sodium versions. They are intended for people with a high sodium content in the blood or for those who do not like very salty sauces.
- Homemade Sauce. It is relatively easy to make your own sauce at home, but it does include a long list of ingredients. But you can experiment and cook your perfect sauce.
Analogs in other countries
Different countries have their own characteristics of the production and use of sauce, consider some of them.
- In Denmark, Worcester sauce is commonly known as English Sauce.
- The sauce is extremely popular in El Salvador, where in many restaurants there are bottles with it on each table. More than 120,000 gallons are consumed each year, the highest per capita consumption in the world.
- The American version (Worcester sauce in the photo above), unlike the British one, is packed in a dark bottle with a beige label and wrapped in paper. This practice was a protective measure for bottles in the 19th century, when the product was imported by ships from England.
- Interestingly, the version of the sauce sold in the United States is different from the British recipe. It uses distilled white vinegar, not malt. In addition, it has three times as much sugar and sodium. This makes the American version of the sauce sweeter and saltier than the one sold in the UK and Canada.
- Japan has its own version of the sauce, which, unlike the Worcester sauce, is completely vegetarian. This sauce is known as “Tonkatsu sauce” and is most often used as a seasoning for the Tonkatsu dish of the same name - fried breaded pork chops. It is believed that both the dish and the sauce were taken from English cuisine brought to Japan in the 19th century.
Summary
So, we examined the history of creation, composition, benefits, harm and calorie content of Worcester sauce. Now you know how to use it to improve the taste of your favorite dishes.