Worcestershire sauce

Worcestershire sauce (IPA / ) also known as Worcester sauce (IPA ) is a widely used fermented liquid condiment. It is currently made with vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, water, chilli peppers, soy sauce, pepper, tamarinds, anchovies, onions, shallots, cloves and garlic. It is a flavouring used in many dishes, both cooked and uncooked, and particularly with beef. Filipino cooking uses it frequently as a marinade, especially with pork. It is an important ingredient in Caesar salad and in a Bloody Mary. Lea & Perrins ships it in concentrate form to be bottled abroad.

Though a fermented anchovy sauce called garum was a staple of Greco-Roman cuisine and of the Mediterranean economy of the Roman Empire, "Worcester sauce" is one of the many legacies of British contact with India. While some sources trace comparable fermented anchovy sauces in Europe to the 17th century, this one became popular in the 1830s.

History

A widely reported legend has it that "Lord Marcus Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal" (a figure unknown to history outside this tale) encountered it while in India in the 1830s, missed it on his return, and commissioned the local apothecaries to recreate it. However, a privately published history of the Lea & Perrin's firm, by a former employee, records that "No Lord Sandys was ever governor of Bengal, or as far as any records show, ever in India."

The Lord in question, whose identity was being discreetly veiled by Messrs. Lea and Perrins (who used to aver on the bottle's paper wrapping that the sauce came "from the recipe of a nobleman in the county") was Arthur Moyses William Sandys, 2nd Baron Sandys (1792–1860) of Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, Lieutenant-General and politician, a member of the house of Commons at the time of the legend, whose given name is being confused in the tale with that of his heir, Arthur Marcus Cecil Sandys, 3rd Baron Sandys (1798–1863), who didn't succeed to the title, however, until 1860. The barony in the Sandys family (IPA ) was revived in 1802 for the 2nd baron's mother, Mary Sandys Hill, so at the date of the legend, "Lord" Sandys was actually a Lady. No identifiable reference to her could possibly appear on a commercial bottled sauce without a serious breach of decorum. It is likely her heir who agreed to sell the recipe.

To abandon the unrevised legend and substitute a more accurate version that was published by Thomas Smith, Successful Advertising, (7th edition, 1885):

We quote the following history of the well-known Worcester Sauce, as given in the World. The label shows it is prepared "from the recipe of a nobleman in the county." The nobleman is Lord Sandys. Many years ago, Mrs. Grey, author of The Gambler's Wife and other novels, was on a visit at Ombersley Court, when Lady Sandys chanced to remark that she wished she could get some very good curry powder, which elicited from Mrs. Grey that she had in her desk an excellent recipe, which her uncle, Sir Charles, Chief Justice of India, had brought thence, and given her. Lady Sandys said that there were some clever chemists in Worcester, who perhaps might be able to make up the powder. Messrs. Lea and Perrins looked at the recipe, doubted if they could procure all the ingredients, but said they would do their best, and in due time forwarded a packet of the powder. Subsequently the happy thought struck someone in the business that the powder might, in solution, make a good sauce. The profits now amount to thousands of pounds a year. (Mrs E. C. Grey's most popular novel, The Gambler's Wife published in 1845—and attributed to Poe in America—still had enough contemporary appeal to be reprinted in 1875.)

Upon completing the necessary steps, however, the resulting product was found to be so strong that it was considered inedible, and a barrel of the stuff was exiled to the basement of Lea & Perrins' premises. Looking to make space in the storage area a few years later, the chemists decided to try it once again (possibly to see if it was as bad as they remembered), only to discover that the sauce had fermented and mellowed and was now quite palatable. In 1838 the first bottles of "Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce" were released to the general public. It was a considerable success, and both the condiment and Lea & Perrins are growing concerns to this day.

Sudan I contamination

In February 2005 the potentially cancer-causing dye Sudan I was discovered in Premier Foods' Crosse & Blackwell Worcester sauce by the Food Standards Agency, and subsequently traced back to an adulterated chili powder. This prompted the largest food product recall ever seen by the United Kingdom, over 400 different items, as the product is itself used in the flavouring of various other foods.

Lea & Perrins, the manufacturer of the brand best known to the public, had no contamination problem. However, they received over 5,000 calls from worried customers, causing the local Member of Parliament for Worcester to put forward a motion in support of his city's most famous product. After the scare confidence in Lea & Perrins remained high, and actually saw a sales increase in the immediate aftermath of the scare.

Dishes using Worcestershire sauce

One of the simplest recipes to use Worcestershire sauce is a variation of cheese on toast, with the sauce added to the plain version during the grilling process. The Japanese tonkatsu, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, and the Chinese lajianyou (or spicy soy sauce, common to the Shanghai region) sauces are all similar to Worcestershire sauce, but differ in their levels of sweetness and tartness. Worcestershire sauce also plays a key role in the flavour of original flavour Chex Mix and possibly other flavours as well.

In Hong Kong style dim sum, Worcestershire sauce is always served with steamed beef balls. Such combination of this Western sauce with a Chinese dish is unique to the former British colony. The Cantonese name for this sauce is "gip jup". It is unknown how this Chinese name is derived from the original English name. It is also popular amongst people in Hong Kong to dip steak into it.

In the UK, advertising by Lea & Perrins has made Worcestershire Sauce popular for use on spaghetti bolognese, cheese on toast, chips, gravy and sausages. It is also frequently used in chilli con carne.

Vegetarian substitutions

Vegetarian and gluten free alternatives are available; the vegetarian variety omits the anchovies (notably Henderson's Relish). 'Life' Worcester sauce, produced by MH Foods (Morehands Ltd), is both vegetarian (no meat, no fish) and suitable for coeliacs (no gluten ingredients).

Army study

In 1981 the United States Department of the Army spent $6,000 to prepare a 17-page manual on how to buy Worcestershire sauce. This incident is often held up as an example of pork-barrel spending and won Taxpayers for Common Sense's Golden Fleece Award. ^*

External links

Chef Greg Atkinson, abetted by Lea & Perrins, reports and debunks the myth, without unveiling Lady Sandys.
Thomas Smith, 'Successful Advertising'
Lea & Perrins global website
Lea & Perrins UK 'Splish Me' website

February 2005 contamination

Action taken to remove illegal dye found in wide range of foods on sale in UK by the Food Standards Agency, 18 February 2005
Food recalled in cancer dye scare by BBC News, 18 February 2005
Illegal dye: What is the health risk? by BBC News, 22 February 2005

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