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Worcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce (/ˈwʊstər(ʃər)/ ⓘ WUUST-ər(-shər)) is a fermented liquid condiment invented by pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century. The inventors went on to form the company Lea & Perrins. Worcestershire sauce has been a generic term since 1876, when the High Court of Justice ruled that Lea & Perrins did not own a trademark for the name "Worcestershire".
Worcestershire sauce is used directly as a condiment on steaks, hamburgers, and other finished dishes, and to flavour cocktails such as the Bloody Mary and Caesar. It is also frequently used to augment recipes such as Welsh rarebit, Caesar salad, Oysters Kirkpatrick, and devilled eggs. As both a background flavour and a source of savouriness, it is also added to dishes such as beef stew and baked beans.
Fish-based fermented sauces, such as garum, date back to antiquity. In the seventeenth century, English recipes for sauces (typically to put on fish) already combined anchovies with other ingredients.
The Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and was the first sauce to bear the Worcestershire name. The origin of the Lea & Perrins recipe is unclear. The packaging originally stated that the sauce came "from the recipe of a nobleman in the county". The company has also claimed that "Lord Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal" encountered it while in India with the East India Company in the 1830s, and commissioned the local pharmacists (the partnership of John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins of 63 Broad Street, Worcester) to recreate it. However, neither Marcus Lord Sandys nor any Baron Sandys was ever a Governor of Bengal, nor had they ever visited India as far as available records indicate.
According to company lore, when the recipe was first mixed, the resulting product was so strong that it was considered inedible and the barrel was abandoned in the basement. Looking to make space in the storage area some 18 months later, the chemists decided to try it and discovered that the long-fermented sauce had mellowed and become palatable. In 1838, the first bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce were released to the general public.
The ingredients vary by manufacturer but often include vinegar, salt, a sweetener such as sugar or molasses, aromatics such as garlic, shallots, or onions, soy sauce, and fish or fish sauce. Some formulations may include tamarind, umeboshi or other pickles, chili peppers, citrus, or spices such as cloves.
Several anchovy-free vegetarian and vegan varieties are available for those who avoid or are allergic to fish. The Codex Alimentarius recommends that prepared food containing Worcestershire sauce with anchovies include a label warning of fish content, although this is not required in most jurisdictions. The US Department of Agriculture has required the recall of some products with undeclared Worcestershire sauce. Generally, Orthodox Jews refrain from eating fish and meat in the same dish, so they do not use traditional Worcestershire sauce to season meat. However, certain brands are certified to contain less than 1/60 of the fish product and can be used with meat.
Although soy sauce is used in many variations of Worcestershire sauce since the 1880s,[citation needed] it is debated whether Lea & Perrins has ever used any in their preparation. According to William Shurtleff's SoyInfo Center, a 1991 letter from factory general manager J. W. Garnett describes the brand switching to hydrolyzed vegetable protein during World War II due to shortages. As of 2021, soy is not declared as an ingredient in the Lea & Perrins sauce.
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Worcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce (/ˈwʊstər(ʃər)/ ⓘ WUUST-ər(-shər)) is a fermented liquid condiment invented by pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century. The inventors went on to form the company Lea & Perrins. Worcestershire sauce has been a generic term since 1876, when the High Court of Justice ruled that Lea & Perrins did not own a trademark for the name "Worcestershire".
Worcestershire sauce is used directly as a condiment on steaks, hamburgers, and other finished dishes, and to flavour cocktails such as the Bloody Mary and Caesar. It is also frequently used to augment recipes such as Welsh rarebit, Caesar salad, Oysters Kirkpatrick, and devilled eggs. As both a background flavour and a source of savouriness, it is also added to dishes such as beef stew and baked beans.
Fish-based fermented sauces, such as garum, date back to antiquity. In the seventeenth century, English recipes for sauces (typically to put on fish) already combined anchovies with other ingredients.
The Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and was the first sauce to bear the Worcestershire name. The origin of the Lea & Perrins recipe is unclear. The packaging originally stated that the sauce came "from the recipe of a nobleman in the county". The company has also claimed that "Lord Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal" encountered it while in India with the East India Company in the 1830s, and commissioned the local pharmacists (the partnership of John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins of 63 Broad Street, Worcester) to recreate it. However, neither Marcus Lord Sandys nor any Baron Sandys was ever a Governor of Bengal, nor had they ever visited India as far as available records indicate.
According to company lore, when the recipe was first mixed, the resulting product was so strong that it was considered inedible and the barrel was abandoned in the basement. Looking to make space in the storage area some 18 months later, the chemists decided to try it and discovered that the long-fermented sauce had mellowed and become palatable. In 1838, the first bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce were released to the general public.
The ingredients vary by manufacturer but often include vinegar, salt, a sweetener such as sugar or molasses, aromatics such as garlic, shallots, or onions, soy sauce, and fish or fish sauce. Some formulations may include tamarind, umeboshi or other pickles, chili peppers, citrus, or spices such as cloves.
Several anchovy-free vegetarian and vegan varieties are available for those who avoid or are allergic to fish. The Codex Alimentarius recommends that prepared food containing Worcestershire sauce with anchovies include a label warning of fish content, although this is not required in most jurisdictions. The US Department of Agriculture has required the recall of some products with undeclared Worcestershire sauce. Generally, Orthodox Jews refrain from eating fish and meat in the same dish, so they do not use traditional Worcestershire sauce to season meat. However, certain brands are certified to contain less than 1/60 of the fish product and can be used with meat.
Although soy sauce is used in many variations of Worcestershire sauce since the 1880s,[citation needed] it is debated whether Lea & Perrins has ever used any in their preparation. According to William Shurtleff's SoyInfo Center, a 1991 letter from factory general manager J. W. Garnett describes the brand switching to hydrolyzed vegetable protein during World War II due to shortages. As of 2021, soy is not declared as an ingredient in the Lea & Perrins sauce.
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