Worcestershire sauce has English roots and has a unique, unsurpassed aroma and rich sweet and sour taste due to the fact that its main composition includes fish, vinegar and sugar (see photo). It would seem, how can such ingredients create and give your dish a lasting and rich aroma? However, you just need to add even one teaspoon of this sauce to the dish - and it will truly sparkle with new colors for you.
Let's try for a moment to plunge into the history of the creation of this masterpiece. There are quite a few legends that tell about the origin of the sauce. One of them tells that one of the English pharmacies in the county of Worcestershire (hence the name of the sauce) was contacted by Lord Marquez Sendi, who had previously worked as a governor in India. From there he brought the recipe, as well as some spices for preparation, and asked the pharmacists to make the mixture according to the existing instructions. But something went wrong, and the lord refused to take this mixture, because, according to him, it was not what he wanted to get. Well, the pharmacists had no choice but to put this mixture in the basement. And only a few years or a few months later, this is where the legends differ from each other, when the pharmacists decided to conduct an audit, they stumbled upon the forgotten sauce. After tasting it, they could not believe their taste. During its stay in the basement, the sauce infused and acquired a tart, sweet and sour taste. Fortunately, pharmacists found the recipe brought by the lord and started producing the sauce. To date, it has received universal approval in many countries around the world.
The sauce is added mainly to fish and meat dishes, and alcoholic drinks such as “Bloody Mary” and “Caesar” cannot do without its participation.
Ingredients of Worcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce contains no less than 25 products, some of which vary depending on the country where the sauce is sold. Most of the ingredients are simply incompatible with each other, but this is what gives the sauce its zest and uniqueness.
The following main ingredients are used to prepare the sauce:
- anchovies;
- tomato paste;
- champignon extract;
- port wine;
- curry;
- aspic (fat-free concentrated meat extract);
- lemon juice;
- tarragon extract;
- corn syrup or sugar;
- malt vinegar;
- black molasses or burnt sugar;
- tamarind.
Let's figure out what gives the sauce its sweet and sour taste, besides lemon juice, vinegar and sugar. Is it really necessary to add such a huge amount of spices? Most of the seasonings used in the sauce have a sharp taste and a spicy aftertaste (asafetida, horseradish, bay leaf, nutmeg, chili pepper, black pepper, allspice, garlic), but tamarind softens them, as it adds sourness to the dish.
The latter is an important component of Worcestershire sauce. It is tamarind that gives that sweet and sour taste, which distinguishes it from other sauces. It is a long-lived plant, which is why it grows for a long time. Its fruit consists of pulp and seeds. Sometimes recipes call for the tamarind seed, but only the pulp is edible when the fruit is brown or red-brown in color. The consistency of the pulp is sticky, thick and has a spicy apricot aroma. Tamarind is rich in sugar and acids and is also a source of calcium. If you can't find it, then as a last resort you can replace the tamarind with lemon juice, but the taste will still be different.
I would like to remind you once again that spices play an important role in preparing the sauce. If you do not add at least one of the above ingredients, then, alas, you will not get the amazing taste that Worcestershire sauce has. Chefs all over the world recommend being careful when preparing, observing a sense of proportion in everything, and not adding too much of everything, otherwise the taste will spoil, and this, in turn, threatens to spoil the dish.
Homemade recipe
The recipe for Worcestershire sauce is quite simple and can be prepared even at home. No one officially advertises the original recipe for the sauce, but if for some reason you couldn’t find the product on store shelves, then you can prepare it at home, and the taste certainly won’t be much different from the store-bought one.
We offer one of the simplest and best recipes for making sauce. To do this, prepare gauze in advance and fold it in several layers (it’s just better to cook some products in a gauze bag).
Now let's move on to the cooking method. To begin, pour 2 tablespoons of acetic acid into a bowl and place the onion in this solution, leave for a few minutes. Then chop finely. Next, chop two cloves of garlic and sprinkle with vinegar. In a gauze bag we put onion, garlic, a cinnamon stick, half a teaspoon each of red and black pepper, cloves and cardamom. At this stage, the prepared gauze pocket needs to be tied quite tightly, because during the cooking process we will periodically wring out this bag. Pour half a glass of soy sauce and acetic acid into a saucepan, pour in one hundred grams of sugar and add tamarind. Pour in some water and put on fire. Boil over low heat for about thirty minutes. Now cut the prepared anchovy into small pieces, put it in a separate bowl, add half a teaspoon of curry there, salt to taste, dilute with clean cold water and mix everything thoroughly. Pour the resulting mass into the pan, where the sauce itself is cooked, and continue cooking.
At the next stage, we transfer the gauze pocket with spices into a glass jar, after turning off the heat. Pour the sauce into it and screw the lid tightly. We wait until the liquid cools completely at room temperature, after which we put the jar in the refrigerator. Wring out the bag daily for a week, then remove the pocket with spices from the jar. Pour the sauce into small bottles and leave it in the refrigerator or some other dark, cool place for storage (this product is easily adapted to home storage conditions).
Use in cooking
The use of Worcestershire sauce in cooking has gained wide popularity among all peoples of the world. It is the most common seasoning in England, which is not surprising. Most often this sauce is used to create:
- meat dishes;
- fish dishes;
- drinks.
The sauce is commonly used as a marinade for meat dishes, such as cutlets, beef tenderloin, carbs, shish kebab, baked chicken, scrambled eggs and bacon, and roast beef. It can even be added to rice, pasta, dumplings, vegetable stew, and Caesar salad. The well-known alcoholic drink “Bloody Mary” cannot do without it. But most of all, the sauce reveals its taste and aroma in the preparation of fish dishes. It is enough to add just a teaspoon of this sauce to the finished dish - and its taste will change beyond recognition, sparkling with new flavor shades.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the sauce is contraindicated if you are allergic to seafood or have high stomach acidity. The calorie content of this product is relatively low, and most often it is added to dishes in small quantities, so it can be consumed by everyone, excluding the above contraindications.
What can be replaced?
“What can I replace this sauce with?” – this question very often worries housewives who, for some reason, cannot purchase this product. Some are trying to create its analogues, but finding something similar just won’t work for one simple reason: the sauce has too unique a taste, and the substitute is simply unable to replicate it. Some are trying to use soy sauce as a substitute. Others recommend using balsamic vinegar, a mixture of sauces containing seafood and similar seasonings. But, as culinary experts say, then you get a completely different taste. Therefore, it is better to find an original product, especially since the dish requires very little of it.
The original taste of this sauce cannot be described in words. At least once, prepare a dish with it yourself and appreciate its taste.
Worcestershire sauce is an English seasoning made from fish, vinegar and sugar. It has a sweet and sour, spicy and unique taste.
The sauce was named after the county of Worcestershire (England), where it was first created almost two centuries ago.
The dish is considered the most famous and mysterious seasoning. Its authentic recipe, down to its subtleties, is known only to British producers. But exactly what components Worcestershire sauce includes has not been a secret for a long time.
Worcestershire sauce ingredients
The sauce is made from more than 25 ingredients. In addition to vinegar, sugar and water, it should contain:
- anchovies;
- onions and shallots;
- ginger and celery;
- horseradish and garlic;
- asafoetida and tamarind;
- lemon juice and nutmeg.
And this is only half of the sauce components.
Even if you use all the ingredients, the original taste is unlikely to be replicated. After all, real Worcestershire sauce must mature in special oak barrels. And only three years later it is bottled and supplied to supermarkets and restaurants.
The sauce is popular in many countries around the world. It is very concentrated, which makes it economical to use. Sometimes a few drops are enough to decorate and transform the taste of a dish.
What dishes are decorated with Worcestershire sauce?
A complex bouquet of ingredients allows Worcestershire sauce to be ideally combined with a variety of foods. The seasoning is most often used for ready-made meat dishes: pork and chicken chops, beef tenderloin, shashlik, pork chops. The sauce is poured over pasta, pancakes, dumplings, casseroles, and vegetable stews.
The sauce is ideal for fish dishes. In combination with them, the sweet and sour taste of English seasoning is perfectly revealed.
Caesar salad and the alcoholic drink Bloody Mary are also incomplete without Worcestershire sauce. It is the most important ingredient in these dishes, making them especially tasty and piquant. Worcestershire sauce makes Bloody Mary irresistible.
Preparing a replacement for Worcestershire sauce
Culinary experts have come up with several recipes that closely resemble the taste of Worcestershire sauce and successfully replace it. Here are some of them:
Recipe 1
You will need:
- bulb;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- a piece of ginger root;
- 3 tbsp. l. French mustard;
- a pinch of cloves;
- 50 g sugar;
- 2 tbsp. l. salt and the same amount of vinegar;
- one anchovy;
- half a tsp. hot pepper, curry, cardamom;
- one tsp. soy sauce;
- tamarind - a quarter cup.
Let's prepare it like this:
- Using a blender, chop the onion, garlic and ginger.
- Add mustard, cloves, cardamom and hot pepper to the resulting mixture. Mix the ingredients again to make a puree.
- Place the contents of the blender in a gauze bag and tie it securely.
- Pour half a glass of water into a small deep saucepan and bring it to a boil.
- Add tamarind, soy sauce, sugar and vinegar to the boiling liquid.
- Place a gauze bag in a saucepan.
- Reduce the heat to low and leave the contents of the saucepan for half an hour.
- Mix anchovy, curry and salt.
- Add to the saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Pour the sauce into a glass container. Place the bag of spices there too. Place the dishes in the refrigerator for two weeks.
- Every day we squeeze out the contents of the gauze bag. Mix the sauce.
- After the specified time, squeeze the bag one last time and remove it. Strain the sauce and pour into bottles.
Store the seasoning in the refrigerator.
Recipe 2
This method of preparing sauce, which will replace Worcestershire, is somewhat simpler because it involves the use of fewer ingredients.
You will need:
- half a liter of vinegar;
- shallots – 2 heads;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- anchovies (1-2 fish);
- 35 g soy sauce;
- 50 g of ketchup and the same amount of walnuts;
- salt.
Let's prepare it like this:
- Finely chop the onion and garlic.
- Grind the anchovies and nuts.
- Combine all ingredients and place in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
- Leave in the refrigerator for two weeks.
- Shake the contents of the container daily.
- After 14 days, filter the sauce and use it for its intended purpose.
Recipe 3
Required components:
- 1/2 cup vinegar (preferably apple cider vinegar);
- 40 g of clean cool water, the same amount of soy sauce;
- a quarter tsp each powdered onion, garlic mustard;
- quarter tsp ginger (grated);
- on the tip of the knife - salt and cinnamon.
Prepare the sauce like this:
- Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Cook on low heat for half an hour.
- Set aside the saucepan to allow the sauce to cool completely.
- Pour the seasoning into dark glass bottles and store in the refrigerator.
- The sauce can be used 10–12 days after it has cooled completely.
How to replace Worcestershire sauce in Caesar salad
A proper Caesar must be seasoned with Worcestershire sauce. But it is not always used. A worthy replacement can be made from the following ingredients:
- one egg;
- 3 tbsp. l. olive oil;
- 4 drops of Thai fish sauce and 1 – Tabasco;
- anchovies (2 fish);
- balsamic vinegar and mustard - a quarter tsp;
- 40 g fresh lemon juice;
- salt and pepper.
Let's prepare a substitute for Worcestershire sauce:
- Boil the poached egg. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl.
- Gently beat (preferably with a blender) together with mustard, lemon juice and Tabasco. Add olive oil little by little until you get a mayonnaise consistency.
- Finely chop the anchovies. They can be replaced with spicy salted sprat.
- Pour the fish into the whipped dressing and run the blender for another minute or two.
- Add Thai sauce and balsamic vinegar to the flavorful mixture. Add salt and pepper.
Worcestershire sauce is produced by several foreign companies. The original version of the seasoning is made by Lea & Perrins. All other manufacturers offer only their own variations of the sauce.
To prepare the seasoning yourself, you will need a significant assortment of products and step-by-step instructions. The sauce, like most British dishes, requires that all stages of its production be followed with precision, including cooking and aging.
Worcestershire sauce is a wonderful additive based on natural ingredients that is ideal for meat and some other dishes. You can find out where it came from, what it consists of and how to prepare it from the article.
Worcestershire sauce has a sweet and sour, slightly spicy taste. The color of the additive is dark brown, quite liquid in consistency.
The composition of the sauce may seem strange at first glance, because it contains products that, in theory, should not be combined with each other. But they are what make the taste so rich and interesting.
The classic version of the sauce includes approximately the following components:
- garlic;
- celery;
- ginger;
- nutmeg;
- anchovies;
- shallot;
- horseradish;
- aspic;
- salt;
- molasses;
- curry;
- Bay leaf;
- tamarind;
- black pepper;
- asafoetida;
- water;
- Chile;
- lemon juice.
But this is far from a complete list and not entirely accurate, because the real recipe is unknown to anyone except the manufacturers themselves.
Just a few drops of this additive will be enough to enhance the taste and significantly improve the aroma of the dish.
History of appearance
The first mention of the sauce appeared 170 years ago. Upon returning to England, Lord Sandy considered that the country had very bland dishes and hired two apothecaries to make the seasoning, and he already had a written down recipe.
Unfortunately, the result greatly disappointed everyone; the banks were put away and forgotten about for several years. And after this time, we conducted the tasting again and were pleasantly surprised at how tasty the sauce was.
It is believed that its recipe is still secret, and it takes three years and three months to prepare real Worcestershire sauce.
What dishes does it go with?
In general, this sauce is ideal for the famous Caesar salad, and must also be added to the original Bloody Mary cocktail. Without this seasoning, dishes simply lose their charm and unique taste.
But since English cuisine cannot boast of variety and piquancy, the sauce began to be added to other products. It is added to almost all meat dishes, such as roast beef, steak or stew.
It is great for fish marinades, various appetizers and even sandwiches. Vegetable salads and casseroles cannot do without it, because it is a wonderful alternative to harmful mayonnaise or sour cream.
In addition, the sauce does not interrupt the taste of the product itself, it only emphasizes it favorably. Most often, very little is added, since the seasoning is very concentrated and is used together with soy sauce, Tabasco, olive oil and other spices.
What can you replace the sauce with?
Now you can find Worcestershire sauce in almost any supermarket, and its price is not too high. If you want to try it according to the original recipe, then look for a manufacturer called Lea&Perrins.
And if it is not possible to purchase and cook at home due to the lack of certain ingredients, which, by the way, are very exotic, then many, of course, are interested in what can replace the sauce.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to find a complete analogue of this seasoning; its taste is too unique.
Instead of sauce, balsamic vinegar, a mixture of vinegars with seafood and suitable seasonings are usually used.
How to make classic Worcestershire sauce
If you are not intimidated by the huge list of ingredients for this spicy and unusual sauce, then you can try making a pretty good alternative.
Please immediately note that this recipe is only as close as possible to the original, but it will still not taste exactly the same. To obtain an exact copy, you will need special conditions, a lot of time and oak barrels, so it is better to prepare Worcestershire sauce in a simplified version.
Full list of products
To get started, stock up on everything you need:
- sea salt;
- 100 grams of sugar;
- half a cinnamon stick;
- two cloves of garlic;
- 125 milliliters of water;
- one small spoon each of black peppercorns and ground;
- 0.5 liters of vinegar 9%;
- one medium-sized onion;
- half a glass of soy sauce;
- one small ginger root;
- a small spoon of clove flower buds;
- two large spoons of tamarind paste;
- one anchovy;
- half a spoon of curry and cardamom;
- a quarter spoon of red pepper.
Cooking technology
- Peel the onion, rinse and pour the specified amount of vinegar, leave for half an hour to marinate and only then cut into cubes.
- Chop the garlic in any convenient way, and also lightly sprinkle with vinegar.
- Prepare a gauze bag and place onion, garlic and all the spices from the list except curry in it. Tie tightly so that nothing falls out of the bag.
- Pour vinegar into a deep saucepan, add sugar, tamarind paste, soy sauce and mix the resulting mixture very thoroughly, then place on the stove and turn on high heat.
- Place the bag of spices in this mass, and as soon as the contents begin to boil, turn the heat to minimum and cook everything for about 45 minutes.
- Chop the anchovy very finely, mix with salt, curry and water. We’ll put all this into the pan after the required cooking time has elapsed and immediately remove the container from the heat.
- We pour what we get into a suitable glass jar, not forgetting to put a bag of spices in there and carefully cover the container.
- After the future sauce has cooled completely, move it to the refrigerator.
- There the jar will have to stand for two weeks, and every day you will need to take the bag out of it, squeeze it out, mix the contents and close it again.
- After fourteen days the sauce will be ready. We remove the bag and throw it away; it is no longer needed. And pour the resulting seasoning into small plastic bottles or jars. It is desirable that the containers are not transparent, but darkened.
Worcestershire (Worcestershire) sauce is incredibly popular in English restaurants, but here you can find it mainly in supermarkets. You will ask why? The classic composition includes from 20 to 40 ingredients. It came to us from England, but was created based on English sauces. What’s not there - several types of vinegar, tamarind, onions, garlic, anchovies, a set of previously “secret” spices, molasses, sugar, and so on. It turns out to be a kind of hot mixture that is added to the alcoholic cocktail “Bloody Mary”, as well as to the well-known Caesar salad.
It looks a little lighter than soy sauce, but the taste is very rich, so it cannot be used in the same way as, for example, white or red sauce. It's more of a seasoning. Just a small amount is enough—a teaspoon for the entire dish—to fully enjoy its original taste. What can you use it for? First of all, meat dishes - steaks, chops, even kebabs. It can also be a component of salad dressings. Preparing the sauce at home is quite troublesome and should only be stored in the refrigerator.
Worcestershire sauce - food preparation
The main principle when cooking is maintaining a sense of proportion. You can enhance the taste of a dish and give it aroma with just a few drops of sauce, so the concentration of its ingredients is carefully calculated. In general, manufacturers keep recipes in the strictest confidence. The sauce is prepared in large batches - this makes it easier to calculate the composition by weight.
After processing the main ingredients, the factory sauce is left to ferment for two whole years. Then it is mixed, preservatives are added and bottled. At home, this trick is more difficult to replicate, but if you slightly adapt the recipe to our realities, you can still prepare a tasty and aromatic seasoning. It is noteworthy that it is better to cook some products in a gauze bag; if you don’t have one, buy gauze and fold it in several layers.
Worcestershire sauce - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Worcestershire Sauce
(adapted recipe for home cooking)
The difficulty of preparing the sauce with a large number of ingredients. Prepare a small piece of gauze or a gauze bag in which we will process some of the components.
Ingredients: onion, garlic (2 cloves), anchovy (1 pc), ginger - root or ground, peppercorns, mustard seeds (3 spoons), salt, curry (half a teaspoon), ground cinnamon (you can use a stick), red pepper ( 0.5 teaspoon), cloves (half a spoon), cardamom, acetic acid (2 spoons), sugar (100 grams), soy sauce (half a glass), tamarind.
Cooking method
Dip the onion into the vinegar solution and leave for a few minutes. Then chop finely. Also chop the garlic and sprinkle it with vinegar. Place garlic, onion, cinnamon, red and black pepper, ginger, cloves and cardamom in a gauze bag. Tie the bag or gauze tightly, since during the cooking process we will have to constantly wring it out.
Pour soy sauce and acetic acid into a saucepan, add sugar and add tamarind. Pour in some water and put on fire. Boil over low heat for half an hour. Separately mix the curry, cut the anchovy into pieces, add salt and dilute with a small amount of water. Pour the mixture into the general sauce and continue cooking.
Turn off the heat and place the spice bag into a glass jar. Pour the sauce into it and close the lid. Cool well and put in the refrigerator. Squeeze the bag daily for a week, then remove it completely. Pour into small bottles and store in the refrigerator.
Examples of dishes with Worcestershire sauce
Recipe 1: Beef Tenderloin with Onions and Worcestershire Sauce
Worcestershire sauce is a seasoning that can give beef steak an original taste. You can use homemade or store-bought sauce, it doesn't matter.
Ingredients: beef (500 grams), onion (1 head), dry red wine (1 glass), black pepper, Worcestershire sauce (1 teaspoon), parsley or dill.
Cooking method
Divide the beef tenderloin into several portions and pound with a hammer. Fry in vegetable oil until golden brown and remove the pieces of meat. In the remaining fat, fry the finely chopped onion over low heat. Then pour in a glass of wine, boil and add salt. Pepper and add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. Cool the roast slightly and pass through a blender. Pour the sauce over the steak, sprinkle with herbs and serve hot.
Recipe 2: Pork Cake with Peaches and Worcestershire Sauce
It is better to take sweet and sour canned peaches; if the pieces are very large, carefully divide them into slices. Tender sweet and sour pork with peaches, seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, amazingly tasty and does not require any more spices. Don't oversalt or overcook.
Ingredients: pork carbonate (800 grams), salt, pepper, canned peaches (1 can, 300 grams), vegetable oil, mustard (1 spoon), black pepper, Worcestershire sauce (1 teaspoon).
Cooking method
Cut the carbonate into pieces approximately 2-2.5 cm thick, add salt and pepper. You should get 8 pieces. Heat a frying pan and fry the meat on both sides. Prepare a mixture of peaches - mix them with pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to readiness under the lid of the frying pan over low heat. Serve with vegetables or legumes.
Recipe 3: Chicken in Worcestershire Sauce
Ingredients: small chicken to make it easier to bake, onion, tomato (2 spoons), vegetable oil (2 spoons), Worcestershire sauce (2 spoons), hot pepper (2 pcs), salt.
Cooking method
Louis, chop half the pepper and add the sauce and tomato. Add vegetable oil and mix. Carefully cut the chicken lengthwise, rub with salt and coat with the resulting mixture. We put it under pressure for several hours. The marinated chicken is placed in the oven, be careful not to burn - if you notice, cover with a sheet of foil. Bake at 200 degrees.
It is almost impossible to prepare the famous sauce in the original recipe in our conditions due to the large number of ingredients.
What and with what can be replaced
If you were unable to get anchovies, replace them with sprat or even worker-peasant herring. Very heavy cream and the addition of wine or wine vinegar will replace Mascarpone, balsamic vinegar is replaced by wine vinegar. Capers can be omitted and olives can be used instead. Our culinary experts replace coconut milk with shavings.
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