Worcestershire sauce

Worcestershire Sauce, from the south Midland region of England, is world famous and is not really a sauce but a flavoring. It originated when Lord Sandys, a native of the city of Worcester, returned from a tour of duty as Governor of Bengal. He had brought with him an Indian recipe that he asked the local chemists, John Lea and William Perrins, to make up for him. The result tasted so dreadful that it was abandoned in their cellar. Some months later they rediscovered it and when they tasted it again found that it had matured beautifully. The recipe is a closely guarded secret and the sauce is still made in the same way and left to mature in oak barrels for several months.

Ingredient

Season: available year-round

How to prepare: A dash of Worcestershire sauce gives a lift to almost any savoury recipe, especially casseroles, soups, grilled meats and cheese dishes. Of course it is also an important addition to tomato juice and to that celebrated hangover cure the ‘prairie oyster’.

Matches well with: 1 tsp bottled steak sauce = 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce