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Worcestershire Sauce - FCD - 06-03-2025
Now, maybe a lot of people know this, but I didn't until my later adult life.
I think we all identify with Lea & Perrin's as being the original "Worchester-ester-shire" sauce. It was originally invented in 1837, but its history is kind of interesting.
So, the Brits were in search of a flavoring from India called "Garum". They narrowed this flavor down to fermented fish and other spices cured in a barrel and Lea and Perrin decided to commission a local pharmacist to barrel some of their own. They took a bunch of dead herring and spices and threw them in a barrel and aged them for what they thought was appropriate (the exact time is unclear, but is thought to be about 45-60 days). When opened, the barrel had the stench of something unholy and was completely inedible. The experiment was a complete failure. With nowhere to dispose of the putrid contents, Lea and Perrin had the pharmacist re-bung the barrel and it was moved out of their way in this warehouse.
Nearly two years later, the floor space in this warehouse was needed for something else, and the caretakers came across this barrel of fermented fish and spices. By then, the mixture had mellowed into this delightful sauce we now know today as Worcestershire ("Wurshestur-chester,-ester-shire"-or whatever) sauce. The fermentation time had allowed the spices, liquids and rotting fish to meld into something which was really flavorful.
Lea and Perrin bottled it, and it was an immediate hit, which became the Worcestershire sauce from Lea & Perrin's, in the brown paper bag, which we know today.
Incidentally, the brown bag was to keep sunlight from getting through the brown glass and causing the flavor of the mixture to fade. (So, don't leave your Lea & Perrin's sans the bag, out on the counter or the table or too long, and always make sure to shake it to get all the good bits up into the mixture and onto your food!!
Just a fun trivia fact.
edit - The brown paper bag was also used to keep the bottles from breaking during shipping.
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Tabasco Sauce- Has an equally interesting history.
Avery Island, in Louisiana, where Tabasco Sauce is produced, originally went bankrupt following the civil war (long story). All the McIlhenny family had money for was a few red pepper seeds, and eventually the entire island became overgrown with red chili peppers (another long story). Nobody knew what to do with all these peppers back then, and the only other readily available thing to keep their only crop from spoiling was vinegar, so they mixed the two together. After some trial and error, it didn't take long to get to the mixture known as "Tabasco Sauce" we know today.
In the time since those days, the Tabasco sauce remains largely like it did back in the mid-1800's. I am kind of "Meh!" on Tabasco Sauce (I go for much hotter without the vinegar), but I still find the history of the product cool.
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"Fish Sauce" - Like the kind you see over in SE Asia has an even darker history which lives, by tradition, to this day. That stuff is absolutely delicious!! BUT, you'd never know it by smelling it. On food though, that stuff is pure magic!
The whole process of making it is probably one of the most repulsive things I've ever seen (or smelled), but the way it comes together at the end is this fabulous sauce which no two are alike. Fish sauce from Malaysia is completely different from Thailand, completely different from Singapore, and China, and Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia. Korea especially. They're all different, and they're all delicious! Just have to watch for the salt though, because all of them are very high in sodium. (some way more than others).
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - Bally002 - 06-03-2025
(06-03-2025, 12:16 AM)FCD Wrote: Now, maybe a lot of people know this, but I didn't until my later adult life.
I think we all identify with Lea & Perrin's as being the original "Worchester-ester-shire" sauce. It was originally invented in 1837, but its history is kind of interesting.
So, the Brits were in search of a flavoring from India called "Garum". They narrowed this flavor down to fermented fish and other spices cured in a barrel and Lea and Perrin decided to commission a local pharmacist to barrel some of their own. They took a bunch of dead herring and spices and threw them in a barrel and aged them for what they thought was appropriate (the exact time is unclear, but is thought to be about 45-60 days). When opened, the barrel had the stench of something unholy and was completely inedible. The experiment was a complete failure. With nowhere to dispose of the putrid contents, Lea and Perrin had the pharmacist re-bung the barrel and it was moved out of their way in this warehouse.
Nearly two years later, the floor space in this warehouse was needed for something else, and the caretakers came across this barrel of fermented fish and spices. By then, the mixture had mellowed into this delightful sauce we now know today as Worcestershire ("Wurshestur-chester,-ester-shire"-or whatever) sauce. The fermentation time had allowed the spices, liquids and rotting fish to meld into something which was really flavorful.
Lea and Perrin bottled it, and it was an immediate hit, which became the Worcestershire sauce from Lea & Perrin's, in the brown paper bag, which we know today.
Incidentally, the brown bag was to keep sunlight from getting through the brown glass and causing the flavor of the mixture to fade. (So, don't leave your Lea & Perrin's sans the bag, out on the counter or the table or too long, and always make sure to shake it to get all the good bits up into the mixture and onto your food!!
Just a fun trivia fact.
edit - The brown paper bag was also used to keep the bottles from breaking during shipping.
Love Worcestershire Sauce. Partial to it on a good juicy steak. Also indulge occasionally with a sprinkle on potato chips (fries). Good in a small amount to adding a 'tang' to a hotpot.
Keep my bottle in my cool dark larder.
Kind regards,
Bally.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - sailorsam - 06-03-2025
there's a theory that 'garum' was a Roman product and a handful of Englanders were quietly making it for 2000 years before it resurfaced.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - FCD - 06-03-2025
You're also supposed to pick it up and shake it vigorously before using. Else wise all the good bits will settle out to the bottom after it sits for a while. I didn't know this for the longest while and was pleasantly surprised how much more flavor there is when shaken hard before using.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - Bally002 - 06-03-2025
(06-03-2025, 01:09 PM)FCD Wrote: You're also supposed to pick it up and shake it vigorously before using. Else wise all the good bits will settle out to the bottom after it sits for a while. I didn't know this for the longest while and was pleasantly surprised how much more flavor there is when shaken hard before using.
There is another sauce that was wildly used. Was a navy staple on Aussie ships back in the 70's.
"Fathers Favourite."
Always a bottle on the table. It was discontinued. Sadly. Loved it but I found the recipe so you'll get an idea of the ingredients.
Kind regards,
Bally
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - FCD - 06-03-2025
(06-03-2025, 03:01 PM)Bally002 Wrote:(06-03-2025, 01:09 PM)FCD Wrote: You're also supposed to pick it up and shake it vigorously before using. Else wise all the good bits will settle out to the bottom after it sits for a while. I didn't know this for the longest while and was pleasantly surprised how much more flavor there is when shaken hard before using.
There is another sauce that was wildly used. Was a navy staple on Aussie ships back in the 70's.
"Fathers Favourite."
Always a bottle on the table. It was discontinued. Sadly. Loved it but I found the recipe so you'll get an idea of the ingredients.
Kind regards,
Bally
Looks interesting! I'm having a hard time picturing what that would taste like. The pumpkin confuses me. Is it sweet, or savory? With the garlic I would imagine savory, but the plums (and sugar) would make it sweet, and the lemon would make it tart. Something like a sweet-tart pumpkin sauce then?
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - Ninurta - 06-03-2025
Not wild about Worcestershire sauce, but I keep a bottle around for hamburgers and the like Still keep hot sauce. I used to carry a bottle of hot sauce in my field jacket pocket, because I've found you can eat any damned thing with enough hot sauce on it, and some folks think the damndest things are "food". So, hot sauce can often help some of that crap go down and stay there.
There's a YouTube foodie channel that has an extensive treatment of the history of garum, and after watching it, I've decided that garum will never, ever find it's way into my stomach. Might be ok on roadkill, if the roadkill is old enough and mummified enough. They would seem to suit one another.
Soy sauce is yet another fermented condiment that is over 2000 years old, originally coming from China around 200 BC. I keep it around because it's about the only thing I can think of that makes rice edible by giving it some kind of flavor. Pretty simple stuff - soy bean paste and an equal amount of wheat or barley, salt,and water, all fermented with one of two species of fungus/ mold. The hardest part is getting the right fungus or mold to ferment it with.
.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - FCD - 06-03-2025
Love me some hot sauce!! I'm a chilihead all the way. Just scored some of the Melinda's Ghost and Scorpion sauces, some Red Savina, and some green sauce along with some triple X habanero. Their Triple X is flaming hot (even for me) and that's marked as "four teardrops" (and they go to "five" total), so I imagine the Ghost pepper (Bhut Jolokia) and Scorpion sauces, which are both "five teardrops" is pretty damn hot.
I've eaten lots of different Ghost pepper sauces, and they can be pretty fiery, but Melinda's is usually hotter than most, so I'm looking forward to it. I grew Scorpion peppers the year before last and had a ton of them, but right as they were ready to harvest something came on our front porch and munched every last one of them. I only got about 3-4 which I dried...and they're HOT!
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - Bally002 - 06-03-2025
(06-03-2025, 04:19 PM)FCD Wrote:(06-03-2025, 03:01 PM)Bally002 Wrote:(06-03-2025, 01:09 PM)FCD Wrote: You're also supposed to pick it up and shake it vigorously before using. Else wise all the good bits will settle out to the bottom after it sits for a while. I didn't know this for the longest while and was pleasantly surprised how much more flavor there is when shaken hard before using.
There is another sauce that was wildly used. Was a navy staple on Aussie ships back in the 70's.
"Fathers Favourite."
Always a bottle on the table. It was discontinued. Sadly. Loved it but I found the recipe so you'll get an idea of the ingredients.
Kind regards,
Bally
Looks interesting! I'm having a hard time picturing what that would taste like. The pumpkin confuses me. Is it sweet, or savory? With the garlic I would imagine savory, but the plums (and sugar) would make it sweet, and the lemon would make it tart. Something like a sweet-tart pumpkin sauce then?
For some reason it had a savoury bite to it. To be honest, never tasted the pumpkin. Quite popular at the rolling table at sea. 'Fathers Favourite' was called 'Mums' in the RAN. As in "Pass the mums" when eating SCRAN. 'Mums' was short for 'Mums C**T' . SCRAN was short for 'Shit Cooked by the Royal Australian Navy'. 'Mums' covered the flavour of SCRAN after a while at sea.
The other sauces had RAN names too. 'Tomato' = 'Redders' 'Worcestershire' = 'Wooz' etc.
Speaking of shaking the bottle. We were preparing for 'Procedure Alpha' entering Sydney Harbour after a RIMPAC. Dressed in whites looking resplendent before we went up on the flat top to form up after eating breakfast. Tables were long seating up to 15/16. Bloke asks 'Pass the Mums' Dutifully passed to him and he shook the bottle at shoulder height rigorously. Of course the loose lid came off and the 'Mums' propellered over the SCRAN eaters in the mess deck. The bloke shaking the bottle got none on himself. Shit stains on your dress whites. Nothing worse. Hard enough to launder and keep clean on the ship. Bit of a laugh.
Kind regards,
Bally.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - Ninurta - 06-04-2025
(06-03-2025, 08:05 PM)FCD Wrote: ...
I grew Scorpion peppers the year before last and had a ton of them, but right as they were ready to harvest something came on our front porch and munched every last one of them. I only got about 3-4 which I dried...and they're HOT!
"Something"? You didn't hear anything running away from the meal screaming like a little girl, like it's head was on fire and it's ass was catching? Didn't find anything laying dead in the yard, burned crispy?
Seriously, birds are the only mobile critters I know of that are not affected by the capsicum. Crows, for example, could decimate a garden full of pretty colorful baubles hanging from bushes.
.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - FCD - 06-04-2025
Ninurta - Nope, no smoldering corpses out in the yard. I don't know what the hell ate those peppers but whomever the hell it was ate every last one of them too. I had thought I noticed one missing the night before, but figured I was just mistaken. The next day there was no mistaking every single one of those peppers being bitten off right above the pepper on the stem. The stems were frayed like something ripped them off in earnest. Probably 50'ish or so peppers total. That'd be enough to build a nuke, but apparently whatever it was wasn't phased by them.
At first I thought maybe our resident herd of deer got them, but if it would have been deer they would have eaten the whole plant. So, I don't know what got to 'em. Racoon maybe? ???
edit: Whatever got to them did it at night, so whatever it was was nocturnal.
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - F2d5thCav - 06-04-2025
At FCD--
Once known as "Bigfoot", it is now known as "Hotfoot" !
RE: Worcestershire Sauce - FCD - 06-04-2025
(06-04-2025, 02:37 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote: At FCD--
Once known as "Bigfoot", it is now known as "Hotfoot" !
Hot Sphincter!
