Worcestershire sauce is perhaps one of the most famous in the world; it came to us from Great Britain. Thick and rich, it has gained millions of fans around the world and found its place in the cuisines of different nations. It is added to salads, soups, meat dishes and even drinks. His recipe remains a closely guarded secret to this day.

A little history

As is the case with many other dishes, the appearance of Worcestershire sauce is surrounded by certain legends. Today there are at least two theories of its invention.

The most common version says: India should be thanked for the recipe for Worcester sauce. It was from this country that Lord Marques Sandys once returned. After the spice-rich Indian cuisine, the food of his native Britain seemed incredibly bland to him. Fortunately, the lord brought with him a recipe for one of the many Indian sauces. With this recipe, he turned to the British pharmacists Lee and Perrins. The pharmacists did not refuse the lord, and created a sauce for him, strictly following all the prescriptions. Alas, Sandys was not at all pleased with the result - the sauce prepared by the pharmacists turned out to be completely inedible. The lord did not even bother to take the prepared liquid for himself - the containers with the failed Indian dressing remained in the basement of the pharmacy.

And so Worcestershire sauce would have sunk into oblivion if, by a lucky chance, a few years later, pharmacists had not discovered the ill-fated jars and risked trying their contents again. Imagine their surprise when it turned out that over the years of infusion it acquired an absolutely amazing taste and a tart but pleasant aroma.

Lee and Perrins turned out to be enterprising guys and very quickly launched a mass production of the sauce under their personal brand. The inhabitants of Foggy Albion liked it and the scale of production began to grow rapidly.

World Favorite

Dishes with Worcestershire sauce are found in the diet of many countries. Many salads in Greece include it in their dressing. In China today, marinade using Worcestershire sauce is even ahead of soy sauce in popularity. In the countries of the New World, it is customary to season beans with it. Speaking about what Worcestershire sauce is eaten with, one cannot help but recall the famous hamburgers: this component is very often found in their dressings.

The world-famous Bloody Mary owes its legendary status to Worcestershire sauce: without it, the combination of vodka and tomato juice would not be so piquant.

Ingredients of Worcestershire sauce

Speaking about what Worcestershire sauce is, we should first of all mention its rich composition. The recipe for Worcestershire sauce, from which two lucky pharmacists once obtained this original dressing, is kept secret and to this day a very limited number of companies are involved in its production. But experienced tasters still lift the curtain on what components it is obtained from.

So, the composition of Worcestershire sauce includes onions (according to various sources - onions or shallots, and possibly both), Tamarind, fish (most often mentioned are anchovies and sardella), garlic, Lanspeek broth, lemon juice, celery stalk, horseradish, ginger , black molasses, corn syrup, malt vinegar and a variety of spices: salt, black pepper, curry, chili, nutmeg, bay leaf, allspice, tarragon, asafoetida.

All components must undergo a long fermentation period. And although the production technology is secret, manufacturers do not hide the fact that it takes up to three years to produce one bottle of sauce.

How to make Worcestershire sauce at home

Culinary experts give an unequivocal answer to this question: “no way.” Firstly , The composition of Voustre sauce with all the necessary proportions is currently known only to manufacturing companies. Secondly, this is too many-component product, requiring long and complex fermentation, which is practically impossible to carry out at home.

And yet you can make your own variation on this popular product. The taste will, of course, be different, but this is not a bad option for replacing factory-made Worcestershire sauce.

You will need:

• 1 anchovy
• Shallot bulb
• 2 cloves garlic
• Ground ginger root
• 3 spoons mustard seeds
• Peppercorns
• cinnamon stick
• Curry
• Carnation
• Cardamom
• Red pepper
• Tamarind
• Soy sauce
• Acetic acid
• Sugar
• Gauze for straining

Take a whole onion and pour vinegar over it. The marinating process takes literally a few minutes. Next, take it out and chop it as finely as possible. The garlic should also be chopped and lightly sprinkled with vinegar. We form a kind of bag from gauze. We put chopped onions and garlic, a cinnamon stick, all types of peppers and cardamom into it. The bag should be tied tightly.

Pour soy sauce and acetic acid into the pan and stir. Add 100g sugar and tamarind. Add some water. Place the pan on the fire. The resulting solution must be boiled for at least half an hour over low heat.

Place finely chopped anchovy, curry and salt in a separate container. Add a little water and let it sit. After half an hour, add this mixture to the pan. Turn off the fire.

Next, you should prepare a glass container of suitable volume with an airtight lid. Place the prepared gauze bag with spices in it, fill it with the cooked sauce. Let the liquid cool, close the lid and place in the refrigerator.

Homemade fermentation will take at least seven days. During the first week, every day you need to remove the gauze bag from the jar and squeeze it thoroughly. After seven days, the bag is thrown away and the liquid is poured into smaller containers. Store in the refrigerator.

However, if this method of preparation seems too time-consuming and complicated to you, we still recommend purchasing the original sauce in stores, especially since its consumption is very economical and its shelf life is long. One purchased bottle can last for several years.

How to replace Worcestershire sauce

If you didn’t manage to buy it, but it takes too long to cook at home, you can look for an alternative option. Sometimes it is enough to add a few anchovies to a dish to bring its taste closer to the desired one. Sometimes a few drops of Tabasco sauce won't hurt. You can also look for Thai fish sauce - it also tastes like Worcestershire. Experiment, taste, add spices - and you will achieve the desired balance of taste.

How is Worcestershire sauce used?

It should not be used as a gravy over steak or salad. This sauce is added drop by drop, or at most a teaspoon. This amount is quite enough to give the dish the desired piquancy and spiciness. If you go too far with the quantity, the food will be irrevocably spoiled by the abundance of salt and spices. So it's better to introduce it gradually, constantly trying.

It is better to pour Worcester into drinks in a thin stream along the blade of a knife - this makes it easier to track the amount used. The meat is lightly brushed with it when marinating. It is better not to pour it directly into salads, but add it to the dressing, whisking well. The basis for salad dressings with Worcestershire can be butter, egg yolk and even yogurt.

The British, who discovered this unique product to the world, call it nothing more than “the sauce of Lucullus feasts,” without which even the most luxurious meal will seem poor and tasteless.

A little history

In 1837, a native of the English county of Worcestershire, Lord Marcus Sandys returned to his homeland from the Indian colonies and brought with him the recipe for his favorite spicy sauce. He turned to local pharmacists William Perrins and John Lee with a request to reproduce this oriental seasoning for him.

However, the resulting mixture had nothing in common with the prototype, and Sandis flatly refused to take it. The failed sample was hidden in the basement and forgotten about for two years. We discovered the product by accident when we were cleaning out the pharmacy warehouse, throwing out the accumulated garbage. The wooden barrel of sauce suffered the same fate, but fortunately for gourmets around the world, Lee and Perrins wanted to try their “bitter” culinary experience again. Imagine their surprise when they discovered that the seasoning had acquired a unique, very pleasant taste and aroma.

It is from this moment that the history of Worcestershire sauce begins. The pharmacists bought the original recipe from a noble customer and patented it under their own name. To this day, the Lea & Perrins brand is considered number one among producers of sophisticated seasoning.

The legendary Worcester has many secrets. Manufacturers keep its exact recipe a strict secret, revealing only 25 of the 40 or even 50 ingredients, but each component makes the taste of the final product unique. You can appreciate the beauty of dishes seasoned with “true English” sauce only by trying the original.

Composition and taste

Culinary experts unanimously assure that Lord Sandys's colonial gift has no analogues in world cuisine. The rich bouquet of the sauce reveals itself gradually, affecting different taste buds, so it is difficult to describe it in two words.

The strongest notes in the seasoning are sour and sweet, as well as the spicy aroma of fermented fish. It is difficult to replace Worcestershire sauce in dishes - its taste is too multifaceted compared to other dressings.

Many housewives try to make a fragrant mixture on their own, however, first of all, you should familiarize yourself with the list of ingredients that are included in the classic English (or is it Indian?) recipe.


So, the main components are:

• fermented anchovies (small fish from the herring order, slightly reminiscent of the familiar sprat)
• malt vinegar (made from barley grains, has a pleasant aroma, enhances and emphasizes the taste of dishes)
• sugar, or in the American version corn syrup
• Molasses (or blackstrap molasses) is a product obtained from the processing of sugar cane

Manufacturers do not reveal all the spices added to the sauce, so we will list only those that are indicated on its label.

• Tamarinds are a type of date from India.
• onion: onion or shallot
• horseradish and celery roots
• ginger
• Bay leaf
• pepper: black, chili and allspice
• Bay leaf
• curry mixture
• nutmeg
• asafoetida
• garlic
• lemon juice
• tarragon
• meat extract – aspica

What do you eat the sauce with?

In general, traditional English cuisine, which cannot boast of variety and sophistication, was significantly enriched with the advent of the spicy mixture of Lee and Perrins. Now Worcestershire is added to most meat dishes, including roast beef, steak or stew, flavored with hot appetizers and sandwiches, and used for fish marinades.


Salads and vegetable casseroles are also rarely complete without this component.

Attention!

The sauce is a highly concentrated product, so it is used only in small doses: 2 – 3 drops per standard serving.

In dishes, Worcestershire plays a supporting role, delicately emphasizing without interrupting the taste of the main products. It is often included in multi-ingredient dressings, along with soy sauce or Tabasco, olive oil, garlic and pepper.

Homemade recipe

Of course, we will not be able to accurately reproduce the branded factory seasoning. This requires large volumes of raw materials, oak barrels, special aging conditions and a long shelf life.

However, it is possible to create a completely worthy alternative that will decorate the family menu.

Let's try to make homemade Worcestershire sauce, the recipe of which is as close as possible to the classic one.

We will need:

• 1 onion (medium size)
• 100 g sugar
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. l. mustard seeds
• 1 anchovy fish
• 1 small ginger root
• ½ cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp. l. tamarind paste
• ½ tsp: curry and cardamom
• ¼ tsp. hot red pepper
• 1 tsp. carnation flower buds
• ½ cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp each allspice and black peppercorns
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups 9% vinegar
• ½ glass of water
• fine salt (preferably sea salt)

Preparation

1. Peel the onion and marinate for 30 minutes. in vinegar, then cut into cubes.
2. Pass the prepared garlic through a press or chop it by hand. Then also sprinkle with vinegar.
3. Place our onion, garlic and all the spices listed above, except curry, in a bag made of thick gauze and tie it well so that they do not fall out during cooking.
4. Pour vinegar into the pan, add sugar, tamarind paste and soy sauce, mix thoroughly and put on the stove. Add a bag of spices to the mixture. First, cook the mixture over high heat, and after boiling, reduce it to a minimum and simmer the base for the sauce for about 45 minutes.
5. In a separate container, combine water, finely chopped fish, salt and curry powder. After cooking the seasonings, add this mixture to them, stir everything together and immediately remove from heat.
6. Pour the resulting sauce into a glass jar, put the bag in there and close the lid tightly. After cooling, the mixture must be placed in the refrigerator.
7. For 2 weeks, we take the bag of spices out of the solution every day and squeeze it out, after which we mix the contents of the jar well.
8. After 14 days, our sauce will be ready. We take out the bag of spices - we no longer need it, and pour the infused mixture into small bottles or jars, preferably made of dark glass.

Attention!

Homemade Worcestershire sauce should be stored in the refrigerator, shaking occasionally, as it has sediment. You can focus on the shelf life of the factory seasoning - 1.5 years, but usually the product is used up in a few months.

How to choose the right Worcestershire and what you can replace it with in dishes

Housewives who manage to prepare Worcestershire with their own hands can congratulate themselves - they, without a doubt, were able to rise to the heights of culinary art.

But this seasoning requires such effort and includes so many exotic, expensive components that a logical question arises: might it be better to buy it ready-made in a store?

The idea seems quite reasonable, but how not to make a mistake with the choice?

The most popular manufacturers

Important: Original Worcestershire sauce is sold only under the Lea & Perrins brand. Other manufacturers, and there are many of them today, have different compositions and do not have such a rich taste.

Currently, the Lea & Perrins brand is owned by the American company H.J. Heinz." This manufacturer also produces its own Worcestershire sauce, which is somewhat inferior in quality to its British counterpart.

The cost of the product in a branded bottle with the inscription Lea & Perrins, with a volume of 290 ml, is 330 rubles. Since the sauce is added to dishes in small portions, it lasts for a long time, even with active use.

Japan has its own “English sauce”, which is similar to the original except in name. It consists of vegetable and fruit components, without fish and meat extract. This option is suitable for vegans and vegetarians, but for those who want to know the real taste of Worcestershire, this mixture is not worth buying, although it is cheaper than Heinz products.

How to replace Worcestershire sauce in Caesar salad dressing

Lee and Perrins' invention is not the kind of product you'll find in your local supermarket. Many dishes can be prepared without it, but, for example, Caesar salad will lose greatly in this case.


You can try the following dressing, which will create a similar taste sensation:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. mustard
• juice of half a lemon
• ¼ tsp. balsamic vinegar
• a few drops of Thai fish sauce and Tabasco
• 3 tbsp. l. olive oil
• 3 – 4 anchovies (can be replaced with spicy salted sprat)
• Salt (preferably sea salt) and a mixture of peppers to taste

Preparation

1. Add 1 tbsp to boiling water. l. vinegar, reduce heat and carefully pour in a raw, very fresh egg. After 4 minutes, remove it with a slotted spoon and cool it in ice water.
2. Beat the resulting poached egg in a blender with mustard, Tabasco sauce and lemon juice. Gradually add olive oil, bringing the mixture to the consistency of thick sour cream.
3. Add finely chopped fish and beat everything again.
4. Pour in the balsamic, a Thai seasoning, and then season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper.

This is a worthy replacement for classic Worcestershire sauce.

You can make a very simple seasoning using more accessible and inexpensive ingredients. It is far from “Worcester” with its numerous components, but the taste will be pleasant, piquant and original. Shall we try?

We will need:

• ½ cup natural apple cider vinegar
• 50 g each of water and soy sauce
• ¼ tsp each garlic and onion powder, the same amount of mustard
• half a root of fresh ginger (grated)
• 1-2 tbsp. l. cinnamon
• sugar and salt to taste

Preparation

1. Mix all the ingredients in a thick-bottomed saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
2. After the sauce has cooled, store it in the refrigerator, pouring it into small glass containers. Before use, the mixture is allowed to brew for 10 - 12 days.

“Worcester” is one of those seasonings that you definitely need to have in your culinary arsenal. If you can’t buy a factory-made product, you should cook it yourself to add an exotic touch of haute cuisine to your usual home dishes.

What's stopping us from trying? Even if performed unprofessionally, the “Worcester” will be magnificent. In short, let's start cooking!

Useful video

This material perfectly complements the article about the sauce, be sure to check it out:

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Worcestershire sauce is a complex but very original sauce originally from Worcestershire, England. Here it is very widespread, but the sauce has conquered Russian-speaking countries relatively recently.

At the same time, we haven’t even decided on what to call it correctly, so when you hear such names as Worcestershire or Worcestershire sauce (as well as Worcestershire or Worcestershire), know that we are talking about the same sauce.

Worcestershire sauce has a multifaceted taste, although it is traditionally defined as sweet and sour. However, its taste is so rich that you can taste its entire gamut only by adding it to a dish in tiny portions, or rather, drop by drop.

History of the sauce

The sauce is said to have been created as a mistake by apothecaries trying to recreate an Indian recipe brought to England by Lord Marques Sandys. Chemists John Lea and William Perrins could not please the customer. But after standing in the basement for two years, the sauce was accidentally found by them and tasted, surprising the tasters with its taste. In 1837, unfortunate pharmacists began to sell their invention with all their might, registering Worcestershire sauce as the Lea & Perrins brand.

Thus, the British have been enjoying the taste of Worcestershire sauce for 170 years, adding piquancy to many dishes with its help. However, even now only those initiated into this secret know both the recipe and the technology of the sauce. What is known is that the process of preparing the secret composition takes 2 years.

Sauce composition

Studying the components of the sauce available for research, some chefs claim that Worcestershire Sauce goes back to ancient Roman roots, while others claim that this recipe is a creation of the East. And the components in the composition range from 20 to 40.

All that is known for sure is that it contains water, sugar and salt, as well as: onions - both onions and shallots, anchovies and garlic, asafoetida, tamarind aspic, malt vinegar and molasses (black molasses), soclimon and extract tarragon, black, allspice and chili peppers, celery and horseradish, curry and bay leaf, ginger and nutmeg.

What do you eat Worcestershire sauce with?

If you decide to try Worcestershire sauce, then you need to remember only one obstacle - there are many more fakes on sale than originals. The thing is that, apart from the Lea & Perrins company, which is now the Heinz brand, no one else has yet been able to recreate all the flavor facets of the sauce, so any other manufacturers, even Heinz itself, are not marked “Lea & Perrins” they make fakes!

But if you are not a hardcore gourmet, then the “fake” Worcestershire sauce produced under the brands “Cajun Power”, “French’s” and “Heinz”, which we have already mentioned, are quite good options.

Having become the owner of a bottle with the coveted mixture, the joy of ownership quickly gives way to confusion due to the question: what should you eat this unique Worcestershire sauce with?

It turns out that this sauce is unique - it can be added not only to any meat and fish dishes, but also to salads, vegetable stews, porridges and omelettes. An excellent alternative to soy sauce, it complements marinades and bean dishes, burgers and croutons. By the way, Worcestershire sauce is the highlight of many dishes. For example, without it you will never taste a real Caesar salad. And in the Bloody Mary cocktail, the presence of sauce is mandatory.

What can you substitute for Worcestershire sauce?

Yes, perhaps - nothing. It has no analogues. After all, the proportions and composition of this potion are known only to Lea & Perrins.

However, over almost 200 years, chefs have, of course, developed many compounds that imitate Worcestershire sauce. And many experimenters simply tried to recreate it at home. And that's not bad at all. After all, judge for yourself, it’s better to try to make the sauce, even if it’s not original, on your own than to buy, in most cases, a counterfeit bottle with an unknown composition, full of dyes, preservatives and other “chemicals.” Moreover, only a few people know what true Worcestershire sauce tastes like.

Worcestershire sauce recipes

Assuming that it is better to create a “fake” sauce, or its analogues, with your own hands than to buy it, we will offer you several recipes, the creators of which claim that the taste of their sauce differs from the original only in the absence of two years of aging in the basement.

To make Worcestershire sauce at home, you will need an accurate kitchen scale and endless patience.

You may also have trouble finding some of the products included in it. However, you understand that you are not preparing the original, so feel free to introduce substitutions. For example, it would be appropriate to use sprat or herring instead of anchovies, Mascarpone cheese instead of heavy cream, wine instead of balsamic vinegar, and black olives instead of capers.

Home "Worchester"

Prepare:

• onion - 1 pc.
• garlic - 2 cloves
• chili pepper - 4 pcs.
• vinegar - 2 tbsp.
• soy sauce - 1 tbsp.
• sugar - 0.5 tbsp.
• kosher (or rock) salt - 3 tbsp. l.
• molasses - 0.5 tbsp.
• ginger (fresh) - 25 gr.
• cinnamon - 1 stick
• cardamom - 5 pods
• mustard (in seeds) – 3 tbsp.
• curry (powder) – 0.5 tsp.
• cloves - 1 tsp.

You need to prepare it like this:

1. Peel the onion, garlic and ginger and chop finely. Cut the chili in half, remove the seeds, and chop the cardamom.
2. Mix all ingredients, except granulated sugar, and cook over medium heat until the first signs of boiling appear. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Place the sugar in a dry frying pan and melt until it turns into brown caramel, then add it to the sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Remove the sauce from the stove and pass through a fine sieve (gauze), pour into jars for storage. After cooling, transfer to a cool place (refrigerator) for storage. He can stay here for 7-8 months.

Consume by adding 2-5 drops to a dish of meat, vegetables or fish.

Home "Worchester"

Prepare:

• anchovies – 1 pc.
• onion - 1 pc.
• garlic - 2 cloves
• tamarind (paste) - 0.5-1 tbsp. l.
• soy sauce - 125 ml
• chili pepper (red hot), powder - 0.5 tsp.
• vinegar essence - 2 tbsp.
• salt - based on taste
• sugar - 0.5 tbsp.
• ginger (fresh pulp or ground) - 1 tsp.
• cinnamon - 0.5 tsp. powder or 1 stick
• cardamom (powder) – 0.5 tsp.
• curry (powder) – 0.5 tsp.
• white mustard (in seeds) – 2 tbsp.
• black pepper (peas) - 1 tsp.
• cloves - 1 tsp.

You need to prepare it like this:

1. Peel the onion and add acetic acid.
2. After half an hour, remove the onion and finely chop.
3. Grind the garlic with a press (garlic press) and sprinkle with vinegar.
4. Place onions, garlic, cloves, peppers, ginger and cardamom in a gauze bag. It's good to tie this creation.
5. Pour soy sauce and vinegar essence, diluted with water to 6%, into the pan. Pour sugar into the liquid and add a bag of spices and tamarind.
6. Boil the mixture over low heat for half an hour. At this time, you need to chop the anchovy extremely finely, grind it with curry, add salt and a small amount of water until you get a liquid mass, which you immediately add to the saucepan with the future sauce.
7. After 30 minutes of cooking, move the bag into a glass container (or a jar) and fill it with sauce from the saucepan. When the composition has cooled, the jar should be closed and placed in the refrigerator for a week. Every day you need to open the sauce and squeeze out the bag.
8. After a week, throw away the bag and strain the sauce into glass storage containers. The sauce should only be stored in the refrigerator.

Homemade Worcestershire sauce

This sauce is ideally close to the original, but it has one drawback - it is prepared in a minimum dose - 10 kg. After studying the components of the recipe, you will understand why. It is composed on the basis of the components indicated on the sauce label and is adapted for making at home.

Prepare:

• anchovies or spicy sardellas – 190 gr.
• celery – 80 gr.
• horseradish – 40 gr.
• water – 3 liters
• dessert wine (for example, Tokay) or port – 760 gr.
• malt vinegar, 10% – 2.3 liters
• tamarind – 570 gr.
• tomato paste – 950 gr.
• meat broth boiled to a jelly state, low-fat and clarified (aspic) – 70 g.
• lemon – 190 gr.
• meat extract – 80 gr.
• walnut extract - 190 gr.
• tarragon extract (vinegar tincture) – 10 g.
• champignon extract-decoction - 570 gr.
• chili pepper extract - 340 gr.
• chili pepper (piece) – 1 gr.
• allspice – 4 gr.
• black pepper (ground into powder) – 80 gr.
• curry (powder) – 100 gr.
• nutmeg powder – 4 gr.
• ginger (fresh grated pulp or ground) – 1 gr.
• bay leaf (piece) – 1 gr.
• salt – 230 gr.
• granulated sugar – 230 gr.
• burnt sugar (melted) – 19 gr.

You need to prepare it like this:

1. We prepare all the components, weigh what is cleaned and cut - peel, chop, squeeze the juice out of the lemon.
2. Place all ingredients, except burnt sugar, in a heat-resistant container (pour in water carefully at the very end) and boil for about 15 minutes after boiling.
3. Add the burnt sugar, melted in a frying pan, while still warm and sticky, into the sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Remove the sauce from the heat and strain through a fine sieve (gauze), pour into jars for storage.

Worcestershire sauce should be stored in the refrigerator and consumed by adding 2-6 drops to any savory dish.

Worcestershire sauce, which came to us from England, is prepared using vinegar, fish and 20 other ingredients. Its distinctive feature is its two-year aging. In cooking it is used more as a seasoning. This is due to its richness and concentration, so just a few drops added to a dish completely transform its taste. This spicy spice is one of the main ingredients of the traditional Caesar salad and is famous all over the world.

Of course, at home, rarely does anyone follow the rules for preparing this spice, namely, aging it for two years. Therefore, over time, its variations appeared, adapted to modern realities. Despite the simplified process, cooking is relatively labor-intensive due to the large number of components and the peculiarities of their preparation.

Homemade Worcestershire Sauce Recipe

Before you start cooking, you should make sure you have a piece of gauze or a gauze bag, which is necessary for processing some of the ingredients.

In the list of products included in this spice, tablespoons are indicated in all cases: 0.25 - one fourth, 0.5 - half, and so on.

Required Products:

• One large anchovy;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• ginger (root) – 0.5 pcs.;
• garlic (slice) – 2 pcs.;
• mustard (seeds) – 3 spoons;
• black peppercorns and cinnamon (stick) – 0.5 pcs each;;
• salt – 3 spoons;
• ground red pepper, curry, cardamom - 0.25 spoons each;;
• vinegar – 400 ml;
• cloves – 0.5 spoons (3g);
• soy sauce – 100 ml;
• sugar – 100 g;
• lime juice (freshly squeezed) – 2 tablespoons;
• water – 100 ml.

If you use a piece of gauze rather than a special bag, then it should be folded in several layers.

Cooking yourself is carried out according to the following scheme:

1. Peeled onions are cut into small cubes (some recipes recommend pre-soaking the onions in vinegar for 2-3 minutes).
2. Peeled garlic cloves are cut crosswise into thin slices.
3. Ginger root is crushed.
4. The prepared ingredients, along with mustard, cinnamon, cloves and pepper (red and peas), are placed in a gauze bag and tied.
5. Then freshly squeezed lime juice, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar are mixed in a saucepan and a gauze bag is dropped into this mixture.
6. After the liquid boils, the fire is reduced to minimum heat and simmers for 40 minutes.
7. In the meantime, the remaining components are prepared: the anchovy is crushed and placed in a separate pan (or another fireproof container) along with water, salt and curry.
8. After the specified time, the contents of both pans are mixed and boiled for another 10 minutes.
9. The finished homemade Worcestershire sauce is removed from the heat and poured into a glass container (preferably a jar with a wide neck - it’s easier to use). A gauze bag is placed there, closed with a lid and placed in the refrigerator.
10. For two weeks, while the “seasoning” is infused, it is necessary to periodically stir it and squeeze out the bag.
11. The finished delicious spice is poured into glass bottles and stored in the refrigerator (the bag is thrown away).

Before serving or using the spice as an ingredient in other dishes, it is recommended to shake the contents of the bottle.

Another homemade recipe

This option is slightly different from the previous one in the way of preparing some products and the composition; it includes 16 components (remember, there are 22 in the classic recipe). In addition, the time required for infusion is halved here.

Grocery list:

• onion – 1 pc.;
• sugar – 100 g;
• mustard (white in seeds) – 2 spoons;
• 1 anchovy;
• ground or fresh ginger – 0.5 tablespoons;
• cardamom (powder) and ground red pepper (hot) - 0.25 spoons each;
• cloves, peppercorns (black) - 0.5 spoons each;
• cinnamon and curry - 0.25 spoons each;
• garlic (slice) – 2 pcs.;
• vinegar (essence) – 2 spoons;
• tamarind – 0.5-1 spoon;
• soy sauce – 125 ml;
• salt.

The last ingredient is added to taste, but following the rule “everything is good in moderation.” The Worcestershire sauce recipe at home, like the traditional version, requires strict adherence to all proportions, so it is important not to experiment with adding ingredients in order to get a truly excellent result.

Step by step cooking instructions:

1. The peeled onion is poured with vinegar essence, left for half an hour, after which it is cut into small cubes.
2. Garlic (pre-peeled) is passed through a press and sprinkled with vinegar.
3. Prepared vegetables are placed in a gauze bag along with pepper (ground and peas), cardamom, cloves, and ginger. It is then tied securely.
4. Mix soy sauce, a small amount of water, vinegar, tamarind and sugar in a saucepan. The bag is immersed in the resulting mixture.
5. After boiling, the heat is reduced to a minimum and the “sweet and sour” is cooked for about half an hour.
6. At this time, the anchovy is chopped and mixed with salt, curry, and a small amount of water (the mass should be runny).
7. Pour the resulting mixture into the pan and cook everything together until the specified time has elapsed.
8. The finished liquid cools slightly and is poured into a glass jar, and a gauze bag is placed in it. The jar is closed with a lid and placed in the refrigerator.
9. During the week required for infusion, the contents of the jar are periodically shaken and the bag is wrung out.
10. On the eighth day, the gauze is removed and thrown away along with the contents, and the “liquid seasoning” is poured into glass bottles and stored in the refrigerator.

If you look at the photo of the finished spice, including the commercially available one, its color is very dark, almost black. You can serve it with fried meat dishes, use it as an ingredient for salad dressings, add it to stewed and boiled vegetables, and so on.

Video: Worcestershire sauce - how it's made

An interesting article was found on the website Timeout.ru

The history of Worcestershire sauce (aka Worcestershire, Worcestershire, Worcestershire) is very interesting. According to one version, a certain Lord Marques Sandys, the ex-governor of Bengal, in 1837 brought to his native Worcester the recipe for the sauce he loved during his service in India and ordered it from a local pharmacy. But what happened did not even remotely resemble the lord’s favorite specialty. Upset, he refused to accept the order. The rejected sauce migrated to the basement, where it was discovered some time later. This is where his finest hour came: the settled product acquired an exceptional taste. According to another version, Lord Marquez ordered the development of a recipe from chemists John Lee and William Perrins, and without delay they developed the recipe by which the sauce is still prepared.

By the way, Worcestershire sauce is only Lea & Perrins. Everything else is just an imitation. The sauce is prepared from twenty, and according to some sources, from as many as forty ingredients, which include tamarind, anchovies, lemon balm and aspica (concentrated meat broth, clarified and low-fat). But the main secret of preparation is aging in oak barrels. Note to particularly advanced cooks: a serious recipe for making the sauce at home is in the Larousse Gastronomique encyclopedia. Worcestershire tastes very spicy, sweet and sour. I would even say - too spicy. Two or three drops in any dish is more than enough. I decided to test our “hero” while marinating meat for barbecue. I just added three drops to my regular recipe. Even such a small amount of sauce gave the meat a rather noticeable spicy sourness. Later I remembered that Worcestershire is an indispensable ingredient in the Caesar salad, which is discredited in our Palestines. The use in this recipe is also elementary. The result clearly illustrated why “Caesars” in restaurants are so different despite a visually identical set of ingredients. Sauce! Some people simply save money on it. But I don’t skimp: now I use it for stews - roast beef and stews, seasoning all kinds of hot appetizers, raw steak, marinated fish and even scrambled eggs and bacon.

Recipe/Caesar (3 servings)

Romaine salad - 400 g

White bread - 100 g

Garlic - 1 large clove

Extra Virgin olive oil - 50 g

Egg - 1 pc.

Juice of 1 lemon

Worcestershire sauce - 2-4 drops

Grated Parmesan - 2 tbsp. l.

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Wash the lettuce leaves and dry them. Cut dried white bread without crust into cubes with a side of 1 cm and dry until lightly browned in the oven for 10 minutes. Crush the garlic and grind it with salt. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and heat over low heat. Place the croutons there and, stirring, keep on fire for 1-2 minutes. Make a small hole at the blunt end of a large raw egg and place it in a pan of barely boiling water for a minute. Rub a salad bowl with garlic and place the greens in it. Drizzle with oil and mix gently. Season with salt and pepper, add lemon juice and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, stirring well. Break the egg into the salad, stir so that it covers the lettuce leaves. Then sprinkle with cheese, add croutons and mix again.