The encyclopaedia of gravy
Worcestershire sauce is the most useful single bottle in gravy-making, supplying acidity, salt and umami at the same time — and it descends from the mushroom ketchups of the 18th century.
Why it is so useful¶
Most gravies that "taste flat" are short of acid and umami rather than salt. Worcestershire sauce supplies both, plus a little sweetness from molasses and tamarind, in a single teaspoon.
It is the fastest fix in the gravy repertoire, and the one professional trick most home cooks already have in the cupboard.
What is in it¶
Malt vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, tamarind, onion, garlic, anchovies and spices, fermented and matured. The anchovies are the umami engine — as in the classical Roman garum and in the anchovy traditionally melted into a lamb gravy. It does not taste of fish at gravy doses.
History¶
Created in Worcester in the 1830s by chemists John Lea and William Perrins. The origin story — a batch made to a nobleman's recipe, disliked, abandoned in a cellar and discovered to be excellent after months of fermentation — is a good story of uncertain accuracy, repeated by the company itself.
They literally left it alone in a barrel in the cellar because it was horrible, then tried it a year or so later, and it was delicious. Now, between you and me, it is the trying it later that I would be apprehensive at best to do... they took one for the team, at least in my opinion, that was a noble act of the highest order; it is most delicious.
Its real ancestry is the eighteenth-century English mushroom and walnut ketchups and the anchovy-based garum tradition behind them. See medieval sauces.
How to use it¶
- 1 tsp per 500 ml of gravy, added near the end.
- In a beef or onion gravy, it reads as depth rather than as itself.
- In a chicken gravy it can be too assertive; use half as much, or use lemon.
- Also useful as a last-minute lift for a gravy that tastes heavy — see seasoning gravy.
Dietary notes¶
Classic Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies (not vegetarian or vegan) and malt vinegar from barley (not gluten-free). Vegan and gluten-free versions are widely sold and work well, though they are usually a little sweeter.