Homemade Worcestershire Sauce

The recipe for Worcestershire sauce, pronounced "Wust ta sheer," dates back to colonial India, when the British Lord Sandys brought it back from travels in Bengal. In 1835, he commissioned a pair of chemists back in his English hometown of Worcester to try and replicate the flavour. John Lea and William Perrins gave it a go but were disappointed by the results. They stuck the jars in the cellar and forgot about them.

After a few years, they rediscovered the bottles under a thick layer of dust and decided to give the sauce another chance. During the unintentional aging process, it had developed a rich and savory flavor identified by modern foodies as umami. The partners bottled more, and a taste for Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce spread across the world - and into our fridge!

Lea & Perrins closely guards its original recipe, but the main ingredients include vinegar, anchovies, tamarind, molasses, garlic, and onions, along with sugar and undisclosed spices and seasonings. While not the same as that famous sauce, this version tastes pretty yum.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 large sweet onions (roughly chopped)

1/2 cup tamarind paste 

2 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp minced ginger

2 jalapeños (seeds removed and minced)

1/4 cup anchovies (chopped)

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 whole cloves

2 Tbsp freshly cracked black pepper

1/2 cup golden syrup

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3 cups white vinegar

1 cup dark beer

1/2 cup orange juice

2 cups water

1 lemon (thinly sliced)

1 lime (thinly sliced)

Makes about 1 litre

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onions until soft, about 7 mins. Add the tamarind paste, garlic, ginger, and jalapeños. Cook over medium-low heat for another 5 mins.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 hours.

The sauce is done when it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Strain the sauce into glass bottles or jars and seal (refrigerate if you're concerned about it 'going off' - it will definitely go off in our household, straight onto the plate!). I like aged sauces and chutneys and I think this recipe will improve with age - if you give it a chance.

Chook's notes: I have tweaked the original recipe as some of the ingredients were not available locally. Next time I would increase the anchovies and tamarind but put in less of the jalapenos (the ones I used were quite large).

Although the original recipe claims that this will keep in the fridge for several weeks, I suspect,  like a jam, it would last longer in or out of the fridge. Or you could preserve it in the usual way (not something I'd be bothered doing). Of course once opened you should store it in the fridge to be on the safe side.