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Sauce

Worcestershire Sauce

A fermented sauce made by boiling spices and vinegar, then adding shallots, garlic, and soy, and aging for 14 days.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Worcestershire Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the infusion

  1. Boil 2 drachms mace, 2 ounces cayenne pods, and 1 quart malt vinegar for 15 minutes.

  2. Put in a jar and add 4 ounces shallots and 1 ounce sliced garlic.

  3. Let stand 14 days.

Finish and bottle

  1. Strain and add 6 ounces Indian soy.

  2. Bottle and seal.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

66Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Maltnot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Vinegar + shallottop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Malt + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together365 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Malt + shallottop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cayenne pods
Adds the sharp, hot pungency that defines the sauce's heat.
Malt vinegar
Provides the acidic base that extracts flavour from the spices and aromatics.
Shallots
Contribute mild, savoury onion-like aroma that deepens over the long steep.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and rounds out during the steeping period.
Indian soy
Adds savoury, salty depth that rounds out the sharp vinegar and spice.
Mace
Contributes a warm, aromatic spice note to the infused vinegar.

The step that matters

Let stand 14 days. The long steep lets the flavour compounds from the spices and aromatics move into the acidic vinegar. Rushing this step leaves the sauce harsh and unbalanced, with the aromatics tasting raw rather than blended.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, vinegar, shallot, garlic):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against malt, vinegar, shallot, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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