Worcestershire Sauce History

The marketing history of Worcestershire sauce is well-documented. In 1837 the English firm Lea & Perrins began selling the exciting, newly-developed product commercially at their pharmacy/grocery store. They also sent representatives to the docks of English ports in order to convince the stewards of passenger ships to take cases of the condiment on board liners so that bottles of the product could be set on the dining room tables. The tangy, pungent, meaty-flavored sauce caught on, and soon Lea & Perrins opened more retail shops in several English towns. Along with other products, they sold their sauce at these new locations. Worcestershire sauce was also exported to other countries around the world.

Now the sauce is produced in the United States, as well as in England, and other brands of Worcestershire sauce besides Lea & Perrins have appeared.

The story of the origins of the recipe for Worcestershire sauce is entangled in a web of legends, but the common thread is that its place of origin was India. Versions of how the recipe came to England usually credit a member or members of the prominent Sandys (see pronunciation note below) and/or Grey families. Typically the stories indicate an effort to reproduce a Bengali recipe for a sauce or a curry powder, and the assistance of apothecaries/chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins of Worcester. In most editions of the tale, the first attempt is a failure, but the results are stored away; fermentation occurs and a later tasting reveals the delightful concoction now enjoyed the world over.

The exact recipe is secret, but it is known to include both common and exotic ingredients: anchovies, shallots, chilies, cloves, tamarinds (brown pods from a tropical tree), garlic, sugar, molasses, vinegar, and salt. Attempts to produce the sauce at home are sometimes made, as this 1890 recipe shows:

The versatile sauce, homemade or commercial, is used on broiled meats (especially steaks), in Bloody Marys, in stews, in recipes for Welsh rabbit, even in some blue cheese dressing recipes.

In 1981 the U. S. Department of the Army spent $6000 to prepare a 17-page manual on how to buy Worcestershire sauce. It really isn't that hard. Go buy some and add its mysterious piquancy to your foods.

Notes

The Lea & Perrin's advertisement is from Isabella Beeton, Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book, New and Revised Edition, Ward, Lock & Co., Ltd., London, ca. 1920, facing inside front cover.
The Holbrook's advertisement is from the 1902 edition of Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book.
The above recipe is from Marion Harland, Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1890, p. 181.
The pronunciation of “Worcestershire” provides almost endless speculation, controversy, and amusement. The three syllables have variations with enthusiastic proponents, as follows:
- First syllable — “wuh” or “woo.”
- Second syllable — “stah,” “shtah,” “stuh,” “shtuh,” “sturr,” or “shturr.”
- Third syllable — “sha,” “sheer,” “shuh,” “shurr,” or no third syllable at all.
Michael Kenyon (in “Worcester Sauce,” Gourmet, October 1989, pp. 122-241), after noting that “Sands” is the proper pronunciation of the name “Sandys,” chooses ”wuh-stuh-shuh” as the best approximation of how the word should sound.
See also the following webpage:
- Lea & Perrins Heritage.
International research assistance was provided by Phil Mauger of Outstaffing.com.
The photograph is by Henry Mitchell.
Digital formatting is by Jonathan Mitchell.

Worcestershire Marketing Magic

Imitation Worcestershire Sauce

Notes