Worcestershire Sauce

Oh boy am I gonna open a big ole can o' worms with this one! To begin with... just how the hell is "worcestershire" pronounced? Fortunately, I am related to some folks from that part of the world by virtue (HA!) of marriage. So I have learned a wee thing or two about how I'm supposed to pronounce words from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, London, and many of the surrounding shires.

Ahem. Here's the fo-nah-teek way to pronounce it (according to a well place source whom I sleep with):  Worchestershire is pronounced   wuss-tu-shuh   

I'm not kidding! Even though the word has 3 r's, not a one of them is pronounced! The first part "worches" is "wuss", then the "ter" is "tu", and "shire" is "shuh". See, you learn something new every day by reading my useless tidbits. Oh yeah, an aussie would pronounce it "wuss-ta-shah".

Back to the sauce...

About a year ago or more, I needed some wusstushuh sauce for making something (it was even going to be edible). However, I was out of the sauce with the exception of a tiny bit of really cheap gunky wusstushuh. "Well," thought I, "I certainly can't use that crappy sauce for this! It'd be ruined!"

What to do... hmmmm, gotta think... I know! I'll make my own.

Fortunately there's this really cool thing y'all may have heard about; it's called The Internet. Just imagine, any info you want about anything or anybody is yours for the pilfering right at your fingertips without ever having to get your lazy ass out of the chair! Wow! Someone shoulda invented this a lot sooner... heck, there'd be even more couch potatoes!

Whoops, back to the recipe.

Now, I *know* that a lot of wusstushuh sauce recipes say you gotta have tamarind paste. Mine doesn't. Why? Cus the idea was to make it with only items that were in the pantry at the time. Going out and buying something would be cheating cus I could just grab a bottle of Lea & Perrins and be done.

After extensive reading and research on this great thingy called The Internet, I had compiled my own list of ingredients (all of which I had on hand, thank you) and a vague idea of what to do.

Soooo, here ya go: homemade wusstushuh sauce! I'm sure you will all have the ingredients in your kitchen pantry :)


Worcestershire sauce

What you need:

1 chopped tomato(e)
1 small chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch of fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
3 anchovy fillets, minced
1 small handfull of raisins
1/3 cup treacle OR molasses
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 cup water
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp raw sugar
2/3 cup beer (a dark lager works well)


Whew! That's quite the list, eh?



What you do:

Chuck it all in a pot, bring it to a boil (I'd suggest using some kind of heating device under the pot to do this) and then let it simmer for 1 hour (keep it covered, very important so you don't lose liquid). Let it cool.

Pour the cooled semi-lumpy stuff into a blender and then blenderize it till there ain't no lumps left. Should only take a minute or two.

Strain the liquid, then bottle the liquid in a jar, seal it, let it sit overnight in the fridge, and then
use it! See, simple! Easy!

You'll also note that this tastes much better than anything you'll buy off the shelf; trust me on that!

Oh, for the jarring part: just pour boiling water into the glass jar (toss the lid into the pot of boiling water for a moment too), then empty the jar and let it cool for a few. That's it, easy.