Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here it's that brown sauce
Speaker 1: with a ni unpronounceable name. It looks on paper like
Speaker 1: war kester Shire. It's a tangy, tasty addition to red meats, soups,
Speaker 1: and pretty much anything that needs braizing. And according to
Speaker 1: the company that originally created it, Lee and Parents, it
Speaker 1: can be pronounced Worcestershire, Woostershire or wooster sheer. Wooster shear.
Speaker 1: Sauce is used to make good things even better because
Speaker 1: it packs a lot of savor nous is sometimes called umami.
Speaker 1: The word umami, by the way, was coined in the
Speaker 1: first decade of the nineteen hundreds as a way of
Speaker 1: marketing the then newly isolated flavor compound monosodium glutamate or MSG.
Speaker 1: But back to the sauce. We spoke by email with
Speaker 1: Shamous Mullen, chef at the Institute of Culinary Education. He said,
Speaker 1: in recent years there's been a newfound interest in umami
Speaker 1: for the fifth taste after salty, sweet, bitter, and sour,
Speaker 1: often described as deliciousness, the umami brings out the natural
Speaker 1: flavorings and food makes steak taste, more steaky mushrooms, more
Speaker 1: shrewmy Worcester shear sauce is made up of a lot
Speaker 1: of flavorful ingredients, including anchovies, and that's right, it's not
Speaker 1: generally vegan plus red onion, molasses, garlic, tamarind and malt
Speaker 1: and or cider vinegar. Mullen said. The vinegar and tamarind
Speaker 1: bring a punchy ascidity to the sauce, and the molasses
Speaker 1: an onion balance out the sweetness. But the true magic
Speaker 1: happens during the lengthy fermentation process, which takes eighteen to
Speaker 1: twenty four months. This last and most critical step was
Speaker 1: something of a happy accident when, supposedly in the early
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, two chemists based in Wooster, England, John Lee
Speaker 1: and William Parents, were charged with duplicating a recipe that
Speaker 1: one British nobleman or an other had enjoyed in Bengal.
Speaker 1: Their first effort was an utter failure, however, and the
Speaker 1: chemists left it to languish in jars and their seller.
Speaker 1: A few years later, they rediscovered the batch and were
Speaker 1: thrilled to realize that fermentation had turned it into the
Speaker 1: perfect savory sauce. They started selling it in eighteen thirty seven.
Speaker 1: It came to the US in eighteen thirty nine and
Speaker 1: is sold in over seventy five countries today. When that
Speaker 1: original Leon Parents product was shipped overseas, its glass bottles
Speaker 1: often broke as a result of rough waters, so the
Speaker 1: company began wrapping the individual bottles in paper. The tradition
Speaker 1: continues today more as a way to distinguish the brand,
Speaker 1: rather than a need to keep the product whole. The
Speaker 1: company lost the copyright to the name in eighteen seventy six.
Speaker 1: While the Lion Parents recipe remains a closely guarded secret,
Speaker 1: many competitors have sprung up to make similar versions. The
Speaker 1: BBC counted at least thirty others in Worcester alone. You
Speaker 1: can even try making it yourself at home, Mullen said,
Speaker 1: while the aging and fermenting process might be a bit much.
Speaker 1: To undertake it home, you can make a very tasty
Speaker 1: approximation of oyster sheer sauce by simmering soy sauce, mustard powder, malt, vinegar,
Speaker 1: tamarind paste, garlic, anchovy paste, tomato paste, ginger molasses, and spices.
Speaker 1: Those spices, he said, can include coriander seed, mustard seed
Speaker 1: and clove, as well as orange peel and black pepper.
Speaker 1: He explained that you simply mix all the ingredients and
Speaker 1: simmer to sauce consistency, then strain and store the liquid.
Speaker 1: There are lots of recipes online, including several for those
Speaker 1: of us who have been playing around with home fermentation,
Speaker 1: and of course, the beloved sauce isn't relegated to steaks
Speaker 1: in such either. It can be added to pretty much
Speaker 1: anything that needs singing, be it a bloody mary fondue,
Speaker 1: cheese sauce, eggs, popcorn potatoes, salad dressing, or a grilled
Speaker 1: cheese sandwich. Lee and Parents even recommends a splash of
Speaker 1: it in place of your normal dashes of salt and pepper.
Speaker 1: The continuing enthusiasm over Ummmy Flavor is carrying over into
Speaker 1: the Worst of Shire market, and this recent uptick is
Speaker 1: expected to continue projected through at least Mulin explained O
Speaker 1: Mommy hounds have been on the hunt for heritage condiments,
Speaker 1: likely in Paren's original recipe, and there's an ever increasing
Speaker 1: trend towards finding new applications for the sauce, from marinades
Speaker 1: to cocktails, most to shear sauce is having a moment.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Aliya Hoyt and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. For more in this and lots of other
Speaker 1: savory topics, visit has to Works dot Com. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.