Brown sauce is a condiment that is normally dark brown in colour. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce. Brand's A.1. sauce was the first brown sauce and was introduced in 1831.
 A fried breakfast served with brown sauce | |
| Type | Condiment |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United Kingdom[1][2][3] |
| Main ingredients | Tomatoes, molasses, dates, apples, tamarind, spices, vinegar |
Description
editBrown sauce is a condiment commonly served with food in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is normally dark brown in colour. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce. Commercial sauces are a blend of tomatoes, malt vinegar, molasses, dates, spices and tamarind.
Use
editBrown sauce is typically eaten with meals such as meat pies, full breakfasts, bacon sandwiches and chips. A combination of malt vinegar (or water) and brown sauce known simply as sauce or chippy sauce is popular on fish and chips in Edinburgh.[4][5]
History
editThe first brown sauce—Brand's A.1. sauce—was introduced in 1831. It was made in Vauxhall, London.[6]
In 1837, Yorkshire Relish, of a similar style to brown sauce, was created in Leeds, England. It is relatively unknown in the UK today [7] but in the latter part of the 19th century, in Sheffield, Henry Henderson began manufacturing Henderson's Relish which remains popular today.
Although not a generally available commercial product, a recipe for "sauce for steaks" composed of ale, wine, ketchup, black pepper and butter appeared in an 1843 cookbook published in London entitled English Cookery.[8]
A brown sauce still popular today, HP Sauce, was invented in the United Kingdom by Frederick Gibson Garton in 1884 in Nottinghamshire.[1] An alternative claim states that an earlier brown sauce was created in Leicestershire by David Hoe in the 1850s, who sold his recipe to Garton.[2][3]
Common brands
editIn the United Kingdom
editHP Sauce is the earliest brown sauce, and is the most popular brown sauce in the United Kingdom, accounting for around 75% of sales. Daddies, OK Sauce and Wilkin & Sons are other popular brands. Another is Hammonds of Yorkshire,[9] popular in Northern England.[10]
In Ireland
editChef and HP Sauce are popular brown sauce brands in Ireland. Another sauce, Yorkshire Relish, is a similar style of sauce that originated in Leeds, England in 1837,[7] and is now produced in Ireland and is currently manufactured in County Dublin under the YR Sauce brand.
Generic brands
editMost supermarket chains in the UK[11] and Ireland also stock their own brand of brown sauce. As with other condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard, brown sauce is widely available in catering sachets and dispenser bottles in restaurants.
Similar products
editSteak sauce is a similar product in the United States.[12]
Popularity
editBetween 2013 and 2014, the sales of brown sauces in the UK decreased by approximately 19%, according to market research company Mintel, but more than 13 million kg (29 million lb) is still consumed each year.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ a b Kotecha, Ameer (2021-06-17). "The very British history of HP sauce". The Spectator. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ a b Fortey, Neil (2021-01-30). "A Saucy tale - from Easthorpe to the Houses of Parliament". Bottesford Living History. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ a b Murphy, Shayna (2021-09-22). "HP Sauce: The Sticky History Behind the UK's Favorite Brown Sauce". Mental Floss. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ "Chippie Sauce" Archived 2013-06-27 at the Wayback Machine, cooksinfo.com
- ^ "Salt 'n' sauce - Scotland's culinary divide". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2020-01-25. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
- ^ "Brand and Co". gracesguide.co.uk.
- ^ a b "Goodall, Backhouse and Co". Graces Guide. 2022-06-15. Archived from the original on 2023-11-12. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ English Cookery. London: Cradock & Co. 1843. p. 56.
- ^ Amos, Mike (2010-08-11). "What sauce". The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 2023-11-12. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ "Hammonds Sauces - good, honest flavoursome sauces". McCormick Flavour Solutions UK. 2021-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ Bullard, Alexandra (2022-01-09). "'I compared HP sauce with Tesco, Lidl and Waitrose and one of them was vile'". MyLondon. Archived from the original on 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
- ^ Baxter-Wright, Dusty (28 March 2017). "Americans don't know what Brown Sauce is and it's mind blowing". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Naylor, Tony (2015-01-05). "Brown sauce sales are falling: has Britain finally come to its senses?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
- ^ Hyslop, Leah (2015-01-05). "Are we falling out of love with brown sauce? Sales of brown sauce plunged by nearly a fifth last year, figures suggest". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2018-03-12. Retrieved 2018-03-11.