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Worcester Sauce

I know the Americans usually have trouble saying Worcester Sauce, sometimes calling it Worcestershire Sauce, but I had long forgotten about this delicious seducer of taste buds. When it comes to lunch, I usually have a couple of slices of toast and a Banana and that does me until my main dinner usually around 6:00 pm.

Cheddar

Today though, there was some Cheddar cheese that needed to be used before expiring and I do hate to see food go to waste, so, to make my lunch that little bit ‘lunchier’, I had cheese on toast. They call it Welsh Rarebit around these parts, but I have yet to discover why.

Surprise

While waiting like a good boy at the table, my lovely wife came out of the kitchen, clutching a small bottle of something. ‘I think you’ll enjoy this with your lunch’ she said and put it on the table. Whoa, a bottle of Worcester Sauce! It wasn’t the original Lee & Perrins, but a Sainsbury’s own brand. Nevertheless, I thought it was my birthday!

Others Too

It wasn’t long before the cheese on toast arrived and I opened the bottle and sprinkled on the sauce. Oooh, that smell, is so distinctive and inviting. I know it’s only cheese on toast and it goes well with most sauces, tomato, Daddies brown, H.P. and many others that I can’t remember, but with Worcester sauce, well, what can I say? Delicious.

Last Forever

It was so nice, I didn’t want to eat my banana afterwards, I wanted the taste memory to linger as long as it could. I did eventually get to eat the banana and thought about sprinkling it with Worcester sauce, but decided against it. I love a little treat especially when I’m not expecting it. We all do, don’t we?

Worcestershire

I’ve only just realised that Lee & Perrins call it ‘Worcestershire Sauce’ yet I always thought it was ‘Worcester Sauce’. Anyway, if you’d like to know more about this delight, here’s more about it on Wikipedia.

82 thoughts on “Worcester Sauce”

  1. We always call it Worcester sauce too.
    I’m a big fan of cheese on toast. Last week I even had it for my late breakfast, but like you, I can never understand why cafe menus call it Welsh Rarebit.

    I’ve not had it with Worcester sauce but sometimes I have it with marmite.
    I could probably eliminate almost everything from my diet except cheese. πŸ™‚

  2. I have a hard time saying Worcestershire . I say “war chester” not sure if thats correct but thats the way it comes out of my mouth lol. And yes I am an American haha πŸ˜„ πŸ˜† Also I love cheese on my toast. I’m not sure how it would taste with the worcheshire/Worcestershire sauce though πŸ€” might just give it a try some day πŸ˜‹ πŸ€”

  3. I think us Americans use slang like all other countries but we’re shamed as “stupid” by the same countries who push propaganda here that make us stupid.

    I’ll probably keep saying it the wrong way but I rarely ever even use it because most of the food here in America is being poisoned anyway

  4. I live on the Northwestern coast of the US, near Seattle. My grandmother called it Wooster Sauce and so do we all. Except Great Aunt Gladys who called it Woo Woo sauce. But she was a flapper and had a tattoo back when that was “just disgraceful.” Now there was an awesome old lady.

  5. I like to keep my Lee & Perrins until it’s out of date, seems to give it a stronger taste. Incidentally, in Sheffield they Henderson’s Sauce. Nobody up there would use any other Worcestershire (or is that Yorkshire?) sauce tgan Hendo’s.

  6. Apparently it really did start off as ‘Welsh Rabbit’ as a joke – but was changed later as there was no rabbit in it! You can use Lea and Perrins on stir fry if you don’t have any soy sauce.

  7. Yes, us Yanks struggle with that name. I think I pronounce it as worstchesture, so I try and pronounce it infrequently, if at all. And I’m not sure if I have ever used it. And the Welsh rarebit/rabbit actually being cheese on toast? Well, that’s disappointing. Thanks for the culinary education.

  8. Oh when I saw the photo I began to salivate! Welsh rarebit was always one of my favourite things. When I was little my mum took us for a treat and my brother got a knickerbocker glory but when I was asked what I wanted I said “I want that what smells!” Someone nearby had Welsh rarebit. That’s what I got and I loved it. So your post takes me a long way back! Worcester sauce too.

  9. A favorite treat since childhood: a grilled cheese sandwich with Worcestershire sauce for dipping or dribbled on. For me it’s always been Lee & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, and it’s a staple in my house. I pronounce it woo-sta-sheer or something like that.

  10. I Austria, where I grew up, we called it “W-sauce” because nobody knew how to pronounce either Worcestershire or Worcester. πŸ™‚ It’s my favorite sauce especially on steak or in ground meat when I make meatloaf or burgers.

  11. That sounds tasty. I gave up on pronouncing it correctly a long time ago and now I just say it in the silliest sounding way that comes out of my mouth. Everyone knows what I mean, though.

  12. Worcester(shire) sauce isn’t something I perticularly enjoy so I rarely have it in the house. I prefer marmite with cheese. But having something different and something you really enjoy is always nice.

  13. Hmmm I guess the kids would love it, I will try it for the kids. Please help polish our dreams to the world so we can make it a better place by caring and showing love to the motherless kids homeless and have no one to care for them or their education. Organizing this website is to help make some income for the orphanage home kids life keep. The Ute community orphanage home foundation is crying 😭😭 out to the world for help and assistance so they can live a better life and also to know that the world care about their living just like if they had parents.

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  14. Worsestershire, a county in the Midlands, has one of those charmingly multisyllabic old place names that aquired an abbreviated pronunciation over the years (you Welsh know at bit about that). “WUS-tΙ™r-shΙ™r” is the correct way to say it, even in America, but a lot of us don’t know that. Enjoy, Trev!

    1. Right on, Mitch. That is how my family has always pronounced it, except we left off the ‘r’ in the second syllable. Many times, though, we would say “what’s this here” sauce! πŸ™‚

  15. Yum – I sprinkle the sauce on before I grill the cheese. Welsh rarebit is more like a thick cheese sauce mixed with english mustard and a splash or two of dark ale (or Guinness in our house). Double yum!

    1. That’s a great idea about sprinkling Worcester sauce first. I don’t know if I’d like the Guinness though. Thank you, Eileen. πŸ™‚

  16. I had a big disappointment today. Made toasted cheese for lunch and looked for the HP Sauce. And there it was gone!
    Tragic drama.
    Was forced to use a chili crisp as an inadequate substitute,

  17. Australians love Worcestershire Sauce. We all love salt and vinegar oh my goodness 🫣. Over time the old Australians had their own formula made at home 🏑. Today on the supermarket shelf the branding is the same but it is water down like water. I only like my sauce the old way creamy and thick home made 🀫🀫

  18. What a delightful blog post. I, too, ” hate to see food go to waste” β€” which can lead to all sorts of culinary combinations and innovations… Thank you!

  19. Whilst working in Amsterdam at the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, I had an American colleague named Mial Parker, a great chef who went on to represent his country several times at the Culinary Olympics. He was convinced that Lea & Perrins Worcester sauce was made in New Jersey!

    Of course I put him straight of that weird notion but your blog post and your mention of how Americans struggle to pronounce Worcester made me curious to get to the bottom of this and sure enough he was in a way right you see Lea & Perrins has a American subsidiary that manufactures Lea & Perrins under licence in New Jersey! So whilst they struggle to pronounce it they do make it!

    *The Original and Genuine Worcester Sauce, which was first sold in 1838 by John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, dispensing chemists from Worchester.

    1. Thank you, Kevin, interesting. I never knew about the manufacturing plant in New Jersey. It’s a wonder they didn’t change the spelling to suit their pronunciation. 😊

  20. I love cheese. I don’t like Worcester sauce much.

    And I do love to eat.
    And you know?
    People who love to eat are always the best people 😊

    Happy healthy wish for you β™₯️β™₯️β™₯️β™₯️β™₯️

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