Found the recipe for Worcestershire sauce in book from 1866
Ever wonder what is in Lee and Perrins'? Well, I doubt the current recipe is at all similar, but here is how it was made in 1866 (at least, according to this book)... get ready for a surprise! I'm not sure what measurement a do. is.... but this recipe looks really, really good to my taste!
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20 pounds of hogs' livers! Wow! This is a fascinating recipe. It would be interesting to know how much the recipe has changed since then....
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Okay, had to look up a "do." -- saw this in the comments on the Farmers Almanac website (https://www.almanac.com/content/old-time-weights-and-measures). Not sure if it makes total sense in the recipe, but ... ???
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Hello, I noticed a previous comment was asking about a Do. I am also looking for a measurement for do. As in one do. of butter, three do. currants, 2 do. cream tartar, etc. If it helps, it's a Southern cookery book from the 1860s.
"DO." ABBREVIATION
Submitted by The Editors on July 13, 2020 - 4:12pm
Could it be an abbreviation for “ditto”? For example, if ingredients were listed as
1 tsp. salt
2 do. cream of tartar
3 do. cinnamon
… then perhaps this was indicating “2 tsps. cream of tartar” and “3 tsps. cinnamon”?
“Ditto” is sometimes abbreviated as “do.” – so perhaps it is a possibility if the first ingredient listed in your sources always is a defined measurement type (such as teaspoons). Hope this helps!
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Oh, my! I did not know how they made Lea & Perrins! It is a favourite condiment in our house. Just told my husband how to make it and he was not impressed. Said all my other sauces and replica recipes are great but I might want to leave this one alone. No sense of food adventure in this man!!! If I have the opportunity to have a lot of hogs liver on hand I will try this.
Somewhere deep in my memory archives, I seem to recall "do." meaning pound. But I can't find any reference to it right now. Might be in an antique cook book, but which one might take time to go through. Pound measurements seem to fit with the other measured ingredients.
Thanks for posting @judsoncarroll4!
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Ha ha! Just shared this with my husband. Before he read the recipe, he said, "We should try to make some!" And afterwards, he agreed that we will just keep buying it from the store. :D
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Gosh, I wish I had a lot of hogs' liver on hand!!! I would absolutely make my old family recipe for "liver pudding" and some Cajun boudin, too!
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This recipe fr Liver Pudding is similar to my family's... but we had a big Creole influence and added hot peppers: https://www.ourstate.com/liver-pudding-recipe/
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Boudin is far more well known due to the fame of Cajun and Creole food in Louisiana. It is MIGHTY good! Shuck it from the casing and form into balls, with a little breading and deep fry for a major treat.... wrap it around a fresh oyster and then deep fry, serve with a little Tabasco sauce... now THAT is a TREAT!!!!
My Cajun and Creole ancestors disappeared into the swamps of NC, into a large Huguenot community. Even in the 1960-70s though, there were pockets of NC that spoke French or Gaelic, Native languages... even German. NC was a good place to hide or get lost. From the remote mountains to Crusoe Island, the land of the Lumbee and the Gullahs just over the SC line.... and don't forget "Ebonics"... yeah, I may be one of the only white guys who could understand James Brown.... he was a friend of my uncle's and my uncle and he talked a lot alike! Even now, some of our "English speaking" dialects are incomprehensible to outsiders... reckon I'd better get a cup of elliac before I mommick up this missive. Y'all be sure'n tell me how you're a cordin', by-n-by.
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My husband is a huge fan of boudin. Gonna have to share this recipe with him, and your thoughts about frying it up and etc.... Thanks! :)
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On second thoughts and reconsidering the recipe ingredients, I am going to suggest that "do." is an ounce. Cause it certainly wouldn't be 12 pounds of salt. :)
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I think you may be right that it doesn't just mean ditto.... combine that with 4 gallon of soy sauce! But, I doubt 5 oz of Maderia would even register in 15 gallons of white vinegar.... it has to be a larger measurement than an ounce, but way less than a gallon.
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Then, the Asafoetida.... that is NOT mild stuff!
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@judsoncarroll4 mushroom and walnut catsup?! What?
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Oh yeah, catsup predates the acceptance of tomatoes in western cuisine by centuries. It began as catsiap in Indonesia... sort of a fermented fish sauce. It was popular for a century or to in England and western Europe, made from mushrooms and walnuts. Actually, it is a fantastic steak sauce!
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Well, after a lot of research, it seems that @Merin Porter was right; "do." does actually mean ditto or same as above! So yes, this is one crazy recipe for a big barrel full.
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They say original but thhe description of their ingredients isn't the same. No surprise there.
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OK, I want to know more about walnut and mushroom catsup. @judsoncarroll4 do you know how they are made?
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I was still surprised at the amount of salt. But I found this article in the Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1224736/Original-Lea-Perrins-Worcestershire-Sauce-recipe-skip.html This one calls for 10 lbs. of salt. The article says that it is partly the process that gives Lea & Perrins its distinctive taste. So I am thinking that there is some fermentation or additional ageing going on. Maybe in a wooden barrel. The one that @judsoncarroll4 found has more in the way of spices so if I were making it, I would definitely add those spices in. But I think the tamarind in the second recipe is an important flavour. So perhaps something between the two recipes.
Would be fun experimenting, but maybe on a smaller scale. That's a lot of ingredients if it doesn't turn out well.
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Sure, I've got some great recipes - some from a cookbook a distant ancestor of mine wrote in the 1700s. I'll post them later today. They are really excellent sauces!
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The story I always heard was that for a royal birthday, the idea was to gather an ingredient from each British colony and make a type of chutney. But, it was awful and the barrel got stuck back for a year or so, during which time it fermented into the sauce that would become Worcestershire. Now, they use anchovies. I wonder if they swapped those out for the hog liver in order to have a kosher sauce? The same book had other Worcestershire Sauce recipes. I'll post them, too.
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@judsoncarroll4 Would love to see the other recipes as well. I have no doubt that there are a number of products that came into existence that way. Awful, but put away and forgotten till aged enough to be tasty.
@Melissa Swartz I know mushroom catsup as a British product. Sometimes available in the regular aisles with Lea & Perrins but if you can't find it there, then look in a speciality section for British products. Might be less available in the US than it is here in Canada. It is quite thin, more like Lea & Perrins in consistency, rather than thick like a catsup. I have never had walnut catsup but I believe it is similar in consistency.
These are links to Mrs. Beeton's recipes for walnut catsup and her version of Worcestershire sauce. (She was a British author of several books in the 1800's on household management and cookery) https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/alla30098c07s001ss017r011/worcester-sauce
Way less ingredients in her Worcestershire sauce and much smaller quantities. But I don't think it would be nearly the same or as tasty.
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Had to look this one up. Apparently, it's nicknamed "devil's dung." Yum!
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With those measurements (gallons!) you could make a batch and give a bottle to everyone in the Grow Network! Trade you some green chile!
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All this discussion got me craving some of those flavors. Well, today is my 43rd birthday, so I got some T -bone steaks. They are marinating in olive oil, dark mushroom soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, with garlic, beer, salt and pepper and a little mustard. I'll broil them medium rare, serve with smoked oysters and funky cheese. My mom made me a walnut, bourbon, chocolate pie. So, I checked all the boxes flavor wise... no complaints!
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Happy Birthday @judsoncarroll4 Enjoy your meal. It sounds wonderful!
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@Merin Porter I use asafoetida all the time in Indian cooking . You don't need much, but it's essential for the dals.
and just as a trivia point, it's also used to burn in some religious rituals for cleansing evil spirits.
@judsoncarroll4 it always comes back to the boudin, doesn't it....
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Indeed
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Happy birthday @judsoncarroll4! 🥩🎂🍺
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Wow that is a lot of interesting ingredients!
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