Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment invented by the pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century. The inventors went on to form the company Lea & Perrins.

Why do we create our own Worcestershire sauce?

Well, it’s the Gluten thing. It gets confusing as to whether or not Worcestershire sources contains Gluten or not… The version of Lea & Perrins sold within the US uses distilled vinegar and is clearly marked gluten free. However, Lea & Perrins sold in the UK and countries outside the US are made with barley malt vinegar and are not gluten free.

Most Worcestershire brands outside the US are not gluten free.

And so began the fun - this has always been my go to Source for anything to do with meat, so we really enjoyed making our version.

Here’s where we landed on Ingredients, but if you make your own, please get in touch - We’d love to hear from you!

1. Vinegar: The original Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce recipe was made with barley malt vinegar. We use Mons 100% Australian Vinegar.

2. Molasses: This contributes to the sauce’s dark brown color and rich sweetness.

3. Sugar: We use natural brown sugar.

4. Alliums: We use shallots and garlic.

5. Spices: We use Cloves, Celery seed, and a blend of mild spice give Worcestershire sauce its characteristic spiciness.

6. Tamarind: This is the power in the punch for us. Playing with the deep flavour of Tamarind and balancing that against the sours from the Vinegar and sweetness from the Molasses and Sugar is where the magic can be found.

How do we make this magic stuff?

It’s super easy to make - we can make a fresh batch each time we prepare out Biltong.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer. Simmer sauce, whisking occasionally, until reduced and syrupy in consistency, about 10–25 minutes.

We then transfer it into a storage container and refrigerate over night.

The Biltong steaks are then marinated first in the Worcestershire sauce and then the spice blend is rubbed into the steak before hanging to dry in the Biltong room.