Steak sauce

In the United States, steak sauce is a generic term used for various premade sauces for serving with meat. Most commonly, it refers to sauces served with quality beef and of western origin. The term "steak sauce" is derived from these sauces often being served with steak in restaurants. A1 Steak Sauce is among the most prominent brand sold in the U.SFact|date=August 2008.

In the United Kingdom, similar condiments are known generically as brown sauce, with HP Sauce being one of the best-known brands. There, brown sauce is frequently served with a wide range of foods including bacon sandwiches and pie and mash.

United States and Canada

These sauces are normally brown or orange in color and often made from tomatoes, spices, vinegar, and raisins. Some contain anchovies. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to Worcestershire sauce, made by Lea & Perrins. A1 is a tart variant, while some other brands, like the regionally notable Cackalacky Classic Condiment Company's Spice Sauce, offer a sweeter and spicier flavor. Along with A1 and Lea & Perrins, several smaller companies and specialty producers manufacture steak sauce. Most major grocery store chains also offer a private label brand of this type of sauce as "steak sauce". These private label sauces typically mimic A-1 or Lea & Perrins steak sauce, which is slightly sweeter.

Often, Worcestershire sauce is referred to as a steak sauce, but it is not thick like other varieties.

Heinz 57 is a steak sauce produced by Heinz. Unlike other steak sauces, it has a distinctive dark orange-yellow color and tastes more like ketchup spiced with mustard seed (Heinz advertises the product as "ketchup with a kick", although it had a harsher, some say more robust taste, before the flavor changed in 1985Fact|date=July 2007). A few grocery store chains offer this type of sauce as a private label item under similar names such as "7 sauce" or "59 sauce".

Use of steak sauce is generally limited to chopped steak or cuts of meat such as plate steak. On finer cuts such as sirloin and short loin, use of sauces is discouraged so as not to overwhelm the natural flavor of the meat itself.

United Kingdom and Ireland

Brown sauce is a condiment popular in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. There exist a number of different brands and generic versions, of which HP Sauce is the most popular - sales of HP Brown Sauce and HP Fruity Sauce account for around 75% of value sales in the UK (source IRI, June 2006). In some regions of the UK, the Daddies Favourite brand is also popular, in particular in the Midlands and West Country (source, IRI, Mar 07). Both brands have existed since the start of the twentieth century: HP Sauce was launched in 1903, and Daddies Sauce (also known as Daddies Favourite) was launched in 1904. Chef Brown Sauce is the most popular version produced in Ireland.

The recipe for HP Sauce includes a combination of malt vinegar, tomatoes, molasses, dates, tamarind and spices. Other brown sauce brands available in the UK use similar recipes.

Brown sauce is traditionally eaten with meals and dishes such as full breakfasts, bacon sandwiches, chips and baked beans. Around Edinburgh a combination of spirit vinegar and brown sauce, known simply as "sauce" or "chippie sauce", is popular on fish and chips.

In March 2008, HP announced the launch of HP Steak Sauce. This product featured a different recipe to the Original Brown Sauce, using a mix of spirit vinegar, tomatoes, black pepper, onion and cayenne pepper. The product includes serving suggestions including home-cooked steaks, home made burgers and premium sausages.

Brands of brown sauce

*Brown Sauce
*Chef Brown Sauce
*Daddies
*Hammonds Chop Sauce
*HP Sauce
*Yorkshire Relish

Most UK supermarkets also sell generic own-label brown sauces.

External links

* [http://www.brownsauce.org brownsauce.org] - Website focused on HP brown sauce