Brown sauce
Brown sauce can refer to one of two different sauces:
- In French cuisine and other cuisines based on it, it generally refers to a meat stock-based gravy-like sauce.
- In British and Irish cuisines it generally refers to a vinegar, fruit and spice-based condiment, which is commonly found in the United States under the brand name A1 Steak Sauce. As the name implies, in the United States it is eaten primarily with steaks, while in the UK and Ireland it is traditionally eaten with bacon and/or sausages.
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Brown sauce in French cuisine
In classical French cuisine, a brown sauce generally refers to a sauce with a meat stock base, thickened by reduction and sometimes the addition of a browned roux, similar in some ways to but more involved than a gravy. The classic mother sauce examples are espagnole sauce and demi-glace, though other derivatives of those two exist.
Brown sauce in British and Irish cuisine
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. Both brands have existed since the start of the twentieth century. Chef Brown Sauce is the most popular version produced in Ireland.
A relatively recent addition to the British brown sauce line-up is Branston Brown Sauce. Following controversial plans to move production of Heinz' HP Sauce to Holland in 2006, many patriotic sauce aficionados, including UK Member of Parliament David Ruffley, moved allegiance from HP to Branston, which is produced in Bury St. Edmunds, UK. [1]
All feature a malt vinegar base blended with fruit and spices, with tamarind and worcestershire sauce being indispensable ingredients.
Brown sauce is traditionally eaten with meals and dishes such as Full English 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 popular culture
- Chef Brown Sauce features prominently in the 2003 Irish film Intermission starring Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell.
Brands of brown sauce
Most UK supermarkets also sell generic own-label brown sauces.
Brown sauce in Danish cuisine
In Danish cuisine brown sauce (brun sovs) is a very common sauce, and refers to a sauce with a meat stock base (in modern times, often replaced by broth made from bouillon cubes), thickened by a thickening starch agent, such as flour or cornstarch, and colored a rich, deep brown with a product known as brun kulør (literally, "brown colouring") or mad kulør (literally, "food colouring"). It is similar to what is known in the U.S.A. as a brown gravy. Variations include mushroom sauce, onion sauce and herbed brown sauce. It is served with just about anything and everything.
External links
- brownsauce.org - Website focused on HP brown sauce
Categories
Articles to be split | British condiments | Brown sauces | Danish cuisine | French cuisine | Irish cuisine