Obscure question about Worcestershire sauce...

[Stachel]

Does a brand of seafood-free Worcestershire sauce exist?

A family member has developed a seafood-allergy as an adult and she couldn't eat part of what I made this weekend because I had used Worcestershire sauce in it. I never knew there was a seafood product (anchovies) in it!

Here's a page of info that I found very interesting.
http://new.cbbqa.com/articles/WorcestershireSauce.html

Trying to duplicate it minus the anchovies involves a ton of ingredients!

 

[cmcadams]

I don't know of one, and I'll be surprised if you find one.... The anchovies are what make it what it is!

 

[Bigmista]

You can order worcestershire powder and make the sauce from that. No anchovies in that.

 

[Bigmista]

http://www.spicebarn.com/worcestershire_powder.htm
http://www.suttonsbayspices.com/Flavored_Powders/Worcestershire_Powder.html

 

[Wildcat]

There is a recipe in one of my BBQ cookbooks that is for homemade Worcestershire sauce. I can't remember which one it's in, either one of Dr. BBQ's or Paul Kirks.

 

[Stachel]

You can order worcestershire powder and make the sauce from that. No anchovies in that.

Wow!

Thanks Bigmista!

She's going to be very excited to hear about that, and I'm going to order some for her next trip here.

Allergy story:
I took her on a work trip with me once to Italy near Christmas-time. The vacation-part was Venice. It was FREEZING out, and we had taken one of the boat taxi's to one of their most famous steak places. She got the filet fiorentina, and had already prepared a written note to show at restaurants in Italian saying, "I am very allergic to seafood. Morte..."etc..

5 minutes after startong on the fillet fiorintina (w/ grilled veggies) she takes off her sweater, then her other thinner long sleeve thing. Then she says "I think there's seafood somewhere in what I've eaten." Sure enough - mild anaphalactic shock was starting. She had the pen-injection thing of epinephrine, and I was ready to use it if it got worse.

The restaurant owner knew what to do - he gives her something I've only seen there - sublingual Benadryl. He put this pill under her tongue. I could tell she wasn't too thrilled with taking meds from someone she didn't know, but he insisted it would fix it, and it did!

We never did figure out what was in the steak that caused the reaction. The restaurant owner insisted there was no seafood there.

 

[Doorbusters]

Stachel, not sure where you are from I just bought the powder At Planters in KC. I use it in my rub.

 

[Bigmista]

Stachel, not sure where you are from I just bought the powder At Planters in KC. I use it in my rub.

Doorbusters is the one that hipped me to Worcestershire Powder. You have no idea how grateful I am.

 

[mm_0_mm]

...No anchovies in that.

I would contact them to confirm their product contains no anchovies. One of the ingredients is "natural flavor".

The definition of natural flavor under the Code of Federal Regulations is: “the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22).

 

[Wayne]

I would wonder if her allergy is for all seafood or just shellfish. Worcestershire sauce is not just mixed and cooked like a lot of other sauces. It is actually allowed to ferment for several months. Then it is filtered and bottled. So mixing your own might not be practical. However, this might be an opportunity to experiment with seafood free sauces that are available on the market or recipes that are just mix and cook. Soy sauce is the main ingredients to Worcestershire sauce so you could always start there and if you have a juicer you might even be able to come up with a good sauce that would win praise from all. I would think that you would want to experiment with sugar, molasses, garlic, onion juice, celery juice, vinegar, wine and a fruit juice to start. For example (and this I have not tried) soy sauce with sugar, garlic, onion juice and pineapple juice might be good if you are fixing pork. Good luck in your search.

 

[JohnMcD348]

I would wonder how the powder form was created? If it was worcestershire suace that was dehydrated, wouldn't that actually consolidate the active ingredients that would be the allergen? Even after reconstituting into liquid form, you basically have the same thing with the same problem? I don't know, never used it, just throwing the question out there to learn a little something about it for future reference.

 

[Stachel]

Hi Wayne,

Am pretty sure the allergy is all seafood, not just shellfish.

mm_0_mm,

Thanks much for that definition!

Am going to try it out - Even if I find out it does contain seafood, it will be cool to experiment with on non-holidays. Will post here what I find out.