Friday, June 21, 2013

Quest for Condiments: Worcestershire Sauce from Gourmet Sleuth

Last month, when I started my quest for paleo Worcestershire Sauce, I was a bit concerned as I was having a hard time finding recipes that were paleo and/or could be made paleo easily.  I then stumbled upon this recipe on Gourmet Sleuth.  This website is great for researching ingredients and looking for substitutes.  To make the recipe, I had to make a trip to the Asian grocery to get tamarind paste.  It was really inexpensive at $1.89.

Tamarind is the paste of the pulp that surrounds the seeds of the tamarind pod.  Evidently, it's Whole30 compliant but shouldn't be used with wild abandon due to its high natural sugar content.  I have no intent to use this except for the occasional recipe calling for Worcestershire Sauce.

This recipe could not be easier.  I grabbed my ingredients.

Be careful opening the tamarind paste as it is very sticky and isn't very thick as you'd suspect a paste would be.  Mine had a foil seal that if you try to open without care, you could end up with a huge mess of tamarind.


There is no cooking involved.  You simply measure out the ingredients and mix them together .  It took me less than 10 minutes to mix up the sauce.

The Paleo Mini Review:  Thumps Up (with reservations)!  My quest has mostly ended.  When I tasted this sauce it tasted exactly as I remembered Worcestershire sauce to taste, so it's a definite thumbs up on taste.  However, I can't say that the sugar content of the tamarind paste doesn't bother me.

I've seen a mixture of fish sauce and coconut aminos suggested as a Worcestershire Sauce substitution.  I will try that in the near future and report back.


The First Stop on my Quest:  Worcestershire Sauce from Paleo Diet Lifestyle

As I look for recipes to try and blog, I don't restrict myself to paleo websites.  There are plenty healthy paleo or easily made paleo recipes on mainstream food sites.  Often, I've decided not to try a recipe because it calls for Worcestershire Sauce.  Lately, I've seen this condiment sneak into recipes found on "paleo" blogs.  Some varieties may be gluten free, but they pretty much all have molasses in them.  I hate to be the fun killer, but added sugars, even if they are natural sugars, are not paleo here at The Paleo Review.

When I came across this Balsamic Glazed Steak Roll recipe that called for Worcestershire sauce, I decided it was time for me to find a paleo version or adequate recipe substitution for this condiment, and so, another quest for condiments has begun- Worcestershire style.   As with the ketchup, I'll make these mini-reviews until my quest ends and I'll do a full review of the recipe that ends my quest.

The first stop in my Worcestershire Sauce quest is at The Paleo Diet Lifestyle.  This quest is going to be difficult as many of the recipes I've seen still add sugar of some sort.  This recipe does not but for some reason it recommends using soy sauce under the guise that "shouldn't be a problem in such a small quantity."  If its such a small quantity then it won't matter if I substitute Coconut Aminos and keep the recipe completely paleo.  Done.  The recipe is very straight forward.  

You basically combine all of the ingredients into a small sauce pan (I used a 1.5 quart pan) and stir to combine the ingredients well.  I brought the sauce to a boil and stirred it.  After simmering for a minute, I removed it from the heat, put it in a small glass jar and let it cool before placing it in the refrigerator.  


The Paleo Mini Review:  Meh- It could do, if I find nothing else better.  I used this version of Worcestershire sauce in the Steak Rolls and it tasted fine, but I can't say it tasted anything like Worcestershire sauce as I remember it.  It separates after sitting in the fridge.  It took me 7.5 minutes to prepare this recipe.  

Do you have a good soy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free Worcestershire sauce recipe I can add to my quest?  If so, let me know in the comments or use my nifty recipe suggestion widget to the right.