Brown sauce is a condiment commonly served with food in the United Kingdom and Ireland, normally dark brown in colour. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce.
The first brown sauce, Brand's A.1. sauce, was introduced in 1831. It was made in Vauxhall, London.[6] Although invented in the United Kingdom, it is not typically available in contemporary UK grocery stores.
In 1837, Yorkshire Relish, of a similar style to brown sauce, was created in Leeds, England. It is relatively unknown in the UK today.[7]
Although not a generally available commercial product, a recipe for "sauce for steaks" composed of ale, wine, ketchup, black pepper and butter appeared in an 1843 cookbook published in London entitled English Cookery.[8]
A brown sauce still popular today, HP Sauce, was invented in the United Kingdom by Frederick Gibson Garton in 1884 in Nottinghamshire.[1] An alternative claim states that an earlier brown sauce was created in Leicestershire by David Hoe in the 1850s, who sold his recipe to Garton.[2][3]
HP Sauce is the earliest brown sauce, and is the most popular brown sauce in the United Kingdom, accounting for around 75% of sales. Daddies, OK Sauce and Wilkin & Sons are other popular brands. Another is Hammonds of Yorkshire,[9] popular in Northern England.[10]
Chef and HP Sauce are popular brown sauce brands in Ireland. Another sauce, Yorkshire Relish, is a similar style of sauce that originated in Leeds, England in 1837,[7] and is now produced in Ireland and is currently manufactured in County Dublin under the YR Sauce brand.
Most supermarket chains in the UK[11] and Ireland also stock their own brand of brown sauce. As with other condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard, brown sauce is widely available in catering sachets and dispenser bottles in restaurants.
Between 2013 and 2014, the sales of brown sauces in the UK decreased by approximately 19%, according to market research company Mintel, but more than 13 million kg (29 million lb) is still consumed each year.[13][14]
