A.1. Sauce is easily one of my favorite condiments of all time.
It hits the flavor range between salty, tangy, and sweet, and because of this, it makes for a remarkably good pairing with a rich cut of steak. Admittedly, you'll usually pay a premium for it at the grocery store, but despite that fact, I've always got a bottle sitting in my refrigerator. A.
1. was invented in (or around — the specific date is unclear) 1824 by Henderson William Brand, who was a chef to the United Kingdom's King George IV. Its ingredient list includes tomato puree, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, raisin paste, crushed orange puree, spice, dried garlic, caramel color, dried onions, and celery seed.
What's particularly of note is the inclusion of fruit, namely raisins and crushed oranges. After all, you'd imagine a steak sauce to mainly be comprised of ingredients that are savory and vegetal, rather than ones we consider sweet. That's why it's worth examining just why and how these two fruits make sense in the scheme of A.
1. — and just how they contribute to the sauce's signature flavor. What raisins contribute to A.
1. Sauce Raisins, aka good old dried grapes, have a concentrated sugary taste that can be slightly tart as well. Notably, another fruit with a similar profile, tamarind (which is often used in ), is a key ingredient in another condiment we closely associate with steaks, Worcestershire sauce.
Because tamarind carries such a complex flavor, it's easily able to cross boundaries between savory.
