Friday, January 20, 2012

A Saucy Picture


Old ads can be quite creepy sometimes, take this 1912 ad for A-1 Sauce.  I think there's a little something more going on between these two but back then it would have been kept in the closet.  And what's with the glass the gentleman is holding?  Seemingly the scullery maid didn't wash the glassware correctly as he's polishing it up with his napkin and what's he going to do with it, take a shot of A-1?  Wow, I can't tell you how reviled I am at the thought of that.


It took me awhile to figure out what this ad is getting at in terms of all the uses of A-1.  I never thought of it as a great sauce for fish for instance.  My research finally turned up that A-1 was marketed as competition for the much lauded Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.  Indeed their thought is that it was just a thickened version of said sauce and more readily poured over meats where it would stay put rather than run all over.  Also, the recipe was kicked up a notch as Emeril would say, to make it a bit tangier and spicier.

A-1 is still made using the original recipe and thankfully has stayed away from using High Fructose Corn Syrup unlike Heinz 57 Sauce.  It's is indeed interchangeable in recipes with Worcestershire Sauce and will lend a distinctive flavor to them.  On a side note, Lea & Perrins was using HFCS in their sauces until recently when they dropped it in favor of sugar again.  This is a nice win in the fight against HFCS as although Frenches was decent substitute, it lacked the kick of  Lea & Perrins


2 comments:

  1. Just curious how you found me and what you thought.

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    1. I found you through Sunday Stealing, I like your blog, even if the subject matter isn't exactly what I normally find when blog hopping lol.

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