There is an old joke that goes: the three hardest things to say are, “I am sorry”, “I was wrong”, and “Worcestershire Sauce”!
Worcestershire Sauce is a great source of umami in lots of recipes and, indeed, as a condiment added straight to food. The original recipe is not vegan because it includes anchovies, but there are vegan alternatives.
I needed some for a recipe, and didn’t have any to hand, so I asked ChatGPT, with the GPT4 engine, for a suggestion. It gave me the following recipe:
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce Substitute:
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar or maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional, for heat)
Instructions:
In a small bowl, whisk together the tamari, apple cider vinegar, and light brown sugar or maple syrup until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the ground mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and cayenne pepper (if using). Whisk well to combine all the ingredients.
Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If it's too salty, you can add a bit more vinegar or sweetener to balance the flavor.
Use this mixture in place of vegan Worcestershire sauce in the Vegan Steak Diane recipe. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Now, I didn’t have ground ginger, cinnamon or cloves, so used some garam masala as a substitute. I also didn’t have any apple cider vinegar left, so substituted with balsamic vinegar - which made it sweeter, but with an interesting depth!
I didn’t need all this volume for my recipe, so just halved everything and used it all.