Subject: Crosse & Blackwell's Steak Sauce
From: Billie
Date: 6/7/2020, 6:57 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
On 6/7/2020 3:20 PM, Billie wrote:
Dear Uncle Phaedrus,
My husband and I tried the no-longer-made Crosse & Blackwell Steak Sauce after
finding it in the condiments section of an Albertson’s Grocery Store in Ventura,
Calif., in the late 1990s.
It was made by the British condiment maker, which is still in business but no
longer offers the steak sauce. It was very dark, piquant and on the sweet side.
It tasted rather “raisin-y” and was more sweet that another British sauce,
HP Original Brown Sauce, and certainly more so than the tangy A-1 sauce
Americans love.
Could you “reverse engineer” this sauce and tell me how to make it?
Love your site, the only place I could find a recipe for pretzel hot dog buns,
which we used to also buy in Ventura but are no longer made. Here in Upstate
New York you can find pretzel hamburger buns, but not pretzel hot dog buns,
which is weird because New Yorkers love hot dogs.
Best,
Billie
NY
Hi Billie,
Sorry, reverse engineering a steak sauce is not in my wheel-house. Even if it were something that
I could do, I'd have to have a bottle of it in order to know what I was trying to duplicate.
I searched the Internet, but I could not find anything at all, not a recipe or a list of ingredients
or any details about it. Not even a recommendation of a sauce that tasted similar.
I'll post this for reader input.
Phaed
Subject: Crosse and Blackwell steak Sauce
From: Sarah
Date: 6/27/2020, 12:46 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Dear Uncle Phaedrus,
I found a recipe for steak sauce (aka brown sauce) that may satisfy Billie’s
request for Crosse and Blackwell Steak Sauce. The link to the recipe is within
this article: https://www.lovefood.com/news/58885/make-it-dont-buy-it-brown-sauce
Here’s The direct link to the recipe itself:
https://www.lovefood.com/recipes/60249/niamh-shields-brown-sauce
While there is no mention in the article of Crosse and Blackwell Steak Sauce,
I noticed elsewhere On the ‘net that some likened its flavor to HP Fruity but
said the C and B was somewhat thicker, so I’m guessing this recipe may come close.
I enjoy reading through the recipes on your website. They’re a real goldmine! Thank you!
Best regards,
Sarah
Hi Billie,
I received an email this morning from another reader who had some suggestions.
HP makes a "fruity" version of their brown sauce. Have you tried it? It might be close
to the C & B product. Amazon has it: HP Fruity Sauce
Crosse & Blackwell also sells products under the name "Branston", one of which is a
"rich & fruity" sauce. Amazon has it, too: Branston Rich & Fruity Sauce
Finally, there is a recipe here for brown sauce with a lot of dates and raisins in it.
It's quite complex, so you might want to try the bottled sauces first.
See: Brown Sauce recipe
Phaed
Thanks Uncle Phaedrus for passing along the reader's product suggestion and the recipe,
which I doubt I could pull off. Much appreciated.
Billie
