HP sauce shocker!
Some interesting news from The Telegraph today about HP sauce. For those of you reading this outside the UK, I should explain that HP sauce is a brown, tangy condiment with a spicy taste, used on things like chips, cold meat, and sausages. Mind you, if you're reading this outside the UK you're probably American, so when I say chips, you think I mean what we call crisps, when what we actually mean by chips are what you call French fries. And I'm not sure you understand the concept of the sausage, either, I think you call them hot dogs, even if they're not in a bread roll. It's used a bit like ketchup, and a bit like mustard.
Anyway, the sauce is a fixture of English life, so English that it has a picture of The Houses of Parliament on the label, and it's served in the canteen there. For US readers, this is the building where Tony Blair rubber stamps everything Bush tells him to.
Sorry, that was a cheap shot, I know several Americans and they're all nice, well-educated, charming, and not, for the most part, very keen on Bush.
Anyway, you can read the fascinating history of this yummy relish in this Wikipedia entry. The point is, some MPs are now demanding that the restaurants and canteens in The Houses of Parliament boycott the sauce, and there are even calls for HP to remove the famous picture from its label, as they are making all 125 workers at their English factory redundant and moving production to Holland.
Culinary tip: add a tablespoon to chilli, beef stew, or even a beef curry for a nice colour and enhanced flavour.
Anyway, the sauce is a fixture of English life, so English that it has a picture of The Houses of Parliament on the label, and it's served in the canteen there. For US readers, this is the building where Tony Blair rubber stamps everything Bush tells him to.
Sorry, that was a cheap shot, I know several Americans and they're all nice, well-educated, charming, and not, for the most part, very keen on Bush.
Anyway, you can read the fascinating history of this yummy relish in this Wikipedia entry. The point is, some MPs are now demanding that the restaurants and canteens in The Houses of Parliament boycott the sauce, and there are even calls for HP to remove the famous picture from its label, as they are making all 125 workers at their English factory redundant and moving production to Holland.
Culinary tip: add a tablespoon to chilli, beef stew, or even a beef curry for a nice colour and enhanced flavour.
posted by Strangeblueghost at 7:40 pm
2 Comments:
Americans do understand the concept of sausages. They are more usually served a-la-MacDonald's, as a pattie. To receive the UK-type of sausage, you need to ask for "string sausage".
I always like to tease my British husband. Anytime he wants to act superior I just point out that his was the nation where HP sauce was invented!
I'm not so sure about the sausage comment above...I'm an American and I've never heard of a "string sausage" but then again, terminology can vary since the country is so big...where I'm from, sausage is the same as British sausage but the "hot dog" kind is called a "Frank". That is mainly because after the fifties, people realized that it wasn't so much fun to call them "weiners". By the way, that was the first question my husband asked me when we met...whether Americans still had "weiner roasts"!
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