A-1 Steak Sauce

I was shopping at the local independent supermarket and was surprised to notice that a small bottle of A-1 was over six dollars. I haven't bought it in years since I'm not much of a steak sauce fan, but I don't remember it being so pricey. A little more expensive than it was worth maybe, not like this. Does anyone know why this stuff has become so expensive?

Two 15oz bottles can be had at Sam's Club for $7.88. All food prices are up but the store you where at seems to be gouging, at least on this item.

B is addicted to the stuff and wasn't even phased when I told her it contains anchovies. She even puts it on chicken.

I am not embarrassed to ask for steak sauce, even at high end places. I don't put it on every bite though, only every other bite. Gibson's (or is it Morton's? I can never keep them straight) has a really nice one. I used to have my own bottle.

T prefers Pick-a-Peppa (spelling?).

-ramon

Perhaps it's because the price of the bad beef that one is trying to cover with it has risen too?

BTW, the Aldi brand of A-1 is dirt cheap and quite good; I don't think it's an exact replication, but if not, it's changed for the better. I love that it's made primarily from raisins.

I'll always have a fondness for A1, though the craving's diminished since I learned pan sauces 101. These quasi-Malaysian thixotropic goops are a trip.

I learned to love the aforementioned as a child dining with my parents at Steak and Ale; their select beef kinda begged for accoutrement in hindsight.

There's a bottle in the fridge.

A-1 does not contain anchovies. It may have at one time but it currently does not.

As for me, there was a good brand Butera was selling for 99 cents a bottle, but alas that has been discontinued.

Liz in Norwood Park wrote:A-1 does not contain anchovies. It may have at one time but it currently does not.

As for me, there was a good brand Butera was selling for 99 cents a bottle, but alas that has been discontinued.

hmm...surprisingly anchovy-less...

...it seems like it ought...do other similar concoctions? I'm thinking of the British one...what's it named?

Christopher Gordon wrote:I'm thinking of the British one...what's it named?

HP Sauce ?

Worcestershire sauce?

Lea & Perrins?:

"Q. Do you make a vegetarian version of Worcestershire Sauce?
A. No. Lea & Perrins® Worcestershire Sauce is made to the original recipe created in 1837 and contains anchovies - a type of fish. We believe that altering the recipe to exclude a key ingredient such as anchovies would mean that Lea & Perrins® would no longer be the 'original and genuine' Worcestershire Sauce, as claimed on the bottle."

If I remember the story correctly, Lea & Perrins 'wooster sauce' (as we called it in my Brit Canuck family), was formulated in the old British Colonial days, in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and points east. The tamarind is obvious, and the anchovies are the ersatz for fermented fish, à la nam pla.

If this story is even half true, then it means that two traditional Brit condiments--Lea & Perrins, and ketchup--came from that part of the colonial world.

Geo

This is very much an aside, but I've been reading T. C. Boyle's collection Tooth and Claw and just finished the story "Dogology" when I came across this thread. The story is pretty clever, one of the more successful examples I've encountered of humans and animals functioning equally as characters in a narrative. Anyway, one of the minor characters is a "big-shouldered husky" named A.1. who "earned his name by consuming half a bottle of steak sauce beside an overturned trash can one bright January morning."

David Burke makes a couple varieties of steak sauce that's available at Primehouse. I'm not a steak sauce user on my steak but we gave them a try when we were there. It was tasty and was a nice compliment to the steak. However, I would use it sparingly if at all on prime, aged beef. It just doesn't it. But I thought it would be really tasty on some grileld skirt steak or on a steak sandwich. Or even a burger...I guess that would make it a steakburger?

viaChgo wrote: Or even a burger...I guess that would make it a steakburger?

I hear Steak and Shake makes their own, fresh, on site. Daily. To go with their prime beef. They dry age in house too.

I've never been a huge A1 fan, but I used to like the steak sauce that one of the cheapie chains, Ponderosa, used to have.

i remember learning that worcestershire sauce originated with the Roman army to tame the taste of rotting meat

JSM wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:I'm thinking of the British one...what's it named?

HP Sauce ?

that's the one

SGFoxe wrote:i remember learning that worcestershire sauce originated with the Roman army to tame the taste of rotting meat

maybe it's garum(Ancient Roman fish sauce), you're thinking of?