Came across this little article in the food section of a local newspapers
 weekend magazine. Author, local food write Siu Ling Hui. Read it while
 having coffee in a cafe this morning, and thought it may be of interest to
 others on the list. A recipe accompanied the article, I have included it for
 those interested.
 
 <  Worcestershire sauce itself is of cross-cultural
          origins. In 1835, Lord Marcus Sandys, an ex-
          governor of Bengal, approached chemists John
          Lea and William Perrins, whose prospering
          business in Broad Street, Worcester, handled
          pharmaceutical’s and toiletries as well as groceries.
          He asked them to make up a sauce from a recipe
          which he brought back from India. While
          his lordship was apparently satisfied with the
          results, Messrs Lea and Perrins considered it to
          be an “unpalatable, red-hot fire-water” and
          consigned the quantity they had made for
          themselves to the cellars. During the stocktake-
          cum-spring clean the following year, they came
          across the barrel and decided to taste it before
          discarding it. To their amazement, the mixture
          had mellowed into an aromatic, piquant and
          appetising liquid, They hastily purchased the
          recipe from Lord Sandys and, in 1838, the
          Anglo-Indian Lea & Perrins Worcestershire
          sauce was launched commercially.
           One of the myriad 19th-century pungent
          English sauces based on oriental ingredients, it
          had many imitators sporting pretentious names
          such as “British Lion” and “Empress of India”.
          Its exact recipe remains a secret. All that is known
          is that it includes vinegar, sugar, soy sauce,
          molasses, tamarind, shallots, anchovies, ginger,
          chilli, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom.
           Lea & Perrins' product was exported
          worldwide, including to the then British colony
          of Malaya (as Malaysia was known before
          independence), where it was incorporated by
          Hainanese cooks into various dishes prepared for
          their British employers.
           Many of these dishes became part and parcel of
          Malaysian home cooking and still feature in some
          restaurants, in particular, The Coliseum Cafe in
          Kuala Lumpur. This institution, once the haunt of
          British plantation managers, still carries Anglo-
          Hainanese classics on its virtually unchanged
          menu. One such is “Chicken or Pork Chop”,
          comprising the relevant protein slab - crumbed or
   egg-flour coated - pan fried and served with peas,
   carrots and potato slices in a Worcestershire and
   soy sauce-flavoured gravy carrying softened fried
   onion rings. Chicken macaroni pie, an Anglo-
   Hainanese dish mainly seen in Penang, is always
   accompanied by Worcestershire sauce and fresh sliced
   chillies.
    The Nonyas (Straits Settlement Chinese) also took
   up Worcestershire sauce with gusto. Some families
   make their own special versions using jealously
   guarded recipes handed down through generations.
   Termed ang mo tau eu (literally, white person’s soy
   sauce) in Hokkien, it is, with sliced chillies, an
   essential accompaniment for dishes such as panggang
   ikan (grilled banana leaf-wrapped seasoned whole
   fish), roti babi (stuffed French toast) and Inchee Kabin
   (Malaysian Spiced Fried Chicken).   >

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