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If Britain’s cuisine has a reputation for being bland, the same cannot be said for its condiments. Punchy piccalilli, umami-ish Worcestershire and tart apple sauce – these are the unsung heroes of British dinnertimes. A dollop on the side is our speciality. “If you spend 400 years feeding an empire, surviving two world wars and [during rationing] queuing for things that aren’t there, [as a nation] you learn pretty quickly how to make a bit of boiled meat sing with whatever’s in the cupboard,” says Scott Pattinson, founder of modern British restaurant Albers in north London.
Classic condiments are seeing an uptick in sales across the supermarkets. Our “growing obsession” is part of a wider trend that sees customers seeking out bolder flavours, says Stephen Parkins Knight, senior innovation chef at Waitrose. We may be dabbling with hot sauce, harissa and miso, but British favourites are never far from reach: Waitrose has seen a rise in sales of piccalilli, Worcestershire sauce and squeezy bottles of Colman’s English mustard compared to last year.
These are the classics that are holding their own.
English mustard
The Romans brought mustard seeds to Britain, mixing it with vinegar to make a paste, but it was a Durham woman – Mrs Clements – who discovered that milling the seeds produced more potent results. George I was a fan. Jeremiah Colman, a Norfolk flour miller, then created the definitive version, perfecting the milling technique in 1814. He blended spicy brown mustard seeds with milder white seeds and added turmeric for its trademark yellow hue. Even today, all the mustard seeds in Colman’s are grown in the UK, sieved with kit dating back to the 1950s.
Try something new: Mustard can enhance the flavour of chocolate – stir a spoonful into your brownie mix and see.
Piccalilli
Waitrose has seen a 67 per cent surge in searches for piccalilli recipes this year. The popularity of vinegar-soused vegetables flavoured with mustard powder and turmeric may be due in part to a resurgence in traditional preserve-making and baking, but it also appeals to modern tastes, suggests Sky Cracknell, director of England Preserves. “Piccalilli sits very nicely in a world where people enjoy crab sandwiches and fresh scones,” she says, but also has “the flavour complexity and impact to compete against newer products such as sriracha”.
Try something new: “Mash [some piccalilli] and brush it onto pork chops at the end of cooking for a deep, caramelised finish,” recommends Parkins Knight, “or whisk it into sour cream or mayo for a vibrant taco sauce.”
Worcestershire sauce
The flavour is so particular to England that it’s known in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Portugal as “English sauce”. Lea & Perrins isn’t the only one to make the fermented blend of salt, sugar, soy, fish sauce, vinegar and tamarind – legally no one can trademark “Worcestershire” – but it’s been the brand most of us have reached for (to splash into stews, mix into meatballs and drip over Welsh rarebit) since its creation in 1837.
Try something new: There’s a whole Reddit thread dedicated to unusual uses of Worcestershire sauce – sprinkled on popcorn, anyone?
Horseradish cream
Britons have been eating horseradish since 1500 BC and our enthusiasm shows no signs of waning. According to Sainsbury’s, sales of its Taste the Difference Creamy Horseradish Sauce are up 30 per cent year on year. The go-to condiment for roast beef, horseradish cream has a clean, bright flavour (thanks to the grated horseradish root) that cuts through the richness of the meat. The creamy base (crème fraîche, sour cream or cream) mellows the heat. “This makes it particularly versatile and well suited to smoked salmon, mackerel pâté and potato salads,” says Liz Cuff, marketing director for Tracklements.
Try something new: Cuff suggests whisking horseradish cream into mayo to use as a burger topping, folding it into hot pasta with smoked salmon, or stirring it into a Bloody Mary.
Mint sauce
The story goes that, to protect the wool trade, Elizabeth I ruled that lamb and mutton could only be eaten with bitter herbs. Mint was one of those permitted, and so the iconic pairing of mint sauce with lamb was born. In truth, mint has been paired with lamb since Classical times – even Roman writer Apicius had a recipe. Colman’s make the UK bestseller, keeping it local with mint grown by fourth-generation Norfolk farmers.
Try something new: Add mint sauce to mushy peas to elevate your Friday fish supper, stir it into yogurt to make a mint dip, or use it in tabbouleh in place of fresh mint.
Bramley apple sauce
The consensus is that Bramley apples make the best sauce. The cooking variety breaks down into a smooth, fluffy texture and has a high natural acidity, giving the apples the necessary tartness to cut through the fatty flavours of meats such as pork. Sales of Taste the Difference Apple Sauce are up 20 per cent at Sainsbury’s – something the supermarket attributes not just to traditional preferences, but to consumer interest in adding flavour to our cooking beyond the Sunday roast.
Try something new: Pop a dollop of apple sauce in a ramekin and serve it on a cheese board in place of pickle.
Ploughman’s pickle
On the subject of pickle, the word “pikel” first appeared in Middle English and preserving vegetables in vinegar has been popular since the 1500s. The concept of “a ploughman’s lunch”, however, is thought to have been conceived by the Cheese Bureau in the mid 1900s to encourage people to get excited about their workaday cheese-and-pickle sandwiches. Branston – named after the Staffordshire village – was created by Crosse & Blackwell in 1922. Still “proudly made” in the UK, according to senior brand manager Danielle Fairey, “Branston is an essential condiment thanks to its flexibility”.
Try something new: Add a spoonful “to add a depth of flavour to a hearty stew”, suggests Fairey.
Salad cream
Runnier, sweeter and more vinegary than mayonnaise, salad cream appeared in Victorian recipe books. Heinz was the first to develop a recipe to be commercially sold in the UK in 1914; it took eight years to perfect it, then made by hand and bottled in Harlesden. It’s no longer hand-bottled, but Heinz Salad Cream still accounts for the majority of UK sales. We have an appetite for it: Mary Berry launched her own version earlier this year.
Try something new: Apparently most of us never use salad cream on salad – presenter Holly Willoughby famously eats hers on lasagne.
Brown sauce
Recipes vary, but the base is traditionally tomatoes, vinegar, dates and a blend of spices, sweetened with molasses. HP, the bestselling brand, has plenty of competition, including Daddies and even chef-made takes such as Roberta Hall McCarron’s prune and apple-forward version from Ardfern Provisions. HP Sauce dates back to 1899 and was established as a staple during the war – something was needed to brighten up the rations – leading John Betjeman to immortalise giving “the H.P. Sauce another shake” in his 1940 poem, Lake District.
Try something new: Tomás Gormley, chef-patron of Cardinal in Edinburgh, considers Daddies brown sauce to be a vital seasoning in his family’s Irish stew.
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