What is "brown sauce"

n. 1 (context British English) A sauce made by the addition of stock to a heated and browned mixture of butter and flour. 2 (context British English) Any of many brands of bottled sauce based on malt vinegar, fruit and spices.

1. n. a sauce based on soy sauce [syn: Chinese brown sauce]

2. bouillon or beef stock thickened with butter and flour roux and variously seasoned with herbs or Worcestershire etc. [syn: sauce Espagnole]

Brown sauce is a British spiced condiment containing fruits and vinegar.

Brown sauce may also refer to:

• Brown Sauce (band), a 1981 British pop band
• Brown sauce (meat stock based), a sauce in French and Scandinavian cuisines

In classical French cuisine, a brown sauce is generally a sauce with a meat stock base, thickened by reduction and sometimes the addition of a browned roux, similar in some ways to but more involved than a gravy. The classic mother sauce example is espagnole sauce as well as its derivative demi-glace, though other varieties exist.

Brown Sauce was a pop band, made up of presenters from the television programme, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. These were Keith Chegwin, Maggie Philbin and Noel Edmonds. They formed for a one-off single in late 1981 called "I Wanna Be a Winner". After that became a hit, they released another in 1982, but failed to make an impact.

Brown sauce is a traditional condiment served with food in the United Kingdom and Ireland, normally dark brown in colour. The best known brown sauce is HP Sauce, a spicy and tangy variety. Brown sauce is traditionally eaten with meals and dishes such as full breakfasts, bacon sandwiches, chips, and baked beans.

The ingredients include a varying combination of tomatoes, molasses, dates, apples, tamarind, spices, vinegar, and sometimes raisins or anchovies. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce. It is similar to brown sauce marketed as steak sauce in the United States.

A combination of spirit vinegar (or water) and brown sauce, known simply as "sauce" or "chippy sauce", is popular on fish and chips throughout Scotland and other parts of the UK. The sauce itself is reported to have been popularised beginning in Edinburgh.

A recipe for "sauce for steaks," composed of ale, wine, ketchup, pepper, and butter, appeared in an 1862 cookbook published in London.