Anchovies

The base of this classic steak sauce is tiny saltwater fish that have been aged in vinegar-filled wooden tanks for 18 months. The fermentation releases inosinate, a nucleotide that tastes savory, or, if you're being technical, umami.

Vinegar

This mild acid breaks down the anchovies and lends a tart flavor note. US formulations use white vinegar (made from wine). Canadian recipes require spirit vinegar and malt vinegar (made from ale).

Onions

Steeping with the anchovies, onions provide glutamic acid to enhance savoriness.

Molasses

Heat up Worcestershire and you detect the unmistakable, deeply sweet flavor of dark, thick sugarcane extract. Some lesser (non-L&P) versions just use brown sugar—sugar with residual molasses.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

It's tough to find a processed food in the US that doesn't use HFCS. If you want actual sugar, import some Worcestershire from Canada.

Salt

It takes a lot of salt to ferment the anchovies, so this condiment is clearly not for low-sodium diets. Still, Worcestershire is only about a third as salty as soy sauce.

Garlic

Sulfurous compounds like allicin and diallyl disulfide give garlic its smell. They also excite the body's pain receptors and dilate blood vessels. Garlic rush!

Tamarind

The sweet-and-sour aroma of this fruit comes through as a strong top note in a whiff of Worcestershire. Legend has it that the first batch of the sauce was commissioned by a British nobleman trying to re-create a flavor he'd enjoyed in Bengal, adding a bit of colonial exoticism to what is basically fish sauce.

Cloves

Worcestershire's sharp bite on the tip of the tongue starts with eugenol, an aromatic molecule that's the main component in clove oil and similar to compounds found in nutmeg and ginger.

Chili Pepper Extract

The tangy flavor finishes here. Technically called capsaicin, it's a carbon ring followed by a chain of carbon atoms (with nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen). That structure fits more or less securely onto the heat receptors on your tongue, conning your brain into thinking your mouth is under assault without causing actual damage.

Natural Flavorings

The true secret of Worcestershire. Heinz, which owns Lea & Perrins, won't confirm, but the cocktail allegedly contains a spice dubbed asafetida (aka devil's dung). The raw stuff stinks like rotting garlic, but when cooked, the taste is oniony. Soy sauce, lemons, and pickles might also have made cameos over the years.

Water

Straight out of the vats, the vinegar-anchovy-onion concoction is overpowering. Water proofs down the pungency to make Worcestershire table-safe (and presumably improves the profit margin).