10種擁有美妙歷史的現代食物(7):辣醬油

4. Worcestershire Sauce

4.辣醬油

While relatively unknown to most of the world, this foodstuff gets a spot on this list because it was made entirely by accident.

儘管辣醬油在世界上很多地方都鮮有人知，但我們還是將這種食物納入這篇文章中，因爲它的製作完全是個意外。

It began its life as an Indian sauce. The recipe made its way over to Worcester, England (see where this is going?), where two chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins, got their hands on it. They marketed this new exotic sauce, claiming all sorts of healing properties to cure common problems. When they actually made the stuff, however, it tasted awful. The pair stuffed the rest in a barrel and left it in a cellar, presumably to use again some day. That day didn’t come until two years later.

它最初是一種印度醬油。這個食譜傳到了英國伍斯特，被兩位化學家John Wheeley Lea 和William Perrins所得。他們售賣這種新的異國醬油，宣稱它能治癒一般的疾病。然而，當他們實際製成了這種東西的時候，它的味道非常糟糕。這兩個人將剩下的醬油倒進一個桶裏，存放在地窖中，準備過幾天再用。而這一天直到兩年後纔到來。

The pair, rediscovering their old invention, decided to give it a second shot. What should have probably murdered them (the sauce did have fish in it, after all), actually tasted very good. The pair decided to sell the sauce under the name ‘Lea and Perrins,’ a brand name that is strong to this day. Who knows how many other food inventions we’ve missed, due to people not willing to eat vastly out-of–date food?

這兩個人重新發現了他們過去的發明，決定再試試。差點讓他們笑死的是，這東西嚐起來非常美味。兩人決定售賣這種醬油，給它取名“Lea&Perrins”，這個商標直到今天依然赫赫有名。因爲人們不願意吃那些過期的食物，誰知道我們因此錯過了多少美食的發明？