A-2 Sauce

I'm a freak for A-1 sauce.  I'd sit down on the porch with a gallon of it and a glass and drink it all if I could.  I put it on steaks, burgers, hash browns, toast, rice, potatoes, just about anything.  I even tried it on ice cream once.  It wasn't too bad!   Well, for someone who's an A-1 sauce freak, that is.

But the stuff has gotten really spendy.  The price started climbing about the time Kraft took it over and ruined the label and took all the medals from the 1890 Exposition off, and dropped "Steak" to leave just "Sauce".  They haven't ruined the recipe...yet...

And so, like with so many other things, I set off to learn how to make my own A-1 Sauce clone.  Something close to this recipe can be found elsewhere on the net, but I think my tweaks and revisions end up with a better sauce overall.  It's very close to A-1 sauce, it's clearly tastier to me than any other brand of steak sauce, and the price is right, much cheaper overall than buying the equivalent amount at the store.  Plus, if you're a foodie, you probably have most of the ingredients lying around.

A-2 Sauce:

1/2 c. cold water
1/4 c. raisins  EDIT:  Use golden raisins, it will taste more like A-1.
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar (don't substitute)
1/4 c. good Worcestershire sauce (I used Lea and Perrins)
1/4 c. Ketchup
1/4 c. Dijon mustard (I used French's Chardonnay Dijon, Poupon would work fine)
1/4 t. black pepper
1 garlic clove, diced up
1 stalk celery, cut up
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. celery seed
1 t. bottled Lemon Juice
1 tsp onion powder
1 orange

Put all but the orange in a saucepan on the stove.   Cut the orange in half, squeeze the juice into the saucepan.  Scoop out the innards from the orange half.   Squeeze the juice from the other half of the orange into the saucepan.  Bring to a simmer and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Do not attempt to adjust seasonings until cool, the taste changes from hot to cold.

Strain through a strainer and bottle.  Serve at your next steak fry, or try on hamburgers, brats, meat loaf, pudding, ice cream, cake, brownies, macaroni, kiwi fruit, bananas...