mustard

[coppercone2]

There is no mustard thread. I feel like its a forgotten condiment. Unlike mayonaise, ketchup and BBQ sauces, it has no sugar and almost no calories, and does have some reported antioxidant and health values (not that lycopene is bad). I think it sates hunger also, so less leftovers.

I like grey poupon, brown and whole grain mustard personally. I think whole grain is excellent with swiss cheese on bread.

Does anyone have any unique insight or recipes for maybe making your own mustard and mustard improvements?

A popular one is honey mustard, which is 50% mustard and 50% honey.  I feel that it goes best with chicken and cheese (breaded or not).  I have also tried a chipotle mustard which is good, but its a bit too spicy IMO, its a bit punishing, more so then tobasco sauce, so I consume it rarely. Fortunately it lasts a while.

Standard mustard IMO goes best with
-ham
-sausage (i.e. polish sausage and to a lesser extent hot dogs). Whole grain does not work for the traditional dip, but you can put it on a hot dog.

Something that might be possible is to make a mustard with herbs. Not sure what would work, but a spicy pesto comes to mind if mustard is mixed with basil paste, but I have not tried it. Roasted garlic and mustard seems like another logical mixture. Pesto does work on sandwiches and paninis pretty good. Mayo mustard does work, I have created it in situ on dinner plates before, as does ketchup and mustard, which is excellent for hot dogs.

I suspect there might be odd functional combinations between mustard and other ingredients, since mustard has a strong taste. Citrus is a easy one, since citrus-mustard-oil dressings are delicious, but I never tried it in a more paste like texture suitable for a sandwich or dipping sausages. For some reason ground cloves came to mind but I don't know what would happen there (it is possible IMO on a burger maybe), its possible I put the clove roasted DAK ham on a sandwich with mustard before. (where you take a DAK ham, put cloves in it, and put brown sugar and maybe a bit of orange juice reduction on top, then bake/roast it). 

Another crazy one is to do mustard pesto, that is to grind nuts with mustard to make a pesto for pasta, with or without basil. The pasta one would need to be thinner then the sandwich one IMO. Have not tried, but they do have spicy tomato sauces for pasta (that are quite picant), so it might not be the craziest idea ever. Ground nuts and slightly smashed whole grain mustard on noodles, probobly eaten at room temperature.

So TLDR
Mustard mixes
How to make mustard (i.e. custom infusions by jarring it with additives or other ingredients).
mustard pairings

[jpanhalt]

I suspect there are lots of different prepared mustards and no standards.  French's Yellow is at the bottom of my list.  My favorite is Stadium (Ottis Foods, Hudson, OH), which may be a local brand.  It is not as pungent as, say Gulden's Dijon (Conagra, Chicago, IL) and not as bland as French's.  I grew up on a fried egg (busted yolk, fried both sides), mustard and leaf of lettuce on toast sandwich  in my school  lunch box.  I think my mom used French's or some other very yellow brand, which may explain by aversion to French's.  I still like fried egg sandwiches, though.   

[rdl]

Try this. Fried egg sandwich (bust the yolk and swirl it a bit while frying until it's not runny), mustard, mayonnaise, and a slice of cheese. Let the cheese be warming up while cooking the egg so that it will melt when added. Use whatever your favorites are for the mustard, mayonnaise, and cheese. I'm no gourmet and use Kroger brand yellow mustard, olive oil mayo, and 4 cheese blend processed slices.

[T3sl4co1l]

"No sugar"

Depends which kind!

I love me some mustard and rotate between stone-ground, honey, Dijon, yellow, etc.

Also horseradish, sometimes alone (usually the "cream" variety), sometimes in the mustard.

Besides on sandwiches or sausages, a squirt is also welcome in stir-fry and such.

Tim

[Ian.M]

The main advantage of French's classic Yellow mustard is how well it keeps.  A bottle in the fridge will taste and appear pretty much the same on day one as it does on day 999 after opening.  Unfortunately it separates in storage so if you don't want a nasty squirt of mustard water, shake well before use.

 I'm not in any way claiming its *GOOD* mustard, just convenient!

[IanB]

Standard mustard IMO goes best with
-ham
-sausage (i.e. polish sausage and to a lesser extent hot dogs). Whole grain does not work for the traditional dip, but you can put it on a hot dog.

What is your standard mustard? For me it is Colman's English mustard (very pungent, like horseradish).

Mustard loses its pungency as soon as you prepare it, but vinegar slows it down, so prepared mustard in jars is usually mixed with vinegar to prolong the shelf life.

For maximum flavor you can buy Colman's as dry powder and make it into a paste with a little water a few minutes before use. It will have tremendous pungency if you do that.

Even the dry powder has a shelf life, so I suspect the best possible result would come from using whole mustard seeds, toasting them a little before use, grinding to a powder in a spice grinder, and then mixing with water to taste. I have not tried this, however.

I think the mild mustards like Dijon are an entirely different condiment with different uses.

If you are British and like roast potatoes with your Sunday lunch, then sprinkling the potatoes with some Colman's mustard powder before putting them in the oven lends an additional crunch and flavour dimension.

[T3sl4co1l]

Mustard loses its pungency as soon as you prepare it, but vinegar slows it down, so prepared mustard in jars is usually mixed with vinegar to prolong the shelf life.

Actually it's an enzymatic reaction, and water, heat and vinegar all affect it.

I... forget which combination optimizes for heat, offhand.  Something like, when moistened, the clock starts ticking and pungency peaks after some time (~10min?), at which point heat or addition of vinegar denatures the enzymes, stopping the production -- and degradation -- of the active ingredient, locking in that level of pungency.  Whereas if you want a sweet/mild one, just dump it in vinegar or whatever and go.

Or maybe I have that backwards and vinegar activates it, but anyway it's something like that, would have to look it up.

The active ingredient (allyl isothiocyanate) is modestly volatile, so it will lose pungency fairly slowly (in a sealed container, years maybe?).  It's not degraded once the enzymes are deactivated.  Well, unless something else comes along to react with it, I suppose I can't speak for any potential mixture of foods heh, but most won't I guess.

Tim

[jpanhalt]

Actually it's an enzymatic reaction, and water, heat and vinegar all affect it.

My favorite book on the subject is "Food Chemistry," Belitz,H.-D., Grosch, W., and Schieberle, P., 3rd ed (translated), Springer, 2004.  I am sure there are other equally comprehensive texts.  The enzyme is a thioglucosidase (p. 977, paragraph 22.1.1.2.6).  I constantly refer to the book, particularly when I get too much of something in a recipe and want to know whether it can be steam distilled out.

[jpanhalt]

The main advantage of French's classic Yellow mustard is how well it keeps.

I keep motor oil in my barn even longer. 

[Halcyon]

I prefer mustard over any other kind of condiment. I almost never use BBQ sauce.

[HerbTarlek]

Does anyone have any unique insight or recipes for maybe making your own mustard and mustard improvements?

Sure do!

Robust Porter Home Ground Mustard

Ingredients:

• 1  12-oz. Bottle dark beer. I used a homebrewed robust porter, though any porter or stout will do.
• 1½ Cups Brown Mustard Seeds (10 oz.). Picked these up at Whole Foods for ~$4. Make sure to get brown, not yellow.
• 1 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. Kosher Salt
• 1 Tsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• ¼ Tsp.  Ground  Cinnamon
• ¼  Tsp.  Ground  Cloves
• ¼  Tsp.  Ground  Nutmeg
• ¼  Tsp.  Ground  Allspice

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients into a non-reactive bowl (i.e. glass) and cover at room temperature for 1-2 days. This brings the flavors together and softens the mustard seeds so they grind more easily.

After a couple days, transfer to a food processor and blend for ~3 minutes. As the seeds start to crack, the mixture will thicken to serving consistency. Taste it. Wonder why you would ever buy mustard from a store ever again. Make a sandwich.  Makes 3½ cups (that's almost a quart!) of incredible mustard for ~$6. Keep refrigerated. Give to friends!

Source: http://gluttoncooking.blogspot.com/2013/01/robust-porter-homeground-mustard.html

A few things to add:

• I recommend a big Russian Imperial Stout like Old Rasputin, Graves of Valor, etc.  Skip the Guinness and spend the money on the good stuff.
• I just use an entire 8oz. bag of seeds instead of fooling around with a partial 1lb. bag.  It turns out just fine.
  
• I put the jars of finished mustard (I use Mason-type jars with plastic screw lids) in the back of the refrigerator for six months to a year before eating it; before that it's simply inedible because of the heat.  After that, though, it's still strong but not overwhelming.

[coppercone2]

I am not sure what my goto mustard is, I eat it infrequently and I guess the ones I am using now is the whole grain french mustard, I try to use it with late night snacks instead of mayonaise

this came about when I realized the sugar content of ketchup, its kinda high. I think over the years all the ketchup use adds up, i used to eat alot more of it long ago and I think I was better off for it (grey poupon on burgers, sometimes fries).

[ttx450]

Try this. Fried egg sandwich (bust the yolk and swirl it a bit while frying until it's not runny), mustard, mayonnaise, and a slice of cheese. Let the cheese be warming up while cooking the egg so that it will melt when added. Use whatever your favorites are for the mustard, mayonnaise, and cheese. I'm no gourmet and use Kroger brand yellow mustard, olive oil mayo, and 4 cheese blend processed slices.

I used mustard in my scrambled eggs many times, its not bad.

[rdl]

Mustard's also good in tuna salad. Dump a small size can of some kind of tuna into a bowl (thoroughly drained first). Use whatever kind you like, but I think solid white works best due to less liquid. Add a glob of mayo - tablespoon or two (not Miracle Whip/salad dressing), some dill pickle relish - equal to about 1/4 of the tuna or a bit less, maybe some finely chopped onion, and a tablespoon or so of your favorite mustard. If it's too goopy some toasted bread crumbs can fix that. I actually used Shake 'n Bake once but it was a little too salty.

[nvmR]

have ya'll tried spicy mustard? Maille has some which is wow

[n4u]

Iam a mustard fun, but not really like honey - anyway u have to try habanero versions

[aeberbach]

McCormick's Hot English Mustard is like a chemical weapon, but is great with steak from the grill. If there are hotter ones but I don't know what they are.

[ttx450]

Mustard's also good in tuna salad. Dump a small size can of some kind of tuna into a bowl (thoroughly drained first). Use whatever kind you like, but I think solid white works best due to less liquid. Add a glob of mayo - tablespoon or two (not Miracle Whip/salad dressing), some dill pickle relish - equal to about 1/4 of the tuna or a bit less, maybe some finely chopped onion, and a tablespoon or so of your favorite mustard. If it's too goopy some toasted bread crumbs can fix that. I actually used Shake 'n Bake once but it was a little too salty.

Never tired that.  I might have too.  I love mustard in just about everything. 

[coppercone2]

a good application for mustard is to put it inside of a roast that is sliced into a spiral and then roll it back up, typically with butter.

The mustard powder on potatoes sounds fascinating, an alternative to paprika.

And of course you can make mustard potato salad, by mixing potato chunks, mayonnaise, herbs and mustard

[Psi]

+1 for Colman's English mustard

[themadhippy]

The mustard powder on potatoes sounds fascinating, an alternative to paprika.

wasabi powder in   mashed spuds  gives them an interesting kick and flavour

Colman's English mustard

mass produced pish,try some  taylors if you can find it.

[Overspeed]

Hello

In France AMORA mustard extra forte ( super strong ) is really strong , something at the level of the Japanese wasabi .

A more tasty one is the Maille a l ancienne ( whole grain ) level is close to Poland made mustard

Regards
OS

[tkamiya]

 I like very coarse stone ground type.  Another one of my favorite is Japanese yellow mustard.  Think of French mustard on steroid.  It's SPICY!