Mustard(s)

Mar 28
5 min read

"The only bad mustard countries, I think, are the ones where you have to ask for it" Tim Dowling/The Guardian

This was going to be a post about all the different kinds of mustards there are - originally inspired by something on TikTok which Smitten Kitchen had sent me to. But, of course, I didn't leave enough information in my ideas list - just 'Dijon mustard - and others TikTok SK' - and no - it's not enough. So I started looking for pictures, ideas, etc. before deciding that if you wanted to find out about all the different kinds of mustards then you could do no better than to check out an article called Your guide to mustard varieties from Joshua Bousel on the Serious Eats website.

Actually I also checked out an old cookbook I had made for my family about 7 ingredients that were must haves in my kitchen - because in volume two of this I had tackled mustard, along the way finding this rather lovely old poster for Colman's Mustard. There were also lots of recipes for this and that - I will come to recipes - but really there are so many out there in the internet universe, that I have only picked out one or two today.

Being English, I, of course, grew up with hot English mustard - Colmans from Norwich, we would serve it with things like sausages, having mixed a little of the mustard powder with some water to make it into a paste. Jamie tarts his up a little bit:

"Simply put 2 tablespoons of good-quality red or white wine vinegar and 4 tablespoons of water into a bowl, stir in 6 tablespoons of runny honey and a good couple of pinches of sea salt, then stir in mustard powder until you get the consistency you like. Season to taste and serve." Jamie Oliver

Sort of honey mustard really.

Hot mustard is an English thing, however. American mustard is a bit sweet I think and maybe German mustard is too? And French mustard is much milder. The English like it hot - maybe it's that Anglo-Indian thing:

"Hot English mustard, with that nuclear yellow glow (which comes from turmeric), seems a peculiarly English taste. Most European blends are considerably milder, but for me it's the king: hot, arresting and uniquely penetrating. I even use it on raw fish as a wasabi substitute." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

What I didn't realise is that mustard is not hot in its natural state:

"It's not until they're combined with water that natural enzymes present in the mustard work to liberate pungent compounds from their dormant state. The more acidic the liquid, the slower this reaction will take place, and the longer the final heat will last. Mustards made with vinegar will have a long-lasting, slow burn, while those made with less acidic liquids like pure water, will be extremely pungent when freshly prepared, but lose that punch more quickly." Joshua Bousel/Serious Eats

The Romans seem to have been the first to make mustard - with wine must, or lemon juice as the acid component, but then we would say that wouldn't we? I'm guessing the Chinese and the Indians were using mustard at the same time as there are plenty of Asian recipes using mustard - powder, paste, seeds or leaves. And sorry, I couldn't resist including that other poster.

'Keen as mustard' they say - but nobody seems to know why or why 'to cut the mustard' either. Surely it doesn't take skill to cut the mustard plants, and mustard as a paste is not thick enough to cut.

Another thing that I noted - pinched from Stephanie - were things that went with mustard: asparagus, bacon, beans, beef, cabbage, cheese, chicken, cream, dill, eggs, fish, ham, horseradish, lamb, mushrooms, onions, parsley, pork, potatoes, rabbit, sausages, smoked fish, spinach, tarragon. She left out cauliflower! Late in life, I have decided it's knowing what goes with what which is what enables you to do the fridge-raid kind of cooking thing.

You can, of course make your own mustard, and buy 'cottage' mustards as well, which will have all manner of additional ingredients. In that now long-ago cookbook I wrote, I included a recipe for my one attempt at making my own:

"1 cup mustard seeds

1/10 cup black peppercorns

Grind and mix. Add 1 cup olive oil, 1 cup red wine, 1 cup wine vinegar, 1/10 cup salt. Mix well and store in earthenware or sterilised jam jar."

I seem to remember it started out runny and gradually thickened up.

Tim Dowling however, in The Guardian - and he is not alone in saying this - says "Everyone should try making mustard once – and only once." I think I had one more attempt by making one of those pictured above - various blends that Jamie offers in his book Jamie's Great Britain. I don't know which one I chose. Now I buy it.

In my kitchen I always have some powdered English mustard, used in vinaigrette mostly but occasionally in recipes when required. I also have Maille Dijon and Wholegrain but I don't have honey mustard, which actually seems to be pretty favourite at the moment if you look at what Coles or Woolworths have on their shelves. You can also get Mustard oil in some Coles stores.

As mentioned above there are endless recipes online - mostly of the fricasée/braise kind as in this one from Ottolenghi - Creamy chicken with mustard and gherkins. The mustard is a common ingredient, with cream, the gherkins less so, but not uncommon. There are mushrooms too, and herbs. And of course, I also love Delia's Pork stroganoff with three mustards, which I suspect I have mentioned many times. It's so delicious and so quick.

Then there are two similar recipes - sort of fried bites - Nigel's Paprika and mustard chicken goujons which I have made and which was pronounced delicious - and Ottolenghi's - well actually I think it's Noor Murad's - Crispy cheese and cauliflower bites. I think it's Noor Murad because she featured it on her website with these words:

"Cauliflower-doused in English mustard followed by panko and Parmesan then fried till crispy. Like a mustardy cauliflower cheese in bite-size. Minimal ingredients, minimal effort, maximum yumballs"

I guess you could do it with other vegetables - other meats - pork or ham I would think would be a good thing to try.

There's a whole range of sandwiches both hot and cold of course, mostly featuring ham and cheese. The mustard gives them its curiously earthy yet spicy hit. In this mode I found Deb Perelman's gloriously unashamed Cheddar, beer and mustard pull apart bread which she bases on Welsh rarebit flavours, which she understands to be - never having visited an English pub:

"a thick, punchy, rich sauce made with cheddar and mustard and beer and butter and cream and spices and it is often ladled over a piece of toast, such as rye or another brown bread."

I found two more tempting items involving pastry on the delicious. website: Chorizo, mustard and cabbage rolls from Dominic Smith and Cauliflower, English mustard, cheddar and ham tart - Phoebe Wood. Cauliflower is an obvious partner - cabbage not so much.

And finally the weird and completely unexpected, which, of course, can only come from TikTok, of which Rosemary Slade on the delicious. website said:

"as much as we’d love to rubbish this weird viral food trend, it’s actually pretty tasty!"

But apparently it has to be French's mustard.

Maybe I'll do something with sausages and mustard tonight - or a chicken fricasée à l'Ottolenghi. because I currently have no idea what to cook.

YEARS GONE BY

March 28

2025 - Oatcakes

2024 - Odd couple - smoked trout and carrots?

2023 - Nothing

2022 - Nothing

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Nothing