Mustard
Home made mustard is a bit of a passion project as it is available everywhere, not especially expensive, its pretty good and for the most part you don’t go through that much of it.
The main reason to make your own other than bragging rights is most mustard taste the same. Not a great flavour, just different levels of sweetness, vinegar and heat. By making your own you can make a product with greater character.
Our mustard recipe at the moorcock was pretty simple, more continental than dijon. Basically mustard seeds, vinegar, wine, honey and salt.
There are different varieties of mustard or a blend of them to choose from.
We used whole yellow mustard seeds, I find the brown varieties a little more bitter, having said that some yellow varieties are more bitter than others. Mustard powder is typically hotter, Keens powder makes something closer to a hot English.
Any liquid can replace the wine the vinegar, salt and mustard has enough antibacterial ingredients. Beer, cider, sake, water or fruit juice.
Any vinegar can be used, we made out own from any leftover alcohol. open wine, rose, white or red, excess beer from line cleaning the taps, ales, lagers, dark porters or stouts. Excess cider from apple trimming or the taps. All have their own flavour sweetness, sharpness, some are richer.
Same goes for honey, it can be any sugar or syrup. I have tried maple syrup, treacle, brown sugar, molasses, all good.
This was also our basic recipe. People add dried fruits, herbs, whiskey, spices are all welcome.
A good blender is the difference between a smooth and grainy mustard. But grain mustard is a great thing if your machine doesn’t have the horsepower.
A point about blending the mustard is it gets thicker as you blend it. The best way to get a smoother spread is to strain the mustard seeds and keep adding the liquid, bending with slightly more liquid than you need to keep it moving. It will thicken up in the hours after blending.
The Moorcock mustard recipe.
500g yellow mustard seeds
750g malt vinegar
750g white wine
175g honey
25g salt
Mix all ingredients together in a jar and leave at room temperature to soak for 2 weeks.
Strain seeds from the liquor and blend on a high speed slowly adding the liquid back to the mustard as needed.
Store in the fridge for 2 weeks before using.
This went is everything you would use mustard in. Mayonnaise, pickles, vinaigrettes, sauces, we used kgs a week.
It gave us a uniqueness among other restaurants, an ingredient which is the foundation in the British kitchen which was (in my opinion better) a flavour of the restaurant, which no one else would have. Unless they made their own, in which case what are the chances they would go to that effort and have one which tasted like mine, or whose home made vinegar would taste like mine.
This idea is probably not relevant to you at home. But having a mustard you created with your own choice of seeds, vinegar (homemade or not), liquid or wine, seasonings, spices or fruits will taste better in your sandwich and the bragging rights are off the charts when you have your own hot mustard to serve with roast beef, so why not add a few different jars to your shelves.
Comments