Thursday, May 28, 2009

Now that's a spicy mustard

The epiphany came to me one day at a japanese restauraunt. I was eating my tonkatsu (breaded pork) nestled over a bed of shredded raw cabbage. There was mustard to the side, and some tonkatsu sauce in a bowl. The mustard was like horseradish. It seared my nostrils and singed my nose hairs. And I liked it.
Sure I've heard of "hot mustard", but all these years, I thought it was just a phrase. I've never had mustard like that. I've had that yellow crap that people put on hotdogs. I've had dijon and honey mustard. I am really fond of this stuff they sell in our supermarket called "dusseldorf". But none of it was exactly hot.
I later saw an episode on one of my favorite tv shows, Good Eats. Alton Brown made some pretzels, and to accompany them, some fresh mustard. I guess you can actually make that stuff.
So I set about my research on my new topic of interest: homemade mustard.

So far, I haven't found much information to my liking. Therefore, I shall have to come up with some experiments of my own. I have purchased 3 bags of mustard seeds from The Spice House. (No, I'm not an advertiser. It's just where I get my spices. I grew up in Milwaukee but they shipped to me now that I'm not there anymore). Not quite sure yet what I was going for other than a good kick in the nose (but not so much that I'm rendered unconscious).
I ordered some yellow, brown, and hot mustard seeds and they arrived in the mail today.

The first step is soaking the whole seeds in water and acid, and perhaps some alcohol if desired. I am making a mini tester batch. I am soaking 1 tbsp of yellow and 1 tbsp of brown mustard seeds in 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp red wine, and 1 tbsp cider vinegar. I'll let that soak for a day or two and come back to this later.

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