Sunday, July 26, 2009

Cutting the Mustard

The slacker is back! No good excuse for not writing other than the summer doldrums.

My son graduated from basic training on Friday. He spent yesterday on a bus going from Columbia SC (Fort Jackson) to Huntsville AL (Redstone Arsenal). Four Hundred and twenty miles on a bus. He said the air conditioning was working well, the bus wasn't crowded and he was going to rediscover the art of the nap.

I've been carefully tending my nine pimenton de padron peppers and seven tomato plants. I've got eight apple and cherry trees in pots too. I harvested several handfuls of cherries this year. The birds beat me to the the several handfuls. I've got four apples on the Fuji tree - not enough for a pie. The peppers are wonderful sauteed is a bit of olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of see salt. The tomatoes are still a ways out although I've harvested a dozen or so of the two types of cherry tomatoes and eaten them on the spot!

The rest of the yard has pretty much gone to hell. I either need a large flock of goats or a D4 cat to clear the land.

I've had a thing for sandwiches lately. A good loave of bread, some meats and or cheeses and a bit of mustard. Seems like the thing for a late lunch/early dinner. Too hot to bake bread and I'm not up to tackling making cheese or salami right now, so I'm trying my hand at mustard making

I've got two batches of mustard brewing. Mustard used to be a pretty reasonably priced condiment, but in this day and age of specialty items, a small jar of coarse mustard is $5 or more.

I've got about $25 invested in ingredients in addition to what I had around the house. Plenty of mustard seed left to make another 3 or 4 batches. Each of these recipes makes 3 plus cups or about four or five boutique sized bottles of mustard.

Coarse Champagne Mustard - This Recipe is an composite of several recipes I've seen online

1 cup Yellow Mustard Seed
1/2 cup Brown Mustard Seed
1 1/2 Cups Champagne Vinegar
1 cup chardonnay
1 T Sea Salt

1. Combine ingredients in a nonreactive mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1–2 days so that the mustard seeds soften and the flavors meld.

2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a food processor and process, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until the seeds are coarsely ground and the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a jar and cover.

3. Refrigerate overnight and use immediately or refrigerate for up to 6 months. (The flavor of the mustard will mellow as the condiment ages.)


Spicy Guinness Mustard - from Saveur

1 12-oz. bottle Guinness Extra Stout - I used Stone Russian Imperial Stout - 22oz bottle. The extra 10 was pretty damn good drinking!
1 1⁄2 cups brown mustard seeds (10 oz.)
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. kosher salt - I used sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1⁄4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp. ground cloves
1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1⁄4 tsp. ground allspice

1. Combine ingredients in a nonreactive mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1–2 days so that the mustard seeds soften and the flavors meld.

2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a food processor and process, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until the seeds are coarsely ground and the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a jar and cover.

3. Refrigerate overnight and use immediately or refrigerate for up to 6 months. (The flavor of the mustard will mellow as the condiment ages.)

MAKES 3 1⁄2 CUPS

I used a quart jar with a loose fitting lid to mix and let the mustard seeds macerate.

I'll try to report back in a couple of days with the results.