Good old mustard. It's so essential to a good deli sandwich or a stand-out vinaigrette, and yet rarely gets the recognition it deserves. Here are a few ways to bring that jar out more often.
• 1. With Potatoes - Potatoes and mustard are natural buddies. Adding a vinegary snap of mustard to creamy potatoes makes them somehow more than they are on their own. Potato salad is the obvious embodiment of this friendship, but also try a bit of mustard in mashed potatoes, twice baked potatoes, and tossed with roasted potatoes just before they go in the oven.
• 2. With Eggs - Think deviled eggs. Think egg salad. Think outside the box and add a dab of mustard to dishes like omelets, frittatas, and breakfast scrambles.
• 3. With Fish - As with potatoes, mustard perks up the flavor of a simple fish fillet. Adding mustard to the marinade, rubbing it in just before grilling, or serving mustard alongside a finished dish are all tasty options.
• 4. With Casseroles - Try mixing a good squeeze of mustard into your next casserole, be it mac n' cheese, shepherd's pie, or chickpea and kale. It adds a certain je ne sais quoi that will keep your tastebuds happy bite after bite.
• 5. With Roasted, Braised, or Steamed Vegetables - Mustard is a super easy way of taking veggies from blah to brilliant. Just whisk mustard with melted butter and drizzle over vegetables or greens just before serving.
Do you have some favorite ways to use mustard in your cooking?
Related: 6 DIY Mustard Recipes
(Image: Flickr member Marshall Astor licensed under Creative Commons)
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I've started making my tuna salad with either half mustard and half mayonnaise, or all mustard. Sometimes plain yellow, sometimes dijon, horseradish, spicy brown, etc. It's delicious!
French's Mustard, seriously? Unless I'm at the ballpark and there no other choice American style mustard just makes me gag. It's so one dimensional.
I'm with Salter Water, I'm not sure French's is the way to go for anything but hot dogs...
However, I've made some dijon-braised brussels sprouts from SmittenKitchen, as well as whole-grain dijon mustard potatoes. It's looking like dijon is the way to go...
I really like yellow mustard. Unlike other types of mustard, including dijon or whole-grain, the vinegar flavor is really at the front of the flavor profile, which is what I love since I like less sweet or oily condiments (like dijon). i think if you find a good yellow mustard it's not something that is colored with food coloring, but rather with tumeric, which adds a lovely dimension to the flavor. There is a yellow mustard sold in Texas that is a house brand of a gourmet grocery store that is, by far, the best mustard ever: Central Market Organics Yellow Mustard.
Looooove mustard! Any mustard. Give it to me.
At last count, I think we had seven different kinds of mustard in our fridge. That's not a problem, is it?
brittanykate, no, not a problem. If, on the other hand, you have seven different kinds of mustard in your fridge but you never use any of them because you always make your own mustard (*ahem*), then it might be time for an intervention.
Brittanykate: There is no such thing as too many types of mustard in the fridge. We've currently got dijon, sweet mustard and two different types of German stone-mill-ground fine mustard. I use them in sauces: pork chops with cider-mustard-sauce (Nigella) or eggs in mustard sauce (béchamel with mustard), for example.
Only 8? I love mustard so much that, as a child my mother referred to me as the Mustard kid. I typically have at least two mustards on hand (yellow and dijon), two types of seeds (brown and yellow) and mustard powder too. I make my own mustards from time to time (beer mustard, rosemary mustard, and honey dijon are my favs); but usually I cook with mustard. To me it goes in/with everything. YMMV.
* With beans. Baked beans, refried or not, go great with a dab of your favourite mustard.
* With soups/stews. Add a few mustard seeds to the soup when you start, or a teaspoon of the powder when you add your herbs. Alternatively, add a teaspoon to the finished product and stir to incorporate. I especially love to do this with thick stews. It adds so much flavour.
* With salads. Make your own dressing by creating an emulsified mix of vinegar, oil and mustard (diced shallots, garlic, & other herbs optional). Perfect.
* With chicken. Rather than egg-wash your chicken before rolling in crumbs and baking; try coating it with a thin layer of mustard instead (thin with either a bit of buttermilk, or water if necessary). Roll in breadcrumbs and bake. I like using grainy mustard for this one.
This is getting pretty long so I'll stop. But there's so many ways to enjoy mustard. :D
I love dijon mustard in Asian stirfries! I just mix a bit in with the soy sauce for a little kick.
My mom used to pack me ham or baloney on rye w/mustard for lunch when I was in elementary school, but I then refused to eat ham or baloney (on my way to becoming a vegetarian already). She demanded, "Then what will you eat? Mustard on rye?" YES! That sounds great Mom! She called my bluff and packed it. And I called hers and ate it happily for 2 weeks before she started packing plain tuna in a thermos. I still like mustard on rye. If you want to taste test some mustards, it's the best.
My favorite part of Boiled Dinner is the mustard. I put it on absolutely everything in boiled dinner: cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and rye bread (CMCINNYC I totally agree with you, one of my favorite things). It is also in almost every dressing I make for salads, goes well with every spice or vinegar combination I have tried thus far - can't wait for summer to make one dressing with fresh dill and a course ground mustard with horseradish.... yum.
I love using mustard to make vinaigrette - for salads, roasted vegetables, marinades. It's a perfect flavor booster without weighing anything down.
I made this Roasted Chicken with Dijon Sauce for dinner the other night. The chicken was moist inside with crispy skin... and my boyfriend and I found ourselves pouring the mustard based gravy on everything else on our plates!
Last summer I went to a roadside food stand in Scotland and got a burger. They had those plastic squeezy condiment bottles on the table, so I laid down my normal amount of ketchup and mustard. Long story short, I don't know who in their right minds would ever decide to put Coleman's mustard in a giant squeeze bottle, but eating that burger was torture.
Anyway, if you pick the right kind of mustard (and know for sure that it is what you think it is D:), mustard really is great on practically everything. I love it in salads as people have said (especially broccoli salad and chicken salad). I have to say, though, the best use for mustard has to be South Carolina bbq sauce, but I am a bbq fiend.
I'm so happy to find out I'm in a community of mustard lovers/hoarders.
We are a mustard house as well, check out our fridge. We have also starting making our own mustard! It is fun to experiment with different flavors and textures.
On Grilled Cheese
Namely this recipe from Good Eats from the "For Whom the Cheese Melts" episode.
I love mustard! Always have dijjon and a coarse grain in the fridge.
Back in my omnivore days, I used to roast chicken or pork loin covered in mustard. In these days, I love it on top of split pea soup.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned using mustard in homemade cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese! It gives bechamel that extra kick of cheddary sharpness which is especially nice if you're trying to cut back on the cheese or if you just don't have enough lying around. I usually use dijon though, plain yellow.
And vinaigrette! Honey mustard vinaigrette is my favorite: 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon honey. So good! Especially on salads with fruit in them.
I also add it to tuna and chicken salad whenever I make it because it adds a little extra kick. I use regular mayo, not "salad dressing."
It's also nice in creamy homemade dips and stirred into pots of cooked greens in lieu of straight vinegar.
and don't forget the best use of yellow mustard ...on a kitchen burn! no kidding, it works....
I add mustard to everything! Right now, I'm hooked on Trader Joe's Garlic Aioli Mustard - I highly recommend.