Make Your Own Mustard!

[davesarman]

We had a thread a while back before we had a section devoted to beer and food that talked about various mustards. I thought I'd move some of the recipes that I posted in that thread to this one in the Beer & Food section. Making your own mustard is surprisingly easy and yields much better results than most store bought mustards. Less expensive too! Anyway, here are some of my faves.

[davesarman]

Beer & Horseradish Mustard
¼ cup whole brown mustard seeds
¼ cup whole yellow mustard seeds
1 cup beer (I use darker, full flavored beers such as Scotch Ale, Porter, etc. although the published recipe calls for lager. Bocks & Dopplebocks would also be good.)
2/3 cup vinegar (I use malt vinegar or cider vinegar, published recipe calls for red wine vinegar)
¼ tsp allspice
1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp minced garlic (I tend to go a bit heavier with the garlic)
4 T horseradish
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix both mustard seeds, half the beer and all the vinegar in a bowl and let sit for at least 3 hours to soften the seeds. I usually let sit overnight. Put the mixture in a blender and add the remaining ingredients. Process to a course consistency. Scrape the mixture into a double boiler. Stir mixture over simmering water for 5-10 minutes until it begins to thicken but not quite as thick as commercially prepared mustard. Scrape mustard into a jar and let cool. It will thicken as it cools. If mustard seems to thick after cooling add more beer or vinegar. Cap the jar and keep in the fridge where it will last indefinitely.

Personal notes: I find it much easier to skip the blender and put all the ingredients straight into the double boiler and process with one of those hand held blenders. That works slick. If you don’t have one of those, a food processor would work ok too. This goes great on sausages, roast beef, whatever. This is the one I get the most requests for.

[davesarman]

Honey Beer Mustard
¼ cup dry mustard powder
½ cup beer (lighter beers work well for this one)
¼ cup malt vinegar
½ tsp finely ground black pepper
2 eggs
1 T honey

Mix together dry mustard, beer, vinegar & pepper. Let sit at room temp for at least 3 hours. Scrap mixture into a double boiler and heat over simmering water. Stir in the eggs and keep stirring until mixture thickens. Stir in the honey and taste for salt. Pack into a cool jar & refrigerate. Mustard improves with age and keeps for a year.

Personal notes: This one is easy to make, is smooth and is great on just about everything including using as a dip. My wife likes this one.

[davesarman]

Apricot Mustard
1 cup dry mustard
1 cup dark beer
¼ cup molasses
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp turmeric
½ cup minced/diced dried apricots
1 T minced candied ginger

Mix together mustard powder and beer. Set aside for at least 30 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon into jars and seal. Store in refrigerator.

Personal notes: My wife flipped over this one. It’s really, really good. Kind of a sweet spicy thing going on. You could substitute just about any dried fruit you want, but apricots work well. The beer I used when I made this was some Pyramid Apricot Ale that had gone past it’s prime. Since this one is not cooked, you’ll want to use it up faster, but that was no problem when I made it.