Sunday, May 15, 2016

Russian Stout Mustard


This is very similar to my Bourbon Barrel Stout Mustard.  After drinking this beer I knew I had to make mustard from this Russian Stout. Heck I am mostly Russian by blood so why not a mustard by yours truly.




Like many of my other mustard recipes SEE HERE everything starts out with seeds and a liquid. I won't go into a lot of details here because this is so similar to my Gingerbread Stout Mustard.  





Place beer and seeds in a bowl, give it a stir and place in refrigerator for 3 days. After three days place all ingredients in a food processor or in my case a vitamix. Add just enough water to help the blades process the seeds and and give it the texture you want. This is different for everyone. 




Note: there is no measurement for water. Depending on how much liquid the seeds absorbed the water content changes.


All done...
Note: In the Bourbon Barrel Beer Mustard I had use only 60 grams of Apple Cider Vinegar which created a Ph of 4.3 which was perfect for hot water bath canning. With the Russian Stout Mustard the Ph was averaging 4.68-4.72 so in order to CANN properly I added another 30 grams of Vinegar (Total of 90 grams) to bring it down to acceptable levels. For more details on how to can CLICK HERE.











Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Moroccan Mustard



I love Moroccan Food! So I decided to make a mustard using the traditional spices that are used to create this incredible cuisine. I own three Tajines which should tell you how much I love this food. 


Before I dive into the recipe and only if your interested take a look at some of my previous posts to understand more about mustard.

Combine and stir the mustard seeds with the Vinegar and the first Water listed in the recipe which would be 600 g. Cover and let sit for about 36-48 hours in the refrigerator. Note: Adding vinegar in the beginning will produce a less pungent mustard. If you want a pungent mustard add the Vinegar at the end with the rest of the ingredients. 

Let's talk about the other ingredients. When possible I like use whole spices but you don't have too. If you bought them whole make sure to grind them in a spice mill. Anyhow combine all the spices in a bowl and set aside. Measure out the sugar and honey in separate bowls. Note: I soak the bottle holding the Honey in hot water so it will pour easily and will combine with the rest of the ingredients with ease. Grab yourself a big ass blender and blend the seeds to your desired viscosity. Start adding the Spices, Sugar and Honey and water which is listed at the end of the recipe. Start adding the additional water listed at the end of the recipe to get the desired thickness. You may end up adding less or more depending on what you want. Let the mustard sit for a day or two in a bowl refrigerated and then test. How does it taste? Adjust from here. More Sugar, Honey Salt or whatever.  
Now on to the bottling or jarring of the mustard. I heated the mustard using a double boiler to 165 F degrees. After the mustard was heated through it was scooped into 6 oz jars and capped off. This is called hot packing. Note: the caveat to Water Bath Canning is the Ph has to be below 4.6.  After they were capped off the mustard was submerged into boiling water for about 15 minutes. Most recipes call for 10 minutes but I added five more minutes because during the hot packing I did not bring to a boil. Note: Heating the mustard will continue to mellow the mustard. I wanted the Moroccan flavors to come through. Note: you do not need to heat or hot pack or for that matter can. Just scoop the mustard into the jars and place in refrigerator. Again heating the mustard will create a less punject more mellow tasting condiment. 
Review- Simply delicious. Adding the vinegar in beginning really paid off. Of course heating the mustard also helped mellow the flavors. All the Moroccan flavors came through. This mustard could be used in many many applications. First thing I thought of was lamb. 

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Wolfgang's Bourbon Barrel Beer Mustard

Drinking my buddies Bourbon Barrel Beer was nothing more than a full on pleasurable attack on my taste buds. Not a surprise that my palate was coerced into making Mustard. I mean after tasting this remarkably well crafted beer one would be derelict (or a Shmendrik) and a gastronomic buffoon (Schmuck) not to make something from this beer. Don't get me wrong drinking it was mighty satisfying but since I just love food and all things creative I knew I had to do something special.






Like many of my other mustard recipes SEE HERE everything starts out with seeds and a liquid. I won't go into a lot of details here because this is so similar to my Gingerbread Stout Mustard.  


Place beer and seeds in a bowl, give it a stir and place in refrigerator for 3 days. After three days place all ingredients in a food processor or in my case a vitamix. Add just enough water to help the blades process the seeds and and give it the texture you want. This is different for everyone. 



Note: there is no measurement for water. Depending on how much liquid the seeds absorbed the water content changes.



This is what they look like after three days. 



Everything mixed together.

Put in refrigerator for several days for so everything can come together. 


All done. I added about 125 grams of water to complete the mustard and gave it a whip with a whisk.






Review- It came out great. It will need several weeks in the refrigerator until it achieves the flavors I want. But that being said it damn good right now.