Tuesday, December 16, 2008

diary of a mustard addict

How many types of mustard do you think the average vegan needs?  What a question.  I mean, what do you think, really?  One or two?  A plain and a spicy?  No.  No no no.  I am of the opinion that the right mustard can completely transform a sammich.  It adds a dimension that otherwise goes untasted.  But what kind of sammich needs what kind of mustard?  Well, it depends on your mood, really.  And when your mood changes as often as your tshirt, you need a variety of mustards in your life.  You need the comfort mustard.  The one you always go back to because you know it's always going to be good.  You  need the adventurous mustard.  A new and bolder flavor.  And what about all the mustards in between?  Well, for this situation, you may need...

Seven mustards.  That's right.  Seven.  7.  S-E-V-E-N.  Are you jealous of my mustard collection?  I may be a compulsive mustard buyer.  In fact, last night at the grocery store I acquired a new one, fully aware that I had six kinds in my fridge already.  But I mean...  you can never have too many kinds of mustard, as long as there is room on the second shelf.  (We have a pretty much an entire shelf dedicated to condiments in the fridge.)  Any time I'm at the store, I swing by the aisle with the mustard and check to see if there are any new varieties.  My only pet peeve is that a lot of the really awesome flavors (chipotle?  what?) have honey in them.  Lame.  Anyway, how's about a breakdown of these wonderful mustards?  

Spicy Brown.  A standby.  Good on any type of sammich, pretty much.  Adds a little spice and a lot of mustard flavor.  The good mustard flavor.  The brown kind.

This one, I don't like.  The garlic adds a weird flavor to it, surprisingly.  I do use it in sauces, from time to time.

The newest member of our collection!  It's sweet.  And boy, is it hot!  Like, real hot.  And I like it.  This went on dinner last night, which you'll see in a minute.

Stone ground.  Every mustard connoisseur needs a good stone ground mustard.  It's like the staple snobby mustard.  Sometimes good on sammies, but more often, I use it in sauces.  I like the little bits of mustard stuff that kind of pop in your mouth.

The reg.  Good old plain yellow.  Delicious mostly on carrots.  And tomato sammiches.

From the look of this one, you'd think we love it.  In reality, it's so-so.  We've had it awhile.  The horseradish really shines here.  It's the kind of mustard you want if you're into cleaning out your sinuses.
Last but not least, dijon.  Salty.  Reminds me of deli sammiches.  You can't put too much on a sammich unless you really want a salt overload, but it's good mixed with other mustards.  Like the spicy brown.

See?  A mustard for every purpose.  Never have too much  mustard.

And now that I've proved my point, I'll show you some food.
blt w/baked beans and sweet pickles

This is the sammie that my new friend, sweet hot mustard, went onto.  It complemented the saltiness of the bacon very nicely.  That's LightLife bacon on Ezekial bread.  Add some tomato, sprouts, lettuce, and avocado and you've got one helluva sammie.  The beans are canned, but doctored up with some ketchup, mustard (yellow!), and bbq sauce.  Pickles were good on their own, of course.  

Mac n Cheese.  This sauce has yellow mustard in it as well.  See how it's a nice stand-by?  I think, as well, that I finally perfected my very own cheese sauce that doesn't have tofu in it and is creamy and delicious.  I want to make it again and measure though, but there will be a recipe in the future.  I also put some leftover chickn strips and spinach in with this whole wheat penne.  

Sunday night nachos.  No mustard involved.  And really, no explanation needed, right?

That's all I have up my sleeve for today.  I've been nominated for an award by a couple different people, and I know I need to get on that, but I'm tired tonight.  Tomorrow?  Thanks for the extension, kids.

p.s. i also have powdered mustard in my spice cabinet.  you know.  just in case.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm also a vegan with a mustard problem! I love the really grainy deli mustard you have pictured too!

VeganCowGirl said...

holy cow! You have a serious supply! Very impressive. I thought I was living on the wild side by putting yellow AND black mustard seeds in my curry last night - but you take the cake! Cool! Need to have the right supplies for the best food.

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Mmmmm, mustard! I think we have 3 types right now. Kittee sent me some Creole mustard!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's quite a collection you have there!
I only have yellow mustard right now (a Not Dog necessity!), but you have inspired me to hunt down some other varieties!
I do have an extensive condiment collection though >:o)

Virginia said...

i LOVE kroger!! represent! (haha)

i have a few mustards in my fridge but probably not 7! you freak!

Anonymous said...

I always go for dijon...but then again I haven't expanded my mustard tasting past dijon and yellow. Maybe I'll pick up a different kind next time.

miss v said...

i have a serious mustard obsession. i subscribe to the mustard museum newsletter, and they have all these great gift packs of mustard... have you heard of it?

http://www.mustardmuseum.com/category/10/3

Gina said...

Hm. You just made me want to go check out the mustard aisle. I always hated mustard when i was younger, but I think it was just the plain yellow kind that I don't like. I really like the spicy brown. But the new one you got sounds awesome!

Anonymous said...

I love mustard! Though I can't claim the ownership of more than two jars at the moment (dijon and some fancy french grainy mustard). Soon I'm going to make homemade!

Anonymous said...

I love mustard!! My favourite is the "normal" mustard here- it burns the heck out of your nose if it's full strength. LOVE it!

janelle said...

I only have one right now. We usually have 3 or 4. My hubby loves mustard and crackers. I'm going shopping today and now I'm gonna get a few. Your post was very fun and I laughed out loud several times. :) Your food looks delicious, good job!

Leslie Richman said...

I heart mustard! I like to make "honey" mustard with agave nectar and yellow mustard. Yum.

jessy said...

aaaaaaaaaahahahaha! i think we could be twins! or at least related in some way! i think i've only got 5 types of mustard, but man - i love mustard! i've got brown, dijon, yellow, stone-ground, & creole! mmmmmmm! i haven't heard of this sweet-hot mustard. i NEED to get my hands on some of that! we have a Kroger's too - and i'm totally gonna buy some this weekend! i just wish dan didn't hate mustard (i love that he hates everything i love. jerk!) - because i would put it in more things to make them even more delicious! baked beans, sammies, mac n' cheeze - NAAAAAAAAAACHOS! jeebus, Jessica. i am meeting my sister for dinner in like 2 hours and i'm hungry as hell now! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! yay!

p.s. - totally have the ground mustard, too - i love it in some indian foodz. so goooood!

Liz said...

Hilarious! And so true- you need different mustards for different applications. I have a similar problem with hot sauce.

SW said...

If a mustard doesn't have visible grains it isn't allowed in my fridge. I'm a mustard connoisseur though, far from my days of eating mustard out of little packets in the cafeteria.
-bonbon

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

haha I love it! It's as bad as me with my peanut butters - I have 7 different types (if you include the chocolate & pb variety!!)

I only have dijon, english and wasabi in my fridge - i'm not much of a lover. I think it's because my dad used to make me sandwiches for lunch at school / work and his favourite trick was to include a 'surprise'. Usually a humungous glob of mustard or a jalapeno to make me burn my tongue!

The nachos look sooo good.

Alicia said...

hahaha, this reminds me a lot of my boyfriend, who's a jam addict, so we also have infinite sorts of jam at home! but only two jars of mustard, oooooh

Steffi said...

I love mustard, too, but always run out of it. stocking up with a couple of different varieties sounds like a plan to me!

aTxVegn said...

I love mustard too! I have all those kinds except sweet hot. My current fave is wasabi mustard. Those nachos sure look good!

Megan said...

i ADORE mustard in any and every way I can get it. yum :)

Anonymous said...

I'm insanely jealous! I LOVE mustard on sandwhiches, but i am the only person in my family who eats mustard! Unfortunatly that means that we only have one bottle:(
That sweet and hot mustard sounds SO good!

Georgia said...

Wow what a collection.

I LOVE mustard but don't really use it much (yes that doesn't really make sense - but I guess I just don't really have many tried and true recipes that use it and it isn't as big in Aussie as it is in USA).

I have a wholegrain and a dijon and a horseradish one. The horseradish one is awesome - I bought it on a whim and love it.

Anonymous said...

this is so rad. hahaha. i am a big mustard fan as well lately i have been stuck on ground mustard with horseradish. mustard!!!

Jan Scholl said...

I have at least 20 and none are store brand and most are local artisans or some other stuff not usually sold in mass market stores. I ama mustard snob I guess. I even put it on pizza. If it's yellow yellow, I don't want it.

Chelsea said...

Sweet hot mustard sounds awesome! We have 3 in our fridge, and now I think I need to go mustard shopping! At our local Whole Foods there's a collection of beer mustards, my hubby is obsessed with the pale ale one :)

And I totally agree different mustards for different purposes! I ran out of yellow mustard a couple weeks ago and was making cheesy sauce, so I subbed german mustard... totally ruined my cheesy sauce!

Vegan_Noodle said...

I had to laugh at this! My husband has probably five or six kinds of mustard in our fridge... lots ot the same ones! I'm starting to appreciate their differences, but when I first saw the fridge I thought he was crazy!

Joanna said...

i freakin love dijon mustard. that stuff is amazing. my mom threw away 2 bottles of my mustard last week and i wanted to slap the woman. she thought it was old, but obviously, i was still using it.

Karla said...

i'm a fairly recent mustard convert. i hated the stuff growing up, unless it was in my favorite macaroni salad.
now i always keep yellow and dijon on hand. i can't do it on sandwiches. unless it's a "hamburger." but i love making my own Special Sauce w/veganaise, ketchup and yellow mustard to dip my Trader Joe's soy Nuggets in.

angel said...

i dont know if youll read this, so much later. . . But if you havent done it yet, you have to try plain old yellow mustard on spagetti or pizza, anything with tomato sauce! I wont eat plain tomato sauce anymore!

Lis said...

Mustaaaaaaaaaaaard!

At least you're not as crazy as this guy, he has 16 mustard. Sixteen!

Lis said...

Whoops, I forgot the link, hehe.

http://kentwalker.blogspot.com/2012/01/hi-im-kent-and-im-mustard-addict.html