If you love maple mustard, but have never made homemade mustard, you're in for a treat, especially if you like it hot. I'm talking spicy hot here: the way mustard was supposed to be.
It's maple season, so to make room for the new jars in the cellar, I've been cooking with some of the old dark syrups from years gone by. Since eating pancakes will only help you use so much, I figured I'd make a few different maple mustards.
Old-Fashioned Stovetop Mustard
There's a lot of different ways to make mustard, some as simple as combining raw mustard seeds with vinegar. Dijon mustard is typically made with wine.
This is an oldschool, stove top mustard, meaning that you'll need a couple eggs, and a double boiler fashioned from a stainless steel mixing bowl situated over a pot of simmering water. If you've never used a double boiler, don't worry, it's easy, and I've shown plenty of people how to do it over the years.
Variations
This is where things get fun. The basic mustard is kind of a blank slate, it doesn't have to be just mustard. Back in my restaurant days I used to put all kinds of things in the mustard when it was done for variety.
Seeds, especially things like caraway and cumin are really good, but you could put all kinds of different spices in it if you wanted.
Switch up the liquid
The liquid here comes from the vinegar. Know that if you remove the vinegar, you will also decrease the shelf life to a week or so. That being said, some mustards can be very good made with different liquids added, and it allows you to get really creative, just make sure to use them quickly. Here's a few ideas of liquids that are nice to add:
- Fruit juice, especially dark fruit juices like wild grape or aronia
- Very dark beer
- Use a different vinegar, apple cider, or a homemade fruit vinegar
- Use my homemade maple sap vinegar
If you like sweet honey mustard
This is maple mustard, but it isn't as candy sweet as commercial honey mustard. It's more like mustard with maple in it. I don't care for overly sweet mustards, but if you do here's how you can up the sugar content here.
Maple contains a lot more water than sugar does, so you have to take that into account. To increase the maple that I've used here, I would start with ½ a cup.
The only difference here, is that before making the mustard, you'll want to bring the maple to a boil in a small pan and reduce it by about ⅓ (it won't take long at all, a minute maybe). From there, pour the maple directly into the blender, scraping the sides of pan, then add the vinegar, eggs and mustard, buzz it all up and proceed.
To make a maple mustard sauce
This is strong, spicy mustard. If you don't want it to clear your nostrils, you can dilute it with mayonnaise and a splash of water to make an all-purpose dipping sauce that's milder.
Old-Fashioned Maple Mustard
Equipment
- 1 qt mixing bowl
- 1 2 quart sauce pot
Ingredients
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup Colemans mustard powder
- ¼ cup maple syrup ½ cup brown sugar can be substituted
- ¼ cup apple sauce or 1 large apple*
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Puree all ingredients together in a blender (you can also use a handblender if it's easier, or whisk as a last resort) then pour the mixture into a stainless steel mixing bowl of about 1.5 qt capacity.
- Set the mixing bowl on top of a small pot filled with a few inches of water (the bowl shouldn’t touch the water).
- Bring the pot to a simmer, turn the heat to low, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the mustard thickens, typically about 30 minutes.
- Cool the mustard and refrigerate. Even though it contains cooked egg, the mustard will keep for weeks in the fridge due to the sugar and vinegar.
James
Can alcohol work as an adjunct liquid here, and if so are there any additional considerations? Thinking variously of Gin or Dark Rum.
Alan Bergo
So they can, but I would suggest something with a lower ABV like dark beer. We used to make this recipe with ale all the time. Just know that if you add excess liquid other than what is in the recipe it can become loose. If you sub sugar for the maple you can add some extra liquid no problem. Countless ways you can adapt this.