kielbasa and cabbage, homemade mustard

Yesterday I made some mustard (see slathering) and jumped off the veg wagon. I'd been meaning to make some mustard with the seeds from my Purple Osaka mustard, and I will, but yesterday I thought it would be better to start with some mustard seeds procured from the coop, i.e. because I'd never made it before and thus I stood a high chance of totally bunging it up.

So I made a pint of sweet and spicy yellow mustard, but then I realized that all the mustard applications I know involve putting it on meat, hence the sausage.

Anyway, mustard is not a food. I ate enough while making it to know. That said, mustard is a kind pickle, and you know how I feel about pickle (see notnostrums 3, and the amazing poems therein).

If you want to make mustard at home, go to a grocery store where they sell bulk spices, and buy a cup of mustard seeds, brown or yellow. (If you want smooth yellow mustard, buy a cup of mustard powder.)

Soak your seeds in water and/or water and vinegar. If you look on the ingredients list of a jar of Dijon mustard, you will notice that vinegar is the first ingredient, then mustard seed, then the others. Basically, you want to make a paste, i.e. mustard. Accomplish paste with whatever tool or process suits you. I used a food processor and then a blender. You know, I could launch into some detailed instructions, but you only need to use common sense: when making mustard the model is near at hand, i.e. in your fridge probably, i.e. Gray Poupon. If you add ingredients slowly and bit-by-bit, and taste your mustard along the way, you will probably end up with something that appeals to you. If you get lost, there is also this other handy tool called the internet. Lastly, if you don't like mustard, don't make it.