Dijon Mustard: Scratched It.

My studly husband's favorite condiment on sandwiches is mustard.  So given how important sandwiches are to maintaining a happy marriage, of course I had to make dijon mustard from scratch. It's super easy.  

There are a lot of mustard recipes out there, but I chose to go with Emeril's because his uses whole mustard seeds and not mustard powder keeping it as from scratch as possible.  

You'll need white vinegar, yellow mustard seeds, brown mustard seeds, salt, all spice, white pepper, and cipolla onions, and a dry white wine.  Shallots are actually what Emeril's recipe called for, but we didn't have any and I wasn't about to make a trip to the store to buy just one shallot.  These cipolla's are pretty close. Plus, I grew them myself.  So BAM!  Substitution.  

First, in a glass bowl add your whole mustard seeds.  3 Tablespoons of each.  

Then add your salt

and your white pepper.  

If you have ground all spice that works too, just add a teeny tiny pinch of it.  We only had whole all spice, so into the mortar it goes.  Pestle is down and add a teeny tiny pinch.  

Then mince your onion, or shallot.  

Add the onion, or shallot.  Give a little mix. 

Now add your white vinegar.  

And finally the white wine.  

Mix it up pretty good, cover with plastic wrap, and then refrigerate. 

For cooking with wine, I've been told that a good rule of thumb is that you shouldn't cook with anything you wouldn't drink, so here's the most important step, pour yourself a glass and drink it.  Hey, just following the rules.  

This pinot gris was meh.  It was about $10 from Fred Meyer which has a meh under $10 wine selection.  If you only have $10 to spend on a bottle, go to Whole Foods or New Seasons.  They work with smaller distributors which mean smaller boutique labels / imports that can't compete with the big guys that larger distributors prefer to carry because of the volume they can sell.  At least that's been my experience. And I did work in the industry managing distribution for a winery... just sayin. 

 Anyway, back to the wine; it wasn't bad on its own, but with food, it was gross.  I had an undressed spinach salad (ok, raw spinach) and some roasted veggies and potatoes with it (just oiled with s&p and roasted in the oven) and it took the slightly sweet pear with light acidity wine and turned in to a tart acid bomb.  Bleh.  So I finished my dinner had a glass of water, then finished the glass of wine.  I'm not one to waste.

The next day your little mixture should have had plenty of time to allow the flavors to all meld together.  It really only needs about 8 hours.  I gave it 24 just because I had a job to go to.  

Put your mix into a food processor or blender.

Blend.  

Scrape the edges down and continue blending until it's the thickness and chunkiness that you want.

  

BAM!  Dijon Mustard.  So delicious.  A nice spicy mustard with just the right amount of kick, which is a lot, for us.  

Compared to the Safeway dijon mustard we just finished, I'd say it's pretty damn close.  The cost comparison is pretty equal because of the wine and the volume, but still, it's homemade!
Emeril says this will last about 2 weeks which is why I only made a little.  Definitely two weeks worth of be-less-grumpy, or I'm-sorry, sandwiches for my husband.  And for from scratch mayo which is next on my list!   

Dijon Mustard 

3 Tablespoons of brown mustard seeds 

3 Tablespoons of yellow mustard seeds 

1/3 C white wine vinegar 

1/3 C dry white wine 

1 Tablespoon of minced shallot or cipolla onions

3/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of white pepper 

pinch of all spice

Add all dry ingredients together and mix: mustard seeds, salt, white pepper, all spice.  Add shallot / onion and mix.  Add white wine vinegar and mix.  Add white wine and mix.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. 

Add mix to blender or food processor.  Blend until thickness and chunkiness desired.  

Store in a small mason jar and enjoy for two weeks!