Spicy German Mustard

This mustard accompanies my soft pretzel recipe, both of which were made this past week for an Oktoberfest party.  I was amazed with how easy this process was - soak the mustard overnight in a few spices and vinegar, then blend.  Good lord, why have I been buying mustard at the store?  I know one reason - I hadn't felt like chasing down two different colors of mustard seeds until I decided that I had to try this, at least once.  And now mustard seeds will become a staple in my pantry, because I want to be able to make this at all times.

I thought this mustard was tasty - a bit tangy, slightly spicy, just a hint of sweetness.  I was expecting a darker, sweeter mustard, so I might tinker with this a bit to adjust the flavors to what I was hoping for.  But this was delicious in its own right, so I'm excited to pass this along to everyone with the pretzel recipe.

Spicy German Mustard

By Diana Rattray, About.com

Makes about 1 1/2 -2 cups

• 1/4 cup yellow mustard seed
• 2 Tbsp. black or brown mustard seed, heaping
• 1/4 cup dry mustard powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 garlic gloves, minced or pressed
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp. dried tarragon leaves
• 1/8 tsp. turmeric

In a small bowl, combine mustard seed and dry mustard. In a 1- to 2-quart stainless steel or nonreactive saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Simmer, uncovered, on medium heat until reduced by half, 10-15 minutes. Try to be patient and cool the mixture as much as possible before pouring over the mustard mixture; it turns out that both heat and acid will dull the pungent heat developed by mustard seeds, but my guess is that heat will do it faster, while also killing a lot of the flavor.  From About.com:

"It is the chemical reaction between two compounds, myrosin and sinigrin, that combines to turn up the heat when the cells of the seeds are broken and mixed with cold water. "

So my suspicion is that the use of cold vinegar will allow for a slow reaction between these compounds for a while, but eventually it gets in balance, and can be kept refrigerated until the reaction peters out, yielding a stable final product.  If you want to experiment with this (and you can bet I do), try soaking two small quantities in water and vingear, pureeing both and tasting the difference.  I also plan to try experimenting with warm vs cool vinegar liquid poured over the seeds, as well as the total soaking time, to see if these things make a difference.

Anyway, let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature for 24 hours, adding additional vinegar if necessary in order to maintain enough liquid to cover seeds.  Process the seeds and mixture in a blender or food processor until pureed to the texture you like, which can take at least 3 or 4 minutes.  If it gets too thick after a few days, stir in additional vinegar.  Scrape mustard into clean, dry jars; cover tightly and age at least 3 days in the refrigerator before using.

Mustard, in 3 easy steps: 1: Mix up the vinegar with spices

2: Pour over the mustard seeds, and let sit for a few hours (up to 24).

3: Puree.

Warm German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)

Ah, potatoes - those tasty little tubers that seem to be on every menu in the Western world, and which can stump Dan Quayle in a spelling bee.  While potatoes are originally from the Americas (Peru, to be exact), some cultures over in Europe have managed to do amazing things with them in a the few centuries that they've been cultivated there.  And I'm not talking about the Irish.  I'm talking about the Germans, who transformed the potato salad of the United States into something entirely different.

German potato salad is pretty much the opposite of American potato salad.  It's served warm.  It has only a thin sauce to it.  It is almost entirely vinegar-based, as opposed to mayonnaise or mustard.  And you can practically eat it as its own meal, since it almost always has meat right in the dish.  And bad news for some of you - this dish isn't meant for the devoutly Jewish, as it contains bacon.

I mashed up this recipe from a few different sources, then tinkered to get the consistency I wanted.  The result is from too many places to cite just one, but if you look really hard you should see the same few ingredients in different orders or with different ratios all over the internet.  But you're here reading this one, so just roll with it.


German Potato Salad (Kartoffel Salat)

• 3 pounds Yukon gold or red potatoes
• 1/4 pound thick-cut bacon
• 3/4 cup finely chopped onion (white, yellow, bottoms of a green onion, and/or red)
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 green onions, tops, sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Scrub potatoes and place in a large pot.  Add water until potatoes are submerged at least 1".  Boil the potatoes until they are cooked through, at least 20 minutes.  If you use Russets here, they will be mealy and gross.  Go with a waxier potato like a red or Yukon gold.  Drain potatoes and allow to chill for at least a few hours, or preferably overnight.  Once cooled, slice potatoes into 1/4" thick rounds and set aside.

Boil the potatoes the night before if you can.  Then assemble just before serving

If you want a little kick to your salad, place the mustard seeds in the cold water and let hang out for 10 minutes.  If not, just skip this step.  In a fairly large saute pan, cook bacon until crispy, and set aside.  Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease from the pan.  Over medium heat, cook the onions until translucent, about 3-5 minutes.  I used the bottom of the green onion tops I would add later to complement red and yellow onions.

Saute your onion mix

Dissolve the flour in the water, and then add water, vinegar and mustard seeds, and deglaze the pan for a few seconds.  Add the salt, sugar, and flour, and stir to combine.  Now add the sliced potatoes to this and fold them into the sauce.  Once you have tossed this around a bit, added the parsley and green onions, and crumble the bacon and throw that in too.

Toss again to combine, and that's it!  Serve warm, and enjoy with whatever German food tickles your fancy.

It's bacon!