# Asian Takeout Mustard: what is in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026 "2019-09-11T05:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/21 "2019-09-12T19:42:20Z")
Our Chinese restaurant, in the USA, guards their in house mustard. If you don’t ask for it, they don’t give it. It is kept in the refrigerator. I don’t know if it is pricey, or they figure most people don’t want it. But a spring roll without it, is boring. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I will have to make some. The Chinese restaurant here doesn’t have any. Which is surprising given the appeal of spicy food here. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/22 "2019-09-12T21:52:35Z")
I made a mustard in a class one time, as I recall it had brown mustard and cardamon and some sort of vinegar. It tasted pretty blah to me until I added salt to it later. the flavors really bloomed with the addition of salt. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/23 "2019-09-12T22:09:30Z")
Silenus nailed it. Colman’s dry mustard. Prepare and let it bloom. You can adjust the consistency but it’ll be what you are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/24 "2019-09-12T22:23:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There’s no horseradish or wasabi in Chinese mustard. That’s what real mustard tastes like, not that turmeric-flavored stuff called American yellow mustard. I was wondering about that myself. Mustard, horseradish, and wasabi are all from the same family and derive their spiciness from allyl Isothiocyanate. It’s a very different type of spiciness than chile peppers, and I almost wish there was a different word for it, as liking one type of spiciness does not mean you like another (my father could eat the most pungent mustard and horseradish, but couldn’t deal with very hot peppers; similarly, his Mexican workmates could eat hot peppers fine, but couldn’t deal with my dad’s horseradish. They’re very different.) Anyhow, a “hot” mustard can taste a lot like it has horseradish in it. Now, there are mustards with horseradish, but it’s a very similar flavor and burn. If you take some Colman’s English mustard and whip it up yourself, you can get a very similar burn (a quick, breath-taking type of sting, as opposed to a lingering heat that builds as with chiles–the after affects of horseradish and mustard don’t last long at all) as you would with grated horseradish. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/25 "2019-09-12T22:49:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s a very different type of spiciness than chile peppers, and I almost wish there was a different word for it Bengali has different words for all the sensations covered by “hot” or “spicy” in English. গরম - [gɔrom] - garam - gorom - hot, meaning high temperature, as opposed to cold ঝাল - [d͡ʒʰal] - jhal - meaning the hotness or spiciness of chilies, which burn your mouth, tongue, and lips মশলা দেওয়া (Among other terms) - [mɔʃla dæowa] - masla deoya - moshla daowa - spiced, made with spices, not necessarily burning or hot ঝাঁজ - [d͡ʒʰãd͡ʒ] - jhanj - jhãj - the sinus-clearing hotness of mustard or horseradish. This is the burn that shoots upward to your eyes and forebrain. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/26 "2019-09-12T23:36:04Z")
> [@Geek\_Mecha](#): > > People in Hawaii tend to mix the mustard and soy sauce together. No mixing bowls on tables, but combining mustard and soy sauce is sometimes done down here in the New Orleans area, as well. There’s a popular ersatz Chinese dish here in New Orleans called “Mandarin Chicken” that comes with a sesame-oil-based brown gravy. I find the hot mustard complements that gravy very well. My understanding is that either (a) this dish is uncommon in the rest of the U.S. or else (b) other places have it under a different name. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/27 "2019-09-13T02:35:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Bengali has different words for all the sensations covered by “hot” or “spicy” in English. Nice, I like that. Then there’s also that ginger kind of spiciness, which is probably a bit more jhanj than jhal, and _Piper_ peppercorn spiciness, which I find probably more like jhal than jhanj, at least to me. Are those classified along these scales? (Though I guess the spiciness of ginger isn’t really experienced in most dishes – only if you eat it straight or experience it in ginger beer.) ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/28 "2019-09-13T02:43:32Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I see some real fire-breathers here don’t think it’s hot. What I had at the places I went was plenty hot for me. The packaged stuff varies _wildly_. I’ve had it at places where it was basically a tan flour paste, and other places where it would eat the finish off the plates. It seems to get hotter as general restaurant quality increases. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/29 "2019-09-15T20:48:57Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Our Chinese restaurant, in the USA, guards their in house mustard. If you don’t ask for it, they don’t give it. It is kept in the refrigerator… Yup. Even the cheapest strip mall take-out places around here keep the good stuff in a refrigerator and put the plastic packets out on the counter for those who don’t know enough to ask for the good stuff. Good hot Chinese mustard is pretty much the same as good hot English mustard: it’s mustard. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/30 "2019-09-16T01:13:51Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > Yup. Even the cheapest strip mall take-out places around here keep the good stuff in a refrigerator and put the plastic packets out on the counter for those who don’t know enough to ask for the good stuff. Our favorite dim sum joints in the Brooklyn and Manhattan Chinatowns put out bowls of the sinus-clearing stuff and don’t offer packets at all. We’re always the only non-Asians in the place, though. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/31 "2019-09-16T01:54:35Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > it’s a good dipping sauce for egg rolls and wantons and such. Definitely recommend using a condiment. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/32 "2019-09-16T15:23:37Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > plain ordinary powdered mustard, slowly add plain old tap water, stir, taste a little periodically until you get the consistency that flies up your nose and makes you do a sharp intake of breath. Put a drop or two of white vinegar in that–makes it just a bit more volatile. As for what’s in the take out packets, my guess is strained cat vomit. Or something created by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike mustard. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/33 "2019-09-16T15:32:58Z")
There isn’t any horseradish in Asian take-out mustard, but there surely is in [Philippe’s mustard](https://www.philippes.com/store/philippe-s-hot-mustard-1.html). The inventors of the French Dip sandwich make a killer hot mustard that will clear your great-grand-kids’ sinuses. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/34 "2019-09-18T23:27:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Bengali has different words for all the sensations covered by “hot” or “spicy” in English. > > গরম - [gɔrom] - garam - gorom - hot, meaning high temperature, as opposed to cold > > ঝাল - [d͡ʒʰal] - jhal - meaning the hotness or spiciness of chilies, which burn your mouth, tongue, and lips > > মশলা দেওয়া (Among other terms) - [mɔʃla dæowa] - masla deoya - moshla daowa - spiced, made with spices, not necessarily burning or hot > > ঝাঁজ - [d͡ʒʰãd͡ʒ] - jhanj - jhãj - the sinus-clearing hotness of mustard or horseradish. This is the burn that shoots upward to your eyes and forebrain. That’s nice and all, except with that interpretation [garam masala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garam_masala) makes no sense. [Maybe its name is metaphorical, but in that case we’re right back to square one, aren’t we?](https://www.npr.org/2011/04/27/135761263/garam-masala-a-taste-worth-acquiring) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/35 "2019-09-18T23:58:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > That’s nice and all, except with that interpretation [garam masala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garam_masala) makes no sense. > > [Maybe its name is metaphorical, but in that case we’re right back to square one, aren’t we?](https://www.npr.org/2011/04/27/135761263/garam-masala-a-taste-worth-acquiring) I believe that “garam” in “garam masala” refers neither to spices nor to burning sensations. It’s a reference to folk theories regarding “warming” and “cooling” foods. For example, yogurt is cooling. Goat meat is warming. Traditional healing theories have it that certain health-related circumstances call for eating one or the other kind of foods. “Garam masala” is a spice mixture (masala) that is warming (garam). In any case, this usage doesn’t result in any ambiguity in the way that “hot” and “spicy” do in English. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/36 "2019-09-19T00:01:37Z")
Indeed now that I click on your Wikipedia link, I see that the third sentence says exactly what I explain above. > [@](#): > > The word garam refers to “heating the body” in the Ayurvedic sense of the word, as these spices are believed to elevate body temperature in Ayurvedic medicine. So, no, the phrase doesn’t contradict my explanation at all. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/37 "2019-09-19T00:15:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > There isn’t any horseradish in Asian take-out mustard, but there surely is in [Philippe’s mustard](https://www.philippes.com/store/philippe-s-hot-mustard-1.html). The inventors of the French Dip sandwich make a killer hot mustard that will clear your great-grand-kids’ sinuses. Nope. That’s mustard. No horseradish required. Indeed the Oholippe’s website says exactly that. > **[Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Philippe the Original](https://www.philippes.com/faq.html#1553137152261-f6f7967c-882e)** > > Philippe the Original frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) regarding Philippe's sandwiches (French Dips), menu, history, hours, and more. > [@](#): > > Is there horseradish in your mustard? > it just tastes like it. “The plant that produces mustard seeds, the basis of all mustard, belongs to the Cruciferae family, as does horseradish, turnips, radishes, cabbage, and watercress, all noted in varying degrees for their sharp flavor.” (Cook’s Illustrated, “Is French Dijon Mustard Best?”, by Erika Bruce and Adam Ried) The prevalence of American yellow mustard has blinded Americans to the true qualities of mustard. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/38 "2019-09-19T01:13:03Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The prevalence of American yellow mustard has blinded Americans to the true qualities of mustard. I keep a jar of Chicago-made Plochman’s yellow mustard in my fridge, along with Dijon and horseradish and a couple other varieties. For some things, the mild heat and strong vinegar tang of yellow mustard is perfect. Chicago-style hot dogs, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/39 "2019-09-19T01:14:12Z")
French’s yellow mustard, the top-selling brand, however, is like watery dogshit. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026/40 "2019-09-19T01:18:45Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I keep a jar of Chicago-made Plochman’s yellow mustard in my fridge, along with Dijon and horseradish and a couple other varieties. For some things, the mild heat and strong vinegar tang of yellow mustard is perfect. Chicago-style hot dogs, for example. That may be. But such concoctions feature none of the qualities of mustard. They’re kind of a vinegary turmeric flavor. The fact that Americans experience that as the primary association with the word “mustard” is a tragedy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-takeout-mustard-what-is-in/840026.md?page=3)