Find some German senf (mustard) extra sharf. That should light your fire.
That was what I was gonna ask about. It’s my favorite mustard, and I only ever have tasted other German mustards which are mostly much milder. So how does Löwensenf compare to other international mustards in hotness? I love the stuff.
In my experience, the “extra sharf” is too hot to eat. But my tolerance is likely not the same as yours. Sriracha is about the limit of my tolerance.
The trick is not to use as much of it as with milder mustards. I like to spread Löwensenf on buttered rye bread with Gouda, but don’t apply too much of it. If it slightly tickles your nose, it’s good.
ETA: if I’m being fancy, I add red onion rings and hot paprika powder to that sandwich.
French’s is one of the common brands, but all American yellow mustards are pretty interchangeable, spice-wise (i.e., basically not hot at all).
Even the actually good American mustard varieties (like Cleveland Ballpark Mustard) usually aren’t all that hot (though still hotter than the yellow stuff).
Colman’s sells a prepared/jar mustard (at least in the UK) that is still pretty hot - though not as hot as the first times I used the yellow powder and cold water (which I still prefer though closer to the hotness of the jar). I don’t recall “hot mustard” being a thing in the US.
As a door stop?
I flat out will go without if my only choice is that tasteless yellow crap.
Some of the Inglehoffers are good. Maile Honey Dijon; while I wouldn’t call it hot has a bite & is quite good; I slather it on a piece of salmon before smoking it. Yum!
A very long time ago I took a Chinese cooking class and the instructor showed us how to make Chinese hot mustard. It was Coleman’s made with vinegar instead of (or maybe in addition to) water.
When mustard seeds mix with water, there is a chemical reaction resulting from the release of enzymes and other compounds from the cells of the seeds. It is this enzymatic reaction that creates the familiar pungent taste of hot mustard. The enzymatic reaction eventually tapers off and mustard loses it’s heat, but adding vinegar can help stabilize the flavor (1).
Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far, but I agree with you in principle.
Yellow mustard, to me, serves well on a number of dishes where I do t want it to overpower. I prefer it to brown mustard on both hot dogs and hamburgers, for example, but on something like a Polish or bratwurst, I need something with more heft, like Kosciusko brand available here in Chicago. Actually, I nice middle ground is Weber’s horseradish mustard from Buffalo. It’s like a yellow mustard with a little more bite, but still expressing its tangy, turmeric-y self. If you’re not into that turmeric, I get why you might not like it, but I think yellow mustard gets a bad rap. It’s not trying to be a Central European or English mustard. It’s its own thing. It’s like comparing Tabasco with something like El Yucateco.
Agree to disagree. While there are some dishes where American yellow mustard is acceptable, if there’s nothing else available, anything American yellow does, brown does better.
Yes. Tabasco is specifically a Louisiana-style hot sauce. Its ingredients are red peppers, salt, and vinegar. So is Louisiana brand. Crystal is the same, but it also contains water. Mexican-style hot sauces add garlic and spices. El Yucateco, which I haven’t tried, apparently also adds tomatoes. Different sauces for different foods.
I like yellow mustard on ham-and-Swiss sandwiches; or, occasionally, hot dogs. Turkey-and-provolone sandwiches get Dijon. My cheese sandwiches get Colman’s. Brown, seedy, mustard isn’t used much, but I tend to use it on brats when I use it. (I mainly have it as an ingredient in salad dressing.)
It depends on which one you’re buying. The red has tomato. The green does not. The Caribbean (my favorite) does not. And they have a bunch more that usually don’t have tomato. The main defining characteristic is that they’re habanero sauces. That’s why you pull out El Yucateco: you want that capsicum chinense bite and tropicalness.
Ditto on the Caribbean, which the local stores doesn’t carry for some reason. I knew I liked you for many reasons!
Back to mustard:
I personally prefer a nice, seedy mustard for strong-flavored sausage-onna-bun applications and salad fixings. Same for the rare occasion when I have pretzels in the house. Dijon is my go to for a cooking applications (mostly fish and chicken) where I want a slightly smoother consistency. I do keep some boring plain yellow mustard though for guest, and I do have -one- use for it.
If I want to make a “restaurant-style” honey mustard sauces (where the mustard is almost overwhelmed by the sweet), then yellow mustard is a good mix. No, I don’t want that often (again, overwhelmed by the sweet) but I do every once in a while, especially with fried food.
I prefer Marie Sharp’s. I typically use the original white label, but my wife who has a higher spice tolerance uses the gold label “Fiery” version. We buy it by the case.
Marie Sharp’s is great. I have like twenty different hot sauces I cycle through. I’m not sure I could even name what my favorite five are.
After about 50 years of turning my nose up at American yellow mustard in favor of dozens of other options, I’ve started to put it back into the rotation and am finding it quite delightful. I keep that in mind when reading other folks’ food preferences.
There are plenty of good American mustards; deli, honey, etc. Your more than welcome to my share of that tasteless yellow stuff, though.
I cycle through a few mustards, but standard yellow mustard is nice once in awhile.
Aldi has Horse Radish Mustard, which is good.