Magical Mustard and a Recipe For a Versatile Meat Sauce

Mustard adds flavor and zing to recipes. This ingredient is so adaptable that it is almost magical. But I did not appreciate this condiment until I reached my 60s. My homemade orange-molasses barbecue sauce would not be the same without mustard. The ketchup and brown sugar topping on my meatloaf contains mustard.

Like many home cooks, I add the yellow seasoning to egg salad and potato salad. Oven "frying" chicken relies on this condiment. I dry chicken breasts with paper towels, coat them with mustard, roll them in bread crumbs, drizzle a little olive oil over the top, and bake them in a 350-degree oven for a half hour or so, until the juices run clear.

Mustard has become part of my cooking life. There are five basic types, the hot English kind, Dijon (French) mustard, Bavarian whole seed, which is coarse, and American yellow, the classic hot dog condiment with added tumeric. I like the yellow, but Dijon is the one I use most.

Mustard is centuries old, according to Michele Anna Jordan, author of "The Good Cook's Book of Mustard," and she has posted a brief historical account on the Global Gourmet website. According to Jordan, recipes for mustard paste appeared in 42 AD. Years passed and the Romans took seeds to France, where monasteries raised crops and made mustard for income.

All mustard is made the same way, by grinding seeds and adding liquid. The liquid can be water, wine, vinegar, beer, or verjuice, a green juice made from pressing unripe grapes. In 1856 the city of Dijon began to use verjuice instead of vinegar. "The use of verjuice resulted in a mustard that was less acidic than France had tasted before, and the smooth, suave condiment we call Dijon assumed its place in history," writes Jordan.

Once a jar of mustard has been opened you should store it in the refrigerator. But Victoria Marshman, author of "How Mustard is Made," posted on the The Nibble website, says some restaurants leave the jars on the table. This practice is safe, she continues, "because it turns over quickly." However, I do not use mustard from a drippy, globby jar.

At home, if mustard sticks to the rim of a jar, I wipe it with a damp paper towel. If the lid is dirty I wash it in hot, soapy water.

When I searched my cookbooks for mustard recipes, I found ones for chip dip, veggie dip, sandwich spreads, and sauces. I try to eat a low fat diet and, while I love gravy, I make low-fat sauces instead. My favorite sauce does not require a recipe, just instinct, and I serve it on pork chops (all fat trimmed), pork tenderloin, chicken, and turkey cutlets. Here are the basic instructions for this versatile sauce.

1 1/2 cups lower salt chicken stock
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (smooth or country style)
Optional add-ins: oregano, basil, thyme, salt-free lemon pepper, chopped parsley
1 tablespoon corn starch
Water

Cook the meat, remove from skillet, and keep warm. Add chicken stock and mustard to pan. Stir a little cold water into the corn starch. Pour this liquid into the pan, stirring constantly, and cook over medium heat until it thickens. Choose one ad-in option and add it to the sauce. If the sauce gets too thick add a little more chicken stock. Makes 4 servings.

Copyright 2010 b Harriet Hodgson

Versatile Vinaigrette

Whenever I am trying to eat a little lighter, I turn to simply poached, steamed, and broiled fish or poultry. And one of my favorite quick and easy ways to give that piece of protein a little flavor is to sauce it with vinaigrette. Just before serving, I spoon a tablespoon or so over each portion and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper... and just like that, excellent flavor!

Vinaigrettes are extremely versatile. Basic vinaigrette can always be modified by adding other flavor components to marry quite nicely with sole, rockfish, scallops, chicken breasts, quail, or even turkey. I make a large quantity of basic vinaigrette at the beginning of the week. The classic recipe of 4 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, a spoonful of good Dijon mustard, and some salt, pepper is a good starting point.

The oil choice may, of course, be extra-virgin olive, but there are lots of other possibilities, like grapeseed, peanut, walnut or hazelnut, or even a mild all-purpose vegetable like canola or corn. While the basic recipe usually calls for red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, this limits the flavor potential, especially if you use mass-produced vinegars.

I am always looking for new vinegars ideas to broaden my flavor horizons. The basics in my kitchen include wine vinegars that are made in small batches from single varieties of grapes, many of which are barrel-aged to ensure excellent flavor; Champagne, Grenache, Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel vinegars are all great possibilities. For even more flavor, try vinegars made from dessert wines like Sherry, Banyuls, or Vin Santo.

These days, the most flavorful vinegars - look for them in specialty markets - are fruit vinegars. They're made not by infusing wine vinegar with fruit flavor, but by using just the fruit. With only 5% acid, these are usually softer than wine vinegars and even more flavorful. Fig, Tomato, Cucumber, Chestnut Honey, Red Pepper, and Black Currant all come to mind. I also like to blend, and my favorite combination these days seems to be a little Champagne, Banyuls, and Sherry vinegars mixed together for a fabulous union.

Once my basic vinaigrette is complete, I often reserve some in a jar, and then add any of an endless array of other savories to the remainder: black olive tapenade, artichoke paste, sun-dried tomato pesto, basil pesto, minced capers, harissa, assorted jams like fig or apricot, assorted chutneys like greengage plum and walnut, or pear cardamom, just to name a few. I make the condiment choice to suite my mood and to match what I'm cooking, whether seared scallops with caper pesto vinaigrette, steamed rockfish with black olive tapenade, or semi-boned quail grilled with fig jam vinaigrette.

Finally, don't be afraid to experiment. I also like to dress steamed or roasted potatoes with some of the same vinaigrette that I've used for the main course. Having the classic base vinaigrette at hand makes menu planning for the week a breeze.