Make Your Own Hot Honey Mustard

The basis of this recipe came from "Heartland," a cookbook by Marcia Adams published in 1991. Marcia Adams was famous for her Saturday morning PBS cooking shows, which often featured either Amish recipes or quilts made by the Amish. Sadly Marcia Adams passed away early in 2011 at the age of 75. She appeared here in Cleveland and loved our West Side Market.

I'm much more of a ketchup person, but occasionally I like mustard and this is good. I seldom follow recipes right out of a book or article, and so it is with this recipe. Also, I rarely measure ingredients or wear myself out making sure that a quarter cup of something isn't a fraction of an ounce over or under. I'm going to give the ingredients as they are listed in the book, then you can decide how much you want to make and adjust the proportions accordingly. The author says this will make a quart of mustard, which is quite a lot, and it must be refrigerated, because of the eggs, regardless of the vinegar included. When I make it, I use about a third of this recipe and I use honey in place of the sugar. Remember, this mustard has a kick to it ("hot"), so be careful.

1 1/2 cups of white wine vinegar
6 ounces dry mustard
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt

Mix the wine vinegar and the dry mustard together in a small glass dish (you don't want to use a dish that will react with the vinegar). Let it sit for a few hours; the author suggests overnight, but I've not noticed any difference in the shorter time period (it does not have to be refrigerated at this point). Now, the author suggests a double boiler, but I'm not into all of that either, and I use a stainless steel pan (it won't react with the vinegar), and I keep the heat VERY low, but if you have a double boiler or want to put a bowl over a pan with some heated water, go for it. You cannot walk away for even a moment. She says to put the eggs and sugar/honey into the pan and stir well (if using sugar, make sure it dissolves; if using honey, make sure it is incorporated with the eggs) over low heat in a double boiler, then to blend in the mustard/vinegar mixture and stir slowly until it starts to thicken and bubble. I put the mustard/vinegar mixture into the pan first, add the sugar or honey and let it heat a bit, stirring slowly. I then give it a small taste to see if it needs more sugar or honey before proceeding. I beat the eggs in a cup or small dish and then add a bit of the hot mixture stirring constantly so as not to let the eggs scramble. I usually add a little more of the mixture to make sure the eggs are tempered. I slowly add the eggs to the pan, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and bubbles. Remember, whatever method you use, you want to have the mixture bubble since you're using raw eggs, and with the way some eggs look anymore, who the hell knows how long they've had them or what they've done to them before you bought them. Hopefully you have a convenient source of truly fresh eggs where you are. The author says to use an electric mixer for five minutes, after adding the salt. I've found both the electric mixer and the salt step unnecessary, but don't mind me. I keep the mustard in a small jar with a lid or in a juice glass. To cover the glass I just sit one of the snap on lids from a small microwave safe storage container on top, or you could use plastic wrap. Remember, you need to refrigerate the mustard.  

WORD HISTORY:
Mustard (Must #1/noun)-This word "seems" to go back to Indo European "meus," which had the notion of "wetness, dampness." This gave its Italic/Latin offspring "mustus" which meant "young, fresh, new," a derivative of which was Latin "mustum," a term for "new wine, unfermented or not fully fermented juice," which then became "moust" in Old French, a Latin-based language. French further developed this into "mostarde," which denoted the "mustard plant," but also "the seeds from the plant," because the seeds were ground and then had new wine ("moust") added to them to form a seasoning food. English borrowed the word from French in the latter part of the 1300s. Old French "moust" also was borrowed into Old English as "must/most," with the same meaning, "unfermented or partially fermented grape juice." It's certainly not an everyday word in American English, although it is likely in use in the American wine making industry. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the verb "must," which means "to have to."