How to cook spicy mustard in any brine
Tasty, spicy and fragrant mustard in brine is a wonderful, spicy sauce for a variety of meat dishes, from an ordinary sausage sandwich for breakfast, to a good, rich jellied meat for a festive table. Here are just store-bought mustard in jars or plastic tubes rarely pleases with either sharpness or aroma.
In order to get a truly delicious seasoning, it is better to cook it yourself at home, especially since it is very easy. Fortunately, it is not at all difficult to purchase mustard powder in the store. It is more difficult to decide on a recipe, since there are a great many of them. And here a lot depends on what qualities of the sauce are most important for the hostess. To make it really spicy, the recipe for making mustard from powder in brine is most suitable. Although there are also options for hot or cold water, apple juice. But these are all softer options.
Mustard in brine from pickled cucumbers or tomatoes
Homemade mustard made from powder in cucumber brine is not much different from the product in tomato brine. Which one to choose for your recipe, everyone decides independently. Your own addictions can be a guide. Tomato pickle tends to have a milder, sweeter flavor. Of course, this is reflected in the taste of the finished seasoning. And also the simple availability of a specific option at hand.
Most importantly, the seasoning is more than easy to prepare. The process of cooking mustard in brine from pickled tomatoes or cucumbers will require literally a few minutes of time from the hostess, this, of course, not counting the ripening time. Exactly so much will be taken directly by the hassle with the ingredients.
First you need to prepare dishes in which the sauce will be stirred, and in which it will then be stored. However, it can be one and the same dish - a small glass jar. True, stirring the mixture in it may not be very convenient, but this must be done very carefully. So a small deep bowl is more suitable for this.
It is important that the mustard powder is fresh, otherwise it will be impossible to achieve the necessary pungency. The quality of the brine is also important: cloudy, sour liquids in this case will not work.
The exact proportions of the ingredients will have to be clarified in practice, since each has its own optimal density of the final product. To begin with, you can take the powder about two-thirds of the dishes in which the finished sauce will be stored.
Then brine is gradually poured into the powder and mixed thoroughly so that no lumps remain. How well the ingredients are mixed will determine how tasty the mustard in brine will be.
The temperature of the brine can be used to control the taste and pungency of the future sauce. Hot brine will make it softer, while cold brine will make it more pungent, even vigorous.
According to the recipe, homemade mustard from powder in brine should be about the consistency of medium-fat sour cream. You can adjust the density by adding more brine or mustard powder. You should not make the seasoning too thick, it will dry much faster, but of course, the mustard itself should not spread.
Now the sauce needs to be transferred to a jar and tightly closed with a lid and let it brew. It should be infused in a warm, dark place. You can put it on a battery if it happens in winter, or just in a locker if in summer. Another option is a warm, not completely cooled oven.
Mustard should be infused for 8-9 hours. After that, you need to open the jar. If excess liquid has come out over the mustard, it must be drained. After that, stir again and put in the refrigerator.
It may taste slightly bitter immediately after cooking. This aftertaste can persist for up to 24 hours after preparation. This is normal.
If, after a day, the mustard remains bitter, and not just spicy, this may mean that the powder is of poor quality.
If the mustard seeds are harvested in the rain, the seeds may rot slightly. If after that you dry and grind them, then such a powder will look and smell like a regular one, but the finished sauce will taste bitter. Of course, there is no need to eat such a seasoning. And it's not tasty either. The correct mustard powder should be yellow in color.
As you can see, the recipe for cooking mustard in tomato brine is really simple, although it has its own nuances. Most likely, you will be able to do it the first time. And in a day, the hostess will be able to please her household with delicious seasoning.
Mustard recipe with cabbage brine
The cabbage brine mustard recipe is a little more complicated as new ingredients are added. But in general, the process looks about the same. One glass of mustard powder will require:
- a spoonful of sugar;
- a spoonful of vegetable oil;
- a teaspoon of salt;
- half a teaspoon of vinegar;
- spices to taste.
The amount of brine is also individual, as in the previous case. How to make mustard with cabbage brine? Simple enough.
Mustard powder is poured into a cup, into which brine is gradually poured and mixed thoroughly. It is important to grind any dry lumps that form.
Now add all the remaining ingredients to the resulting mixture: sugar, salt, spices, vinegar and oil. Next, you need to mix the mixture very thoroughly, and, as in the previous case, transfer the mixture to a jar, close and leave to infuse.
Little tricks
Despite the fact that the recipe for mustard at home on brine is extremely simple to perform, and does not require any special ingredients, however, its preparation has its own little tricks. And you need to know them too. To get the perfect result, just the way you want it.
The temperature of the brine and the bitter taste were discussed above, but that's not all.
If an insufficiently steep brine was chosen for mustard in brine from pickled cucumbers, then it makes sense to add sugar and vinegar to it in the same proportions as in the mustard recipe for cabbage brine. That is, it is necessary to try the raw materials before cooking. However, if the cucumbers were pickled with her own hands, then the hostess already knows everything herself.
The sugar in any of the seasoning recipes, if desired, can be replaced with honey. This will give the mustard a richer flavor and interesting aroma. In addition, the seasoning in this case will not be so hot. The original mustard in brine is very hot. Even if you just sniff it, it knocks out a tear from your eyes. And honey mustard will help you cope with colds faster due to the shock combination of anti-inflammatory ingredients.
You can also soften the taste of mustard by adding vegetable oil. By the way, if you remove it from the cabbage brine recipe, the result will be more spicy.
Oil can be added to mustard not only during cooking, but also after it is infused and ripe. It is only important to mix the sauce once more.
It is better to cook homemade mustard in small portions. Even if the family eats it a lot and often. It is better to make a new portion, fresh and aromatic, than to watch the already cooked dry.
If you want to somehow diversify the taste of your favorite sauce, you can add various spices to it during cooking:
- cinnamon;
- nutmeg;
- ginger;
- cloves;
- cardamom.
Other options are also possible. Much depends on the hostess's imagination and her preferences. And the world of spices is very, very diverse.
Homemade mustard made from powdered cucumber pickle is far from the only option. You can even use a pickle from assorted vegetables, which included not only cucumbers and tomatoes, but also zucchini or squash, bell peppers. It can also give the finished product an interesting, new flavor.
Whole mustard seeds are a good seasoning for powdered mustard. In this case, the finished sauce will be even more aromatic and smellier. Such mustard can not only be served with meat, but also used as a base for complex salad sauces. It is the aroma that is especially important for them, and not the sharpness of the mustard. If the seasoning is prepared specifically for this salad, it is better to soften it.
If it was not possible to correctly calculate the required amount of sauce, and the mustard began to dry, you can add a little vegetable oil to it and mix thoroughly. But you won't be able to constantly renew the mustard, sooner or later it will dry out anyway. Moreover, in this case, its severity will gradually decrease.
Even the most common mustard leaves a good housewife room for creativity and imagination. Having experimented a little, everyone will find the right taste for themselves. Or provide a variety of favorite sauces. However, not everyone likes experiments. Many people value the usual taste of their favorite sauce the most.
The delicious, hot sauce so beloved by the Russian people is really easy to make at home. This means that there is no point in buying mustard in stores where it is expensive and its taste is not ideal.
It is much easier to prepare the seasoning at home. And exactly the kind that a particular family loves. And if necessary, even with different tastes and different pungency for different family members. The main thing is to guess correctly with the quantity.