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Made Mustard

A homemade mustard condiment made with dry mustard, salt, sugar, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Made Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mustard

  1. In a bowl, combine dry mustard, salt, white sugar, pepper, and olive oil.

  2. Gradually add vinegar while beating the mixture until it reaches a cake batter consistency.

  3. Continue to beat for 5 minutes.

Store

  1. Store in a sealed container; it will keep for weeks.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dry mustard
Provides the main body and sharp pungent flavour once hydrated by the liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and sharpness, and turns the dry powder into a spreadable paste.
Olive oil
Adds fat, giving the mustard a smoother, more rounded mouthfeel.
White sugar
Adds a little sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.

The step that matters

Adding the vinegar gradually while beating. Dry mustard must be hydrated slowly to form an even paste. Adding too much liquid at once leaves dry lumps, while beating helps the particles absorb the liquid and release their pungent compounds evenly.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, olive, vinegar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Cucumberfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, olive, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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