By Heinrich von Holstein
Displayed at Atlantia KASF, 3/2/24
Introduction
Mustard is an ancient spice with written history going back millenia and usage in food likely much much longer. Mustard as a condiment in Europe can be traced back to ancient Roman texts, several of which contain recipes for ground mustard seeds mixed with wine, verjus, or vinegar.
The modern word “mustard” comes from the Latin term “mustum ardens” which means “burning must”, likely referring to mustard powder mixed with grape must to make the condiment. However, this association seems to have been made in Medieval France rather than the ancient Romans, who simply referred to mustard by the name “sinapis”.
Honey-mustard sauce specifically seems to be an absolutely timeless pairing. I have been able to find a honey-mustard (or sugar-sweetened) recipe in nearly every culture that produced culinary writings.
What follows is my recipe for basic home-made mustard as well as five period mustard sauces from various times and regions. I have ordered them roughly by complexity of ingredients and flavor.
Basic Mustard
This is my basic home-made mustard, which I have used as a starting point for several of the following recipes.
I use a blend of yellow seeds and brown seeds because I feel it is a better balance of heat and mustard flavor. I have not seen a period source that recommends a blend, but also many of them do not specify which type of seeds at all.
Also while there are some period recipes that prescribe soaking the seeds before grinding, most of them grind the seeds while dry, which is probably easier. However, for a modern food processor or blender, it works much better pre-soaked. The heat level of the mustard is also very consistent with this method, whereas dry powder seems like it can lose its potency from both air and moisture exposure.
Recipe
- Yellow mustard seeds
- Brown mustard seeds
- White wine vinegar
Mix seeds in a ratio of 2 parts yellow to 1 part brown in a large jar. Pour in vinegar, about twice as much by volume. Soak at least overnight. Seeds will expand, add more vinegar to cover if necessary. Then put everything in a food processor or blender until desired consistency, adding more vinegar if needed. Can be used immediately, but best after a few days in a refrigerator.
Palladius Mustard (4th Century CE, Rome)
From Opus agricultura, by Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius:
Senapis semen ad modam sextarii unius et semis redigere curabis in puluerem, cui mellis pondo quinque, olei hispani unam libram, aceti acris unum sextarium miscebis et tritis omnibus diligenter uteris.
Grind one sextarium of mustard seeds with five pounds of honey and one of Hispanic oil, diluting with one sextarium of strong vinegar. Grind diligently everything together and use.[1]
This is a wonderfully simple early recipe for honey-mustard sauce. I’m not sure how much a “sextarium” is, but an equal part mustard seeds and vinegar by volume makes sense. I tend to mix in honey at 1 part honey for 2 parts mustard paste. However since this recipe also includes the typically Roman ingredient olive oil, I used a little less.
Recipe
- Yellow mustard seeds
- Brown mustard seeds
- White wine vinegar
- Honey
- Extra virgin olive oil
Mix 2 parts mustard (as Basic Mustard above) and a bit less than 1 part honey. Mix in a little olive oil until desired texture.
Lombard Mustard (1390 CE, England)
From The Forme of Cury:
Take mustard seed and waisshe it, & drye it in an ovene. Grynde it drye; sarse it thurgh a sarse. Clarifie hony with wyne & vyneger & stere it wel togedre and make it thikke ynowgh; & whan thou wilt spende therof make it thynne with wyne. [2]
Here we have another honey-mustard sauce. This one is specifically supposed to be thin in consistency and the wine very much influences the character of the sauce.
Recipe
- Yellow mustard seeds
- Brown mustard seeds
- White wine vinegar
- Honey
- Red wine
Mix 2 parts basic mustard, 1 part honey, and thin with red wine.
Catalan Mustard (1520 CE, Spain)
From Libre del Coch, by Ruperto de Nola:
-
- MUSTARD (124)
MOSTAZA
You must take mustard seed, and clean it of the dust and the soil and the stones, and grind it well in a mortar; and when it is ground, strain it through a cloth strainer; and then take the mustard powder and put it in a mortar with a crustless piece of bread soaked in meat broth, and grind it all together; and when it is well-ground, blend it with a little bit of lean broth without fat which is well-salted; and when it is blended in a good manner so that it is not too thin, take honey which is good, and melted on the fire, and cast it in the mortar and stir it well until it is well-mixed, and prepare dishes. Some cast a little vinegar in the broth; you can add peeled, toasted almonds, ground-up with the mustard. [3]
This recipe is interesting in that it uses broth as the main liquid for the mustard instead of vinegar. Unlike most of my other recipes I use powdered yellow mustard instead of my base blend. Without vinegar or black seeds it is a much milder mustard sauce. For this specific batch I substitute vegetable broth for meat broth so that it will keep longer and be suitable for any vegetarians/vegans who wish to try it.
Recipe
- Yellow mustard seeds, ground
- Bread crumbs
- Vegetable broth
- Honey
Soak the bread in broth and mix/mush until more or less dissolved. Then mix in the mustard until it thickens and absorbs the liquid. Then thin it out again with the honey.
Caliph’s Mustard (9th Century CE, Middle East)
I encountered a description of this dish on the Eat Like A Sultan blog [4]. Unfortunately I have not found access to a translation of the original source. As such, I have only the blog’s description to go off of:
This delightful recipe is attributed to the Abbasid caliph al-Wathiq bi-‘llah (‘He who trusts in God’, 842-847CE), who apparently also wrote a recipe book. It is roast chicken smothered in a sauce made with mustard, sugar, (ground) walnuts and asafoetida. Serve decorated with rue and pomegranate seeds. [4]
This is an amazing sauce for chicken. The ground walnuts help mellow out the mustard a bit and then the asafetida (a Roman spice that continued to be used in the Middle East and India) adds a pungent depth to the flavor.
Recipe
- Yellow mustard seeds
- Brown mustard seeds
- White wine vinegar
- Ground walnuts
- Sugar
- Asafetida
Grind walnuts and mix in with the base mustard, about 2 parts mustard 1 part walnuts. May need additional vinegar to thin out to a sauce consistency. Then add sugar and asafoetida to taste.
Digby Mustard (1669 CE, England)
From The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt Opened, by Kenelm Digby:
To make Mustard
The best way of making Mustard is this: Take of the best Mustard-seed (which is black) for example, a quart. Dry it gently in an Oven, and beat it to a subtle powder, and searse it. Then mingle well strong Wine-vinegar with it, so much that it be pretty liquid, for it will dry with keeping. Put to this a little Pepper beaten small (white is the best) at discretion, as about a good pugil, and put a good spoonful of Sugar to it (which is not to make it taste sweet, but rather quick, and to help the fermentation) lay a good Onion in the bottom, quartered if you will, and a race of Ginger scraped and bruised; and stir it often with an Horseradish root cleansed, which let always lie in the pot till it have lost its virtue, then take a new one. This will keep long, and grow better for a while. It is not good till after a month, that it hath fermented a while.
Some think it will be the quicker, if the seed be ground with fair water, instead of Vinegar, putting store of Onions in it. [5]
Though technically this source is post-SCA-period, it is plausible that this recipe is much older, as written recipes tend to be. There aren’t any ingredients or techniques that weren’t known centuries earlier.
While I have made this mustard following the source recipe exactly, that process is very time-consuming and yields a rather thin and watery product. Instead, I prefer to blend all the ingredients together. It will finish fermenting in mere days and, to my palette, has an identical flavor. I also prefer my basic blend over the recommended pure black seeds, which can be exceedingly harsh.
Recipe
- Yellow mustard seeds
- Brown mustard seeds
- White wine vinegar
- Onion
- Fresh horseradish
- Fresh ginger
- Ground white pepper
- Sugar
Peel and chop your onion, horseradish, and ginger. Add to food processor along with base mustard, ground white pepper, and sugar. Blend until desired consistency. Do not refrigerate, leave at room temperature for 1-3 days for fermentation.
Sources
[1] Opus agricultura, Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, 4~5thC CE
Translation: Historical Italian Cooking
https://historicalitaliancooking.home.blog/english/recipes/ancient-roman-mustard/
[2] The Forme of Cury, compiled in 1390, The master cooks of King Richard II
[3] Libre del Coch, Ruperto de Nola
Translation by Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
https://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/Guisados1-art.html
[4] The Caliph’s Mustard Chicken, Eat Like A Sultan, Daniel Newman
http://eatlikeasultan.com/the-caliphs-mustard-chicken/
[5] The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt Opened, Kenelm Digby, 1669
Edited by Anne Macdonell
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16441/pg16441-images.html