Spicy Beer Mustard

Spicy beer mustard is a traditional German condiment with a delightful kick, essential for serving with sausages and pretzels. It’s super easy to make and keeps for months in your refrigerator.

I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for a very long time. In fact, I have several recipes calling for yellow mustard seeds in my “to make someday” files because I haven’t been able to find them. I don’t know why the yellow seeds are such a challenge. The brown ones are everywhere and I always have them on hand because they are a common ingredient in curries. But, once again, the heavens aligned for me when the Sunday Supper Oktoberfest theme was announced and I spied yellow mustard seeds in my local supermarket for the very first time.

After all, what could be better than a spicy beer mustard that goes together nicely with all types of German würste or sausages? It’s also great to dip your pretzels in as you sip a cold beer.

Adapted from the recipe on Food and Wine.

Yield: Makes about 485g or 2 cups of spicy beer mustard

Ingredients
1/3 cup or 60g yellow mustard seeds
1/4 cup or 80g brown mustard seeds
1/2 cup or 120ml apple cider vinegar
1 cup or 240ml dark beer, divided
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons dry mustard powder

Method
Put your mustard seeds in a small bowl or a clean jar, then pour in a 1/2 cup or 120ml of the dark beer and all of the vinegar. Cover the bowl with cling film or put the lid on the jar loosely and put the mixture in the refrigerator. Leave to soak overnight. I used a clean jar because I thought it would give us a better picture of what happens to the mustard seeds after soaking. Boy, was I right!



In a small saucepan, whisk together the other 1/2 cup or 120ml dark beer, sugar, honey, salt, turmeric, and allspice.

Warm over a medium flame and keep stirring until it comes to a slow boil and the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Scrape the soaked mustard seeds into your blender with any liquid that wasn't absorbed. Add in the dry mustard powder and then pour in the warm liquid mixture.

Blend on high until the mustard seeds start to break down and the mustard thickens into, well, mustard. Stop and start the blender again if it begins to cavitate or form a air pocket around the blender blades, and you can see that the mustard is not moving.

Store in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator. It’ll be even better if you can wait a day to use it.

Serve with sausage, soft pretzels, hot dogs, hamburgers or wherever you might enjoy some spicy beer mustard.

Now pour yourself a cold beer and check out all the other great Oktoberfest recipes we have for you today! Many thanks to our event manager, Marion of Life Tastes Good and today’s host, Cricket of Cricket’s Confections for all of their hard work!

Appetizers (die Vorspeisen)

• German Pancake Soup (Flädlesuppe) by Caroline’s Cooking
• German Potato Pancakes by The Crumby Cupcake
• Homemade Pretzels with Kids by Hardly A Goddess
• Kräuterbutter (German Herb Butter) by Tara’s Multicultural Table
• Latke and Sauerbraten Poutine by Monica’s Table
• Obatzda – Bavarian Cheese Spread by Sunday Supper Movement
• Warsteiner Fondue by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Breakfast (das Frühstück)

• German Apple Pancake by The Chef Next Door
• Peach Fritters by Pies and Plots

Condiments (die Gewürze)

• Pickled Red Onions by What Smells So Good?
• Spicy Beer Mustard by Food Lust People Love

Main Dishes (die Hauptgerichte)

• Bavarian Sausage & Cabbage Soup by Food Done Light
• Beef Goulash Recipe by Positively Stacey
• Beer Mac and Cheese by Moore or Less Cooking
• Berlin Potato Soup by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Bierocks by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Bratwurst Sheet Pan Dinner by A Mind Full Mom
• Burgers with Bacon-Sauerkraut Jam by Palatable Pastime
• How to Make Traditional German Sauerbraten by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Oktoberfest Beer Brats by Wholistic Woman
• Oktoberfest Chicken Chili by Fantastical Sharing of Recipes
• Oktoberfest Fondue 3 Ways by Momma’s Meals
• Pork chops with Sauerkraut and Apples by Brunch-n-Bites
• Roasted Apple & Beer Chili For Oktoberfest by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• Sausage, Pepper, and Onion Kebobs w/ a Boiled Cider Drizzle by The Freshman Cook
• Schwenkbraten (Grilled German Pork Chops) by Curious Cuisiniere

Side Dishes (die Beilagen)

• Fried Potatoes German Style by My Life as a Cookbook
• German Potato Salad by Tramplingrose
• Ginger Beer Sauerkraut by Cricket's Confections
• Herbed Spaetzle by The Hungry Goddess
• Krautsalat (German Coleslaw) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Oktoberfest Potatoes by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Dessert (der Nachtisch)

• Apple Tart by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Kaiserschmarrn Recipe by Plated Cravings
• Nana’s Gluten Free German Chocolate Cake by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Rote Grütze (Fruit Pudding) by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

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Christmas Ham Muffins #MuffinMonday

For just a little taste of Christmas any time of the year, make ham, pineapple and brown sugar muffins, topped with pineapple in just a little brown sugar mustard glaze.

One of the early recipes I shared on this blog was for a baked Christmas ham, covered all over with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries and slathered with brown sugar mustard glaze. Just like my grandmother used to make. I was cooking with a friend in Cairo while I was there on a house-hunting trip before our move, so the photos were pretty sad, but I can tell you that the ham was spectacular.

I give you exhibit A.

These muffins are a little sweet and a little savory and the little drizzle of brown sugar mustard glaze on top is divine.

Ingredients
For the muffin batter:
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml pineapple juice
1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil
2 eggs
2 slices canned pineapple in juice (about 1/2 cup when chopped or 110g)
3/4 cup or 100g sliced or chopped ham

For topping:
12 small chunks pineapple
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
6 cocktail cherries

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

Cut your pineapple into small chunks and put 12 pieces in a small bowl for the topping. Add the tablespoon of brown sugar and the teaspoon of yellow mustard. Mix well.

Cut your cherries in half and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.  Mash the brown sugar lumps out with a fork, if necessary.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, pineapple juice and oil.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.

Fold in the pineapple and ham.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Put one piece of the pineapple topping on each, along with a drizzle of the brown sugar mustard glaze. Add one cherry half.

Bake in the preheated oven about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to cool completely.

Now aren't those festive?

Enjoy! Early Merry Christmas to you!

Baked Christmas Ham

I am in Cairo, house hunting and baking ham!  We were invited to the home of a colleague for a lovely Christmas celebration yesterday and I promised to help another friend bake his ham to take along.  To that end, I hauled brown sugar, mustard, maraschino cherries, wooden toothpicks and canned pineapple slices with me from KL.  I am now informed that all of those things are available here but I wasn’t taking any chances!

Ingredients

1 whole ham (ours was 19.2 lbs or 8.89kg  and boneless– an enormous thing of beauty)

3 cans pineapple slices

1 jar maraschino cherries

2 cups or 400g  dark brown sugar

7 oz or about half of a small bottle of French’s mustard (207ml)

Bunch of wooden toothpicks

(If your ham is smaller, you might not need as much of the other ingredients.  Use your judgment.)

Method

Score the ham with a sharp knife.  I forgot to photograph this part but scoring the ham just means making very shallow cuts one way on the ham and then turning it to make shallow cuts the other way, ending up with a diamond or crisscross pattern on the skin of your ham.

Using toothpicks, secure the pineapple slices all over your ham.

Add one cherry in the center of each pineapple slice and hold it firm with another toothpick.

Mix your mustard and brown sugar.  Spread over the ham with a small spoon or pastry brush.   

Don’t put it too thick because you don’t want the sugar to burn as the ham cooks.  You won’t use the whole bowl initially, so set aside the balance for the last 30 minutes of cooking.

Add a couple of mugs full of water to the bottom of the baking pan so that the glaze that drips off does not burn black in the dry pan.  Check often throughout baking that the pan does not get dried out.  Keep adding water as needed.

Bake in a 350°F or 180°C oven around 10-12 minutes per pound.  Hams are already cooked but you want the internal temperature to reach between 130-140°F or 54-60°C before serving.

Halfway through baking, take the ham out of the oven and baste with the pan juices.

About 30 minutes before you think the ham will be done, take it out and add the balance of the brown sugar mustard mixture. 

When it is done, remove the pineapples and cherries and put them around your serving dish.  Slice the ham and put it in the middle.  

This was about one third of that huge ham.  We kept slicing and refilling the platter as needed. 

Enjoy!