My column last week was about Cowboy Rob’s delicious barbeque sauce and this week it’s about his mustard sauce, made from a family recipe that’s about a hundred years old. It’s easy to put a meal together when you have a few homemade sauces in the fridge.
Rob’s recipe is simple; there is no need to cook it, just dump and stir. I blended the ingredients and the sauce was a pale yellow. But within ten minutes, the color had morphed into a vibrant, goldenrod yellow. The color was so pretty that I wanted to paint a whole room that color or find fabric that matched and make a dress. I tasted the sauce and it was good, but nothing to write home, or a column about. The instructions said “Let sit for 24 hours” and while it sat, I kept peeking as if it was a beautiful piece of art.
I tasted it the next morning and during the night, Little Miss Mustard had dressed up in finery and gone to the ball. The flavors had indeed melded and the hot caused an intense sensation up in the nose which is a bit of a thrill, you know. The next evening, the sauce was even better. The color stayed vibrant and was still incredibly beautiful.
I put the sauce on a fried egg sandwich made with pita bread, and for a moment, I was at a five star restaurant (sorry, French’s, you’ve just been retired). Then I cooked some shrimp and it occurred to me to mix the mustard sauce with the barbeque sauce I made last week. Wow! That was one of the best sauces I’ve ever eaten, bar none. In fact, the sauce was so good I stood at the kitchen counter and ate it like it was a main course and not a condiment, before I told myself that was not very ladylike and stopped. The zippy duo had it all – tangy, savory, sweet, salty, sour, hot and bitter flavors. The sauce made a pork chop blossom. I even put it on ramen noodles. This mustard sauce goes with Rob’s barbeque sauce like salt goes with pepper. That’s fusion happenin’ in the kitchen!
Old-Fashioned Mustard Sauce
4 tbsp dry mustard
4 tbsp sugar
12 tbsp all-purpose flour (I used cake flour)
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp salt
½ cup water and ½ cup distilled white vinegar
Mix the ingredients and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours, then refrigerate. I used S&B Oriental Hot Mustard powder. If you need last week’s barbeque sauce recipe, by all means please write to me – Isabel@isabelmontclaire.com. Thank you, Rob, for sharing your incredible recipes with us!