The Mustard Option, a little Q-view and recipes

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chef k-dude

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Mar 11, 2015
148
53
Central Virginia
Back around Easter, I decided to do a ham from a back yard pig my brother in law gave me. He takes his pig quarters and puts some pre-smoke on them, then freezes them and roasts them in the oven when hes ready to eat it. He gifted us with a rib roast, two shoulders and this ham. Home grown local meat from right up the road.

My wife had mentioned she had some heartburn with my usual BBQ sauce recently and I was looking for something different. So I decided to do some research on mustard rubs and sauce. I read a bunch of recipes online and like I usually do, I made a hybrid of the parts I liked from many recipes. Nowadays I will sit down and simply write it out as I go (well, type actually) and pre-determine measurements and go with it. Then if something is off, I'll make note on my recipe and adjust for next time.

So here's the little ham. I scored the surface if you look closely.


Then rubbed with my new mustard rub recipe



I don't have any after pics because we had family in for dinner, and once it was roasted it was carved and served.

I served it with a new mustard BBQ sauce recipe I made. Again, these are always hybrids of multiple other recipes with other tweaks I add as I see fit for my tastes. I never claim to make anyone else's as my own and I never try to sell a recipe, so I'm clean on this stuff. I believe in sharing info because "a rising tide lifts all boats" and we are all better cooks as a result.

On to that sharing...

Here's the Mustard Rub:

Ken’s Mustard Rub

3 tablespoons brown mustard seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seed

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seed (or add ground cumin, see below)

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorn

Place the first 5 ingredients in a dry skillet. Place over medium heat, moving the skillet to keep seeds from burning, until aromatic, about 2 minutes or more. Mustard Seeds will begin to pop. Transfer seeds to a spice grinder, cool slightly, and pulse until finely chopped but NOT powdery. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in rest of the ingredients.

(1/4 tsp ground cumin if no whole cumin seed)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

3 tablespoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tbl coarse salt

1 Tbl brown sugar

1 Tsp dried oregano leaves

1 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon black pepper Coarse ground, not roasted

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

¼ tsp white pepper

½ tsp cayenne

Here's the Mustard BBQ sauce:

Ken’s Mustard Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup prepared yellow mustard

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

¼ cup white vinegar

1 TBL Franks hot sauce

¼ cup honey plus more to taste adjust at end if desired

1tbl tomato paste (good squirt from tube concentrate)

1 teaspoon/5 mL soy sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire

1/4 cup/60 mL light brown sugar

1 tsp chicken bouillon granules

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

1 tablespoons Chili powder

1 Tablespoon paprika (smoked if you have it)

1 tsp coarse black pepper

¼ tsp white pepper

1 tbl mustard powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp dried minced onion

2 tablespoons butter

Preparation

Combine all ingredients, except butter in a medium saucepan. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, making sure to stir occasionally. Add the butter and simmer for 10 more minutes.  Allow sauce to cool slightly before using if desired.

Any similarities to any other rubs or sauces you may have seen makes sense because I scour the internet and books for my base ideas and tweak from there. I never purchase recipes and published them as my own, and even when I have a recipe I call mine that is real close to the base recipe I started with, I almost always remember to give credit to the base I started with. You will see this in a couple of my other posts. I am not in this for money or to take anyone else's money.

Both of these recipes were great just as is. I hope you try them and enjoy...and of course add your own tweaks with what you may or may not have in your pantry and spice collection. It's all good...

I'm just trying to give back here. This site has answered many questions for me, so even though I have had a few disagreements here, I still want to give back.
 
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Somehow I missed this thread.  The rub looks really interesting, and I will definitely try it on my next double smoked ham.

I probably won't be trying the BBQ sauce for 3 reasons:

1.  I hardly ever use BBQ sauce

2.  I'm not a big fan of soy sauce

3.  I don't like ketchup and don't use it in any recipes, as the taste always comes through.

But that's just MY taste preferences.  I have no doubt that a lot of others will be giving the sauce a try.

Gary
 
As posted elsewhere, I'll probably give it a shot in the next couple days. You might still give it shot Gary. Mustard sauce is great on fattier pork and is killer on dogs brats and other "bunned" sausage. I'm sure you could cut the soy and still get great results. Can't wait to try it.
 
Gary H.,

Well...that's a bummer. But, some folks have very specific "food-isms". The good news is there is a lot of other stuff you like. Dry ribs are a Texas thing...so it IS a thing, and I have been trying to steer myself towards doing it for a change. Like dry rub chicken wings, it's got to be good, just a different take on it. Nothing wrong with dry...unless its the meat that's overcooked!

I'm the opposite from you. I love sauces. All kinds of them. One thing I NEVER do though, is buy a BBQ sauce off the shelf and use it without doctoring it. Most people like sweet sauces so that's what manufacturers make the most of. I'm not a huge fan of really sweet stuff unless its dessert and even then I have my limits. I also love gravy, bechamel, cheese sauces and I make an awesome red wine reduction sauce for my Deer Tenderloins when I am blessed to have them or Beef tenderloin when those sales come around.

I like ketchup, but essentially just on fries. I used to have to give my daughter a little ketchup to dip her green beans in when she was a kid...it made for an empty plate quickly! My son never needed such lubrication to get him to eat! And I love mustard's...pretty much all of them. Plain America Yellow, Hot Chinese...even the stuff that crunches when you bite because it has whole mustard seeds in it. I've toyed with making my own mustard, but like dill pickles, my homemade is never as good as store bought on those two things.

My stock BBQ sauce is actually a cheat, I use Sweet Baby Rays as my base, but of course it is waaaaayyy too sweet so I step all over it with a bunch of cider vinegar and Texas Pete hot sauce. That combination gets it right about perfect for me.

Lance,

You are so right. This sauce and rub would be good on just about anything. Beef and fish might be a little weird, but it would actually be really good on a steak sandwich I think...with tons of onions! And...I probably would NOT use it on shellfish!
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