Pardon me, would you happen to have …
I apologize for the title but I just had to use it. I was making some salad dressing tonight and got to looking at the bottle of Dijon mustard and wondered, is there a Paris mustard? Or maybe a Lyon mustard? It turns out the Dijon isn’t so much about the city as a process developed there.
There are about forty different kinds of mustard plant out there but the seeds of only three of them make up pretty much all the mustard out there. Early mustard consisted of ground mustard seeds mixed into a paste with vinegar. The combination of the oils released by the ground seeds with the vinegar gave the mixture it’s bite. If you just put some mustard seed on your tongue, it won’t taste anything like the mustard we buy today.
This was popular but the vinegar gave the mustard a very sharp flavor that some folks didn’t like. So, in 1856 in Dijon France, Jean Naigeon combined the sour juice from unripe grapes with the ground mustard and developed what we know as Dijon mustard. Oddly enough, the name Dijon mustard does not enjoy any legal status and in fact, most Dijon mustard is produced outside of Dijon.
So what about the Grey Poupon I reference in the title of this post? Is that just some brand name of Kraft or somebody? Actually it dates back past the invention of Dijon mustard. To be true Dijon mustard, the husks of the mustard seed must be removed. In 1853, a man named Maurice Grey invented a machine the automated the processing of the seeds. Mr. Grey already operated a mustard shop in Dijon with a certain Antoine Poupon, established as the Grey Poupon mustard company.
Just to bring things full circle, here’s the salad dressing I was making when all of this occurred to me.
Mustard Vinaigrette
This is not the place to use your good olive oil, the other flavors will overwhelm it. I usually go with canola but any fairly neutral oil would be fine. The choice of herbs is up to you, but I like the following. Fresh would be good too.
1 clove smashed garlic
6 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
a pinch of dried parsley, thyme and basil
salt and pepper to taste
Combine the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until throughly mixed. Makes enough for about a pound of salad.