Category Archives: New Customers

Make Your OWN Prepared Mustard!

Prepared mustard.

It’s in nearly every fridge or pantry in the modern world and used in, or on, thousands of dishes ranging from the classic and iconic, to today’s contemporary recipes.

The list is simply exhausting!

Salad dressings, sauces, deviled eggs, potato salad, beef, lamb, pork, seafood, and of course, on our beloved hot dogs.

Yet as ubiquitous as prepared mustard around the world, it’s a recipe rarely made in our homes, or, in professional kitchens?

Why is that?

Because it’s beyond simple to make.

Mustard surely gets enough love otherwise. In fact, there are numerous festivals all around the world extolling mustard’s culinary virtues.

From Napa Valley, California to Berlin, Germany, mustard festivals are held each year and feature famous dozens of contests.

Famous Chefs at these events offer demonstrations, and there are numerous opportunities to feast on fabulous dishes using mustard in every imaginable way.

How is prepared mustard made?

Let’s look at how a prepared mustard recipe is made. Maybe, along the way, you’ll discover that it’s something you’d really enjoy making in your kitchen.

“House” prepared mustard is a pretty impressive (and very simple) way to add a distinctive and artisanal flair to your menus.

The basic ingredients needed to make mustard can be as simple as mustard and a liquid. The method however, can done in one of 2 ways.

  • Soak the whole seeds in the liquid, then blend or grind the mustard seeds into a paste. Or,
  • Grind the seeds to the desired fineness BEFORE adding your liquids. The additional grinding afterwards isn’t necessary.

Chemistry in action.

There’s a lot of chemical stuff going on when you make mustard.

The “heat, or bite” that comes from prepared mustard is within the seeds, and then it reacts with the liquids. So, breaking the seeds open is a part of the process.

It’s already been done for you with powdered mustard but it’s something you must do if you’re also using whole seeds.

Spicy or mild?

Temperature “heat”, (even hot water) negates much of the chemical reaction that give you the “spicey heat” component in prepared mustards.

If you want a mustard with more of a “bite” you should use cold water.

Warm water also works, but gives you more of a “mild” mustard reaction and flavor.

Using water alone, generally only gives you a few days (or less) of great mustard flavor. This can, (and should) be “stabilized”, by adding an acid (such as vinegar, lemon juice or horseradish) and some salt.

It also gives you that traditional taste, that most people love and accept.

Which seeds?

Three seeds used to make mustards, they are: white, brown and black.

The white mustard plant, actually makes the mustard seeds that we call yellow, and they make a very pale-yellow powder, not the bright yellow you see in the bottle. They also make a rather mild mustard while, brown and black mustard, are a bit more “robust” in flavor.

The yellow “salad” mustard you see in your grocery store is typically made with the yellow seeds from the white mustard plant with turmeric spice added for color.

The ingredient statement on a bottle of Heinz mustard reads: DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR, MUSTARD SEED, WATER, SALT, TURMERIC, NATURAL FLAVOR AND SPICES.

Brown mustard seeds are found in many premium prepared mustards including the popular Grey Poupon brand.

Black mustard seeds (called rai) are the most pungent and the least common seed to be found in American mustards but they are popular in Southern Indian cuisines.

Many people who enjoy making prepared mustards for their kitchen prefer to use at least 2 mustard seed varieties to create a more “complex” flavor.

A common combination is a hand or machine ground, brown seed, with a white (or yellow mustard powder added as a base).

Making your prepared mustard.

Since making a prepared mustard is rather easy, try making a batch using this recipe. We think you’ll agree that adding your own house-made mustard to your culinary repertoire might just plant the “seed” for many great recipe ideas.

We’ll use method number 2 with brown mustard seeds and yellow mustard powder.

Simple Prepared Mustard

Makes about 2 cups

½  cup brown mustard seeds

1  cup ground yellow mustard powder

1 tablespoon salt

2 tsp ground turmeric (optional)

2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar (optional)

1  cup cold water

¼ Cup + 1 tablespoon apple cider or white wine vinegar

  1. Grind the whole mustard seeds for a few seconds in a spice grinder, or by hand with a mortar and pestle. Leave the seeds only coarsely ground to give the final prepared mustard some whole seed identity.
  2. Add the ground seeds into a non-reactive (Stainless steel or glass) mixing bowl and add the salt and mustard powder. If you choose to add the turmeric and sweetener, add that as well.
  3. Pour in the water, then mix together well. When everything is incorporated, let this rest for at least 15 minutes, then add the vinegar.
  4. Pour into a glass or plastic container and store in the fridge.
  5. Your mustard will initially seem thin, but fear not, as the liquids are absorbed by the mustard, it will thicken up in a day’s time.

Perhaps the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the mustard to fully mature, which takes at least 2 days.

You’ll be tempted to taste it right away, even the next day, but fair warning, you’ll likely be disappointed because it will taste a bit bitter as the vinegar will just be beginning its to do its transformational “mellowing”.

Having said that, if it’s your first go at it, give it a try right away, and then a few days later. You’ll definitely notice the difference!

Once you’ve made your first batch, you may want to make some tweaks to suit your own personal tastes, or to fit a particular menu item you’ve created.

Among the things you can “experiment with” are:
  • Changing the mustard seeds to powder ratio.
  • Using beer or white wine as all or part of the water
  • Changing the sweetener
  • Adding some “heat”…chopped chiles or horseradish.
  • Adding chopped herbs (tarragon is a very popular option)

Your finished mustard, if stored properly under refrigeration, can last up to a year. Even longer if you process it as you would any canning technique.

Of course, you’ll want to use a great source for your mustard seeds which is why so many Chefs buy their mustard seeds from the Red Goose Spice Company.

If your goal is to eventually make larger batches of mustard, we sell our mustard seeds in any size quantity that suits your seed needs.Prepared 

Make Your OWN Prepared Mustard!

Prepared mustard.

It’s in nearly every fridge or pantry in the modern world and used in, or on, thousands of dishes ranging from the classic and iconic, to today’s contemporary recipes.

The list is simply exhausting!

Salad dressings, sauces, deviled eggs, potato salad, beef, lamb, pork, seafood, and of course, on our beloved hot dogs.

Yet as ubiquitous as prepared mustard around the world, it’s a recipe rarely made in our homes, or, in professional kitchens?

Why is that?

Because it’s beyond simple to make.

Mustard surely gets enough love otherwise. In fact, there are numerous festivals all around the world extolling mustard’s culinary virtues.

From Napa Valley, California to Berlin, Germany, mustard festivals are held each year and feature famous dozens of contests.

Famous Chefs at these events offer demonstrations, and there are numerous opportunities to feast on fabulous dishes using mustard in every imaginable way.

How is prepared mustard made?

Let’s look at how a prepared mustard recipe is made. Maybe, along the way, you’ll discover that it’s something you’d really enjoy making in your kitchen.

“House” prepared mustard is a pretty impressive (and very simple) way to add a distinctive and artisanal flair to your menus.

The basic ingredients needed to make mustard can be as simple as mustard and a liquid. The method however, can done in one of 2 ways.

  • Soak the whole seeds in the liquid, then blend or grind the mustard seeds into a paste. Or,
  • Grind the seeds to the desired fineness BEFORE adding your liquids. The additional grinding afterwards isn’t necessary.

Chemistry in action.

There’s a lot of chemical stuff going on when you make mustard.

The “heat, or bite” that comes from prepared mustard is within the seeds, and then it reacts with the liquids. So, breaking the seeds open is a part of the process.

It’s already been done for you with powdered mustard but it’s something you must do if you’re also using whole seeds.

Spicy or mild?

Temperature “heat”, (even hot water) negates much of the chemical reaction that give you the “spicey heat” component in prepared mustards.

If you want a mustard with more of a “bite” you should use cold water.

Warm water also works, but gives you more of a “mild” mustard reaction and flavor.

Using water alone, generally only gives you a few days (or less) of great mustard flavor. This can, (and should) be “stabilized”, by adding an acid (such as vinegar, lemon juice or horseradish) and some salt.

It also gives you that traditional taste, that most people love and accept.

Which seeds?

Three seeds used to make mustards, they are: white, brown and black.

The white mustard plant, actually makes the mustard seeds that we call yellow, and they make a very pale-yellow powder, not the bright yellow you see in the bottle. They also make a rather mild mustard while, brown and black mustard, are a bit more “robust” in flavor.

The yellow “salad” mustard you see in your grocery store is typically made with the yellow seeds from the white mustard plant with turmeric spice added for color.

The ingredient statement on a bottle of Heinz mustard reads: DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR, MUSTARD SEED, WATER, SALT, TURMERIC, NATURAL FLAVOR AND SPICES.

Brown mustard seeds are found in many premium prepared mustards including the popular Grey Poupon brand.

Black mustard seeds (called rai) are the most pungent and the least common seed to be found in American mustards but they are popular in Southern Indian cuisines.

Many people who enjoy making prepared mustards for their kitchen prefer to use at least 2 mustard seed varieties to create a more “complex” flavor.

A common combination is a hand or machine ground, brown seed, with a white (or yellow mustard powder added as a base).

Making your prepared mustard.

Since making a prepared mustard is rather easy, try making a batch using this recipe. We think you’ll agree that adding your own house-made mustard to your culinary repertoire might just plant the “seed” for many great recipe ideas.

We’ll use method number 2 with brown mustard seeds and yellow mustard powder.

Simple Prepared Mustard

Makes about 2 cups

½  cup brown mustard seeds

1  cup ground yellow mustard powder

1 tablespoon salt

2 tsp ground turmeric (optional)

2 tablespoons honey or brown sugar (optional)

1  cup cold water

¼ Cup + 1 tablespoon apple cider or white wine vinegar

  1. Grind the whole mustard seeds for a few seconds in a spice grinder, or by hand with a mortar and pestle. Leave the seeds only coarsely ground to give the final prepared mustard some whole seed identity.
  2. Add the ground seeds into a non-reactive (Stainless steel or glass) mixing bowl and add the salt and mustard powder. If you choose to add the turmeric and sweetener, add that as well.
  3. Pour in the water, then mix together well. When everything is incorporated, let this rest for at least 15 minutes, then add the vinegar.
  4. Pour into a glass or plastic container and store in the fridge.
  5. Your mustard will initially seem thin, but fear not, as the liquids are absorbed by the mustard, it will thicken up in a day’s time.

Perhaps the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the mustard to fully mature, which takes at least 2 days.

You’ll be tempted to taste it right away, even the next day, but fair warning, you’ll likely be disappointed because it will taste a bit bitter as the vinegar will just be beginning its to do its transformational “mellowing”.

Having said that, if it’s your first go at it, give it a try right away, and then a few days later. You’ll definitely notice the difference!

Once you’ve made your first batch, you may want to make some tweaks to suit your own personal tastes, or to fit a particular menu item you’ve created.

Among the things you can “experiment with” are:
  • Changing the mustard seeds to powder ratio.
  • Using beer or white wine as all or part of the water
  • Changing the sweetener
  • Adding some “heat”…chopped chiles or horseradish.
  • Adding chopped herbs (tarragon is a very popular option)

Your finished mustard, if stored properly under refrigeration, can last up to a year. Even longer if you process it as you would any canning technique.

Of course, you’ll want to use a great source for your mustard seeds which is why so many Chefs buy their mustard seeds from the Red Goose Spice Company.

If your goal is to eventually make larger batches of mustard, we sell our mustard seeds in any size quantity that suits your seed needs.Prepared 

Sesame, From Tahini to the Arabian Nights

For a lot of Chefs, their first encounter with sesame seeds probably came with a “jingle” that went: “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a…”

And you know the rest.

https://youtu.be/jSmAibfvCeU

Big burger and chips on the table

Of course, later in life, you learn that the LEAST of what sesame seeds can offer to the culinary world…

Is a topping on a bun.

But the fact remains that at one time, the vast majority of the sesame seed crop of Mexico went directly to McDonalds for toppings on their famous hamburger buns.

You still see sesame seeds on some bakery products in the United States but our country is nowhere near the leading importer of sesame seeds, nor its uses.

Sesameis a flowering plant grown in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods.

Sesame is thought to be the oldest oil-seed crop known to humanity and has one of the highest oil contents of any see and world production of sesame seeds in 2018 was 6 million metric tons.

Golden sesame

Interestingly, the top exporters of sesame seeds are India, Burma, Sudan Tanzania, China and Pakistan and India.

The top importers of sesame seeds are China, Turkey, Japan, South Korea and Israel.

From a nutrition perspective, eating sesame seeds have many “potential” health benefits and was once thought to have mystical powers, as first mentioned in the command “Open sesame!,” used in the Arabian Nights tale of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.”

Albeit a poorly remembrance of the actual command, which was, “open says me”, (which opened the secret cave’s entrance), “Open Sesame!” made its way into common expression anyway.

Many studies have extolled sesame seeds virtues since, due to the numerous vitamins and minerals they contain. The health benefits of sesame seeds seem almost endless. A few highlights include claims such as reducing your risk of heart disease, certain cancers, obesity, bone health, type 2 diabetes, and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, other studies say that you REALLY love sesame seeds in order to see any significant results from eating sesame seeds.

Like handfuls a day.

With a rich, nutty flavor, it’s no wonder that sesame seeds are used as garnishment and in foods all over the world.

From toppings on breads to thickeners in soups and savory dishes, sweets and coffee-like drinks with exotic names like: ”Benne”, Wangila, Chikki, Halvah, Goma-Dofuand and in Za’atar, there’s no shortage of recipes and spice blends that use this diverse seed.

But perhaps the most well-known food product that uses sesame seeds is Tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds and a key ingredient in the classic dip, Hummus.

Hummus, the Turkish word for mashed chick pea, is one of the oldest (prepared) foods, dating back to ancient Egypt.

There was time, that if you loved hummus, you’d probably only find it in a local specialty store, or hidden somewhere in the back aisles of one of the more popular national chains.

Today, it’s one of THE most popular dips in America.

You can of course buy Tahini to make your hummus but it’s SO easy to make and tastes infinitely better so why not make it yourself.

The recipe is below but you can watch it being made right here!

Tahini

Makes 3 Cups

1 Cup                        Sesame Seeds

¼ to 1/3 Cup             Olive Oil

  1. Place the sesame seeds (by themselves), in a frying pan or skillet on medium low heat, stirring often until the sesame seeds begin to lightly color and give off a toasty aroma.
  2. Remove the seeds from the heat and fully cool.
  3. Place the seeds in a food processor and blend until a paste is created.
  4. Add the olive oil in 2 or 3 stages, scraping down between each addition.
  5. Blend until the desired smoothness is achieved.

Classic Hummus

Makes 3+ Cups

2 – 16 oz Cans                  Canned Chick Peas

1 to 2 teaspoons                Garlic, Fresh, Chopped

1/3 Cup                              Tahini Paste

½                                        Lemon, Freshly Squeezed Juice

3 TBSP                               Olive Oil

1/3 Cup                              Cold Water (Or More as Needed)

1 tsp                                   Sea Salt (or Kosher Salt)

1/4 tsp                                Hot Sauce (Tabasco or Other)

  1. Drain off all liquids from the canned chick peas and rinse well with cold water to remove all of the canned juices.
  2. Add chick peas to a food processor using an “s” blade attachment.
  3. Add the fresh garlic, tahini paste, lemon juice and olive oil.
  4. Blend on medium then high speed 1 to 2 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. You want to make this paste rather smooth before adding the water.
  5. Begin adding the cold water in 2 to 3 steps, blending each time and scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions. The resulting hummus should be smooth and creamy looking and easily hold its shape when mounded.
  6. When you feel you have the consistency you want, add the salt and hot sauce and blend one last time for 15 to 30 seconds.

To the recipe above, once finished, you can blend in, OR add other ingredients, as toppings. These are a few of our favorites.

Red Goose Welcomes Cattleman’s Meats as Another Valued Customer

Having great partners in the business world is not only a blessing, but an affirmation that you’re doing something right.

At the Red Goose Spice Company, one of our missions is to partner with Chef’s, restauranteurs, clubs, hotels, and major food service corporations throughout the United States to provide them with the seasonings they count on to provide the high-quality dishes on their menus.

Not JUST containers of oregano, granulated garlic, or paprika, but custom blended seasonings, rubs, flours and mixes as well.

All destined to be used throughout their facility, in many different ways, to produce innumerous products they prepare for their customers.

Chefs who work in the ever-growing Gourmet Grocery Retail sector of the food service business, not only see products from The Red Goose Spice Company in their kitchens, but on their grocery store shelves as well.

Both Red Goose and Savvy Goose provide retail packaged products to give the “every day” cook at home “Chef”, the opportunity to use the same seasonings that the “pros” use.

Two examples located in the Southeast, Detroit are the four Nino Salvaggio International Marketplace stores and more recently, Cattleman’s Meats, located in Centerline and Taylor, Michigan.

In both cases, the retail products produced by Savvy Goose are under the Savvy Goose brand, while all the traditional herbs, spices and blends uses for everyday cooking are produced and co-packed by Red Goose under the Salvaggio and Cattleman’s brand labels respectively.

Both markets also take advantage of Red Goose’s ability to create proprietary blends which are only offered at their locations.

Executive Chef Michael Key’s, at Cattleman’s Meats not only oversees all of the cold prepared foods offered in both full and packaged self-service, but full-service hot foods counter, an a la carte café menu, as well as their tremendously popular smokehouse and barbecue offerings sold at the store.

Beyond using the Red Goose brand herbs and spices for all of his recipes, Chef Key’s also worked with Red Goose to create a proprietary seasoning flour for his fried chicken, as well as his rubs for his smokehouse products.

Considering the many ways Red Goose and Savvy Goose can provide solutions to all your kitchen’s seasoning and coating requirements, both are excellent choices to consider as partners in your food service or retail grocery business.