Cutting the Mustard

I love homemade Christmas presents

Especially from someone’s kitchen

It’s what I knew growing up in a small town without access to store bought gifts

Fabulous cooks abounded

May be the dearth of restaurants in my hometown created all the fabulous cooks

Not having many places to go, it seems that everyone I knew grew up in a family that cooked

Burned

Men and women both

It being an earlier age, so many cooks put their talents to good use every Christmas

May be the dearth of stores and gift shops in my hometown created all the homemade Christmas treats

Wrapped in tins, boxes, tissue paper

Peanut brittle

Cream Cheese Braid Bread

Venison sausage

Russian Tea mixes

Mocha mixes

Homemade Kahlua

Biscuits

Breakfast casseroles

Preserves

Chutneys

And, the most elegant of condiments

Champagne Mustard

Each year, our dear dear friend Mary Patrick would darken our door with her impeccably tied pint jar of her champagne mustard in hand

She didn’t give it to a lot of people, but we always received

“Mom,” one of us would yell as we saw Mary on the 23rd or 24th, “here comes Mary with her mustard!”

Gifts exchanged

Hugs

Laughs

So much love

Just like clockwork

I don’t have Mary Patrick’s receipt for Champagne Mustard, but I do have another friend’s

Mary Martha Greene

Mary Martha’s family were super talented cooks, too

Anyone else remember her aunt’s cheese biscuits? Miss Dobson? Anyone?

I cannot wait for Mary Martha’s cookbook to come out soon

Mary Martha used to babysit for us wild boys when were little

Forty plus years of friendship

She’s a love

A dahlin

Last year, she shared her Champagne Mustard receipt with me just because I asked her for it since I didn’t have Mary Patrick’s version

Three emails later, and I had the keys to the mustard kingdom

I made a batch last Christmas

I recently made a batch for this Christmas

It’s a game changer

Sweet and spicy at the same time

Set your sinuses free with a full spoonful if you’re stopped up in any way

It’s amazing with roast beast, ham, turkey, in deviled eggs, as a substitute for Dijon mustard in a vinaigrette

I have not one lick of participation in the creation of this amazing condiment

My girls love it

I hope I’m not going to get in trouble with our dear Mary Martha by giving this away

My former babysitter did tell me that NOT sharing receipts is the height of bad manners

We Southerners are known for our manners

With Christmas fast approaching, it’s time to polish our manners

It’s also time to polish the mustard spoon and put this mustard in the fridge

Yup

Polish the mustard spoon

You probably have one and don’t even know it

Or you could ask for one for Christmas as this mustard deserves its own piece of silverware

Mary Martha Greene’s Champagne Mustard

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dry powdered mustard – I use Coleman’s English – it packs a punch

4 eggs

1/2 cup champagne or Prosecco vinegar

1/4 cup sherry

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend for five minutes. Pour into a Pyrex bowl that can sit over simmering water. Do not cook in a metal double boiler. Place bowl over simmering water and cook until thick. Mary Martha says it takes 10 minutes, but, mine always takes a little longer.

Take off the heat and let come to room temperature before putting in containers and leaving in the fridge. It lasts indefinitely, but, it never lasts that long