After years and years of using the higher end stuff like Dijon, English, German, stone ground, deli, honey and everything else I've come up with a conclusion...
Cheap American yellow mustard is still the best. Yes, it is. You can buy gourmet sausages and stuff, but yellow just does well with anything. This is not debatable.
Plain ol' yellow mustard definitely works with a whole lot of stuff, but it doesn't work with everything.
- Baked beans have to have yellow mustard, along with other stuff.
- One of my favorite super easy to make party appetizers absolutely does not work with yellow mustard because it's just too strong.
The appetizer in question: Apple and Cheese wafers. Stack the following; in order:
- Carr's wafer (flavored or plain, your choice)
- St. Andre cheese
- Silver Palate Sweet and Rough mustard (or a similar competing brand)
- Cored and sliced tart apple circles
- Optional:
- Chevre (plain or flavored as you prefer) with smoked salmon on top of it. Garnish with dill weed.
- Cream cheese or more St. Andre with Sevruga on top. Garnish with dill weed.
- Cream cheese or chevre with freshly made bacon bits/chips is fine alternative if one hasn't salmon. Just let the cheese form the dome in the center of the apple and lean a tiny bit of bacon against it or shove a corner of the bacon into the cheese in the hole and stick the dill next to it for color.
That's the basic recipe. It can be tweaked in a host of ways. Cantaloupe, mango, honeydew, pear, peach, etc. instead of apple. The fruit can be cooked, grilled, heated, etc. instead of raw. Salted caramel or melted chocolate "drizzle-striped" on the bacon version of the dish.
I tend to slice the apple to about "half dollar coin" thickness and spoon Sevruga into the core hole so that with the cheese that's partially pushed up into the hole, the eggs form a little dome of sorts and spill over onto a little smear of the cheese that's next to the core hole, but not all over the top side of the apple slice. I use Sevruga because they are tiny, thus making it easier to get some height on the thing. Smoked salmon, since it can be folded or sliced into triangular "flakes" is nice too, has a similar flavor profile and, of course, there are myriad ways to get some height.
That appetizer (and the variations I've described) is one of my favorites because:
- it tastes good,
- it's super fast and easy to make -- no cooking required,
- it has nice visual and saporific impact,
- it goes well with white wine, champagne, light reds (Beaujolais nouveau is great with this) and sweet wines (fortified or otherwise), and
- it's tidy to eat.
Sure as yellow mustard doesn't work with that appetizer, red delicious apple (or other sweet apple) wedges with a tip dipped in yellow mustard is quite nice.
What is there to say, save for water, foods and beverages that are good in many, many situations are not good in all situations.
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