Pickled Mustard Seeds

I first heard of pickled mustard seeds in the cookbook “66 Square Feet” by Marie Vijoen. She writes a blog by the same name and lives in New York City. It’s a great cookbook and an interesting blog; I’d love to go on one of her food foraging walks in the NY area.

Since then they seem to be everywhere. I had them sprinkled on a salad with beets and goat cheese, as an ingredient in a mustard seed sauce for BBQ, and on a meatloaf sandwich. They are pungent with a tangy mustard flavor and a pop as you bit into them; surprisingly, they are not particularly hot. Lastly they are strangely addictive, you will find lots of uses once you make them.

The original recipe came from David Chang’s Momofuku restaurant. (I understand he copied it from his time at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Craft.) We all copy each other don’t we? I get ideas from every blog and cookbook I read. There is a stack of cookbooks and books about food by my bed, ready for middle of the night reading. I can read a cookbook the way other people read novels, mentally tasting my way through every page.

Beside reading

I plan to use these as a condiment with slow cooked beef stew tomorrow night. We have friends coming over for a mid-week dinner and I want to make things easy for myself. It is impressive but couldn’t be easier!

Pickled Mustard Seeds

mustard seeds simmering

• 1 cup of yellow mustard seeds
• 1 cup of rice wine vinegar (plain not flavored)
• ¾ cup of water
• ¾ cup of mirin
• ½ cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of salt

1. Combine everything in a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Turn the heat down to simmer and cook 1 hour.
3. Add more water if needed to keep them moist.
4. Cool and pour into a container. They will thicken as they cool.

This will keep for several months in the fridge.