All About Mustard-The Little Seed with Big Flavor and Magical Culinary Uses.

·25 min·2 clips

Chef Keith Snow returns after months away, revealing a strange 'diesel nose' condition from a family illness ordeal.

The episode begins with Chef Keith Snow explaining his absence since June, citing a family trip to Colorado where his son and grandfather fell ill, leading him to nurse them back to health. He developed a condition he calls 'diesel nose,' a persistent smell of diesel or cigarettes, which lasted for weeks. After returning home, further family illnesses and a carnivore diet affected his creativity and recording schedule. Snow apologizes to listeners and thanks them for their support, mentioning social media interactions and promoting his coffee brand, Brown Duck Coffee. He then transitions to the main topic: mustard. Snow explains that mustard is part of the brassica family, related to cabbage and broccoli, and is grown worldwide. He provides U.S. agriculture data for 2020, including 91,400 acres harvested and 81.8 million pounds produced, with top growing states like Idaho and Montana. He describes the three common mustard seed types: white, yellow, and brown, noting that yellow mustard in the U.S. often uses turmeric for color. Snow discusses Dijon mustard's origins in France in 1865, originally made with verjuice, and now typically using white wine and brown or black seeds. He recounts visiting the Edmond Fallot mustard factory in Dijon in 2012, where the pungent smell made his eyes burn. Snow mentions that France imports most mustard seeds from Western Canada and the U.S., with recent frosts damaging crops in Burgundy. He shares culinary uses, such as mustard on pastrami sandwiches at New York's Stage Deli and as a sticky base for barbecue rubs in the South. Snow recommends Dijon mustard for vinaigrettes and sauces, noting a current shortage in France. He ordered a case of Maille Dijon mustard for storage. Snow provides a recipe for a cider mustard sauce with chicken, involving deglazing a pan with chicken stock and apple cider, then adding Dijon mustard and cream. He also details a béchamel-based mustard sauce for pork tenderloin, using whole grain mustard. Snow explains how to make homemade mustard by crushing seeds with salt, sugar, wine, and vinegar, and fermenting it with pickle juice. He recalls a friend in Utah aging mustard in whiskey barrels, which produced a strong smell. The episode ends with Snow discussing his Thanksgiving, helping a friend make stuffing, and holiday plans including cooking a rib roast on a Big Green Egg and traveling to Colorado after Christmas.

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