Running out of Mustard
If you're that picky, you've gone too far. A New York hot dog should really be decorated with that cheap supermarket mustard - the fancy stuff, we save for sandwiches made of the finest ingredients.
French mustards are generally made by Maille and Amora, but both brands were acquired by the grim, tasteless robot, Unilever, and, as these things happen, Unilever is suffering from the financial crisis, forcing them to shut down mustard plants in Dijon, France.
That's right - due to the recession, you're out of Dijon mustard.
I'd like to point out the gross, disgusting irony of the situation: these two local French brands built up a reputation and a decent product, attracting the money-hungry claws of the monster Unilever.
Unilever buys them out, adding them to their roster of brands, but also, as a massive corporation, suffers huge losses from the recession, diminishing the quality and prestige of all its brands.
Finally, they close down the plants in Dijon.
Essentially, they drove a good product down to the grindstone, then shut it down... if Maille had stayed independent, they might have survived this recession, innovating new products and keeping the people of Dijon in business.
Ah, well... we'll have to hope that the Dijonaise find the stimulus to invent a new brand of mustard... I've got a ham sandwich just waiting for it...
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How to Make Dijon Mustard
Ingredients
1 cup of onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons of honey
4 oz of dry mustard
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
2 teaspoons of salt
4 drops of Tabasco sauce
2 cups of dry white wine
Get a small pot and heat the garlic, wine, and onion to a boil.
Place the heat setting to a low one and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat and pour the mixture into a bowl. Let it cool on the side.
Put the dry mustard into a small saucepan and then strain the wine mixture into the saucepan. Mix well until texture is smooth and then add the Tabasco sauce, salt, and honey.
Put the pan on a low heat setting and constantly stir until the mustard mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and then store mixture in a non-metal container.
Place the mustard in the refrigerator for about two days. This will help blend all the flavors together.