He also liked mustard; preparing it himself freshly each time with Colman’s mustard powder, brown vinegar and a smidgen of sugar. Mustard had to be hot and stimulate (read annihilate) the nasal passages, not that woosie French Dijon or sweet American stuff.
So, from the age of three, I remember eating it on and in everything — from hot dogs and Cumberland sausages to Welsh rarebit. To this day I still add the powder to a vinaigrette, and beef roasts are also tenderly massaged with the yellow paste.
Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without ham and lashings of English mustard.
Funnily enough, I can’t eat as much chilli as I can mustard — my tongue is clearly far more sensitive than my proboscis.
Of course, I was in my element when sushi made its way to SA shores in the early 1980s. Mustard and wasabi may be cousins and not brothers but they both contain allyl isothiocyanate, which causes the nasal burning sensation, the same as horseradish.
Mustard oil and seeds are used in a variety of Indian dishes, and what would German sausages be without mustard?
Ivan’s love of mustard taught me to be adventurous when it came to all things culinary. Tomato sauce wouldn't have imparted the same life’s lesson.