Well, holiday season is drawing close, and as we don't eat turkey here, but ham, mustard tends to be a protagnoist on the chritmas table.

Here's a recipee for a dry whisky mustard I just made.

35 grams Mustard seeds
4 tablespoons strong coffee
0,75 dl Colmans mustardpowder
2 tablespoons malt whisky
2 tablespoons dark syrup
0,5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt

Crush the mustard seeds and add the coffee. Mix. Add mustard powder, syrup, vinegar, syrup, salt and whisky. Mix and let it rest overnight or more (it improves enormously after a few days).

The choice of whisky is yours, but (having a decent supply of it) I tried out a few.

My choices were The Balvenie 12 yo Doublewood, which gave a sweet, nutty flavor to the mustard and Laphroaigh 10 year old, which made the mustard tarry and smokey, but yet drier than the first. The latter was probably more interesting, but the Balvenie more to my taste.

Please note that the mustard will be rather a lot drier than your average Dijon-mustard, while US mustard (just like Finnish mustard) tends to be sweet. While I haven't tried it myself, it might be a good idea to add some cream some time before serving incase you feel it is too dry.

Then, here are some whiskys I tasted but decided not to use:

Longmorn 15 yo: Good, round, sweetm but rather less characterful than Macallan 12 yo or Balvenie 12 yo.

Glenlivet 15 yo: Very malty and sweet, probably a decent choice, but lacks the sherry cask note of the Balvenie or Macallan, and thus felt more plump.

Macallan 12 yo: Almost made it, but it was just slightly less sweet than the Balvenie, and somewhat more musty.

Ardbeg 10 yo: Different category here, very close the Laphroaigh 10 yo, more smoke, just as much tar, but the difference in price made me elect the Laphroaigh.

The Balvenie 10 yo: rather less malty than the Longmorn, Glenlivet and Balvenie 12 yo. Also less sweet and less intensive.

There really isn't any point in using very expensive whiskies here, as the mustard will kill any nuances. I went for malt-, sherry- and smoke/tar-tastes, but you can approach this from any angle you like.

I've got a steak sauce like yours. It includes wiskey and mustard. I got it from a Marlboro recipe.

ONE SHOT SAUCE

1 pound butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup wiskey
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco

Melt the butter and cook down the onion and garlic until soft. Add everything else and mix it up.

Whiskey River by Willie Nelson.

Whiskey River, take my mind
Don't let a memory talk to me
Whiskey River, don't run dry
You're all I got, take care of me
I'm drowning in a Whiskey River
Bathing my memory's mind in the wetness of its soul
Feeling the amber current flowing from my mind
To warm an empty heart you left so cold....

Thanks, Maverick.

I will try that one next time I whip out the grill!