There's an old thread about mustard, and there's a current thread about mustard-forward Chinese dishes. Here's a hope that this thread will be different and more helpful in my search (and your's too) for some good, really spicy and nose tingling, prepared Dijon mustard.
Last year in Paris around this time, we had the classic Céleri Rémoulade:
Which is on the bottom right, eaten at a brasserie we greatly enjoyed. This version was sinus clearing, pungent with great mustard. I want mustard like this!
I make this salade often; it has become a go-to during the winter root vegetable season. (The carrot salad has mustard in it too).
Lebovitz's recipe is my starting point; the recipe in his book slightly different than the one linked here, but both call for a good couple of tablespoons of mustard (the book version has both coarse (seedy) mustard and classic). Yet recently I haven't been able to get it as spicy as I remember the brasserie's version. As an aside, when we were flying home, I bought a crock of mustard at the airport (possible Pommery, possibly Fallot - who can remember) which was really nice and spicy. Here at the hacienda, I have many mustards: Pommery in the big crock. Fallot in various size jars - one just opened as a a matter of fact. Maille. Roland. None of these approach what I really want from a mustard for this dish.
Years ago (2015, to be exact) our friends at Cook's Illustrated did one of their tastings of Dijons. A nice, informative article, as was their usual. However, that sneaky bastard bum Kimball (because he didn't think he was yet worth enough) wouldn't let you see the results, putting them behind a pay wall. HAH!
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So I've tried the top 3, and while they're good, they're still not the best. Or they're not the real deal being searched for. And for some reason (maybe availability?) they didn't try Fallot or Pommery.
A long post to end up with - what's your favorite Dijon mustard, and why? And IS IT SPICY?
