Chef Thomas
Anchovy Sauce
A proper white sauce sharpened with pounded anchovy, the old Georgian trick for waking up a piece of poached fish or a slice of roast lamb on a Sunday in spring.
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English Mustard Sauce
Created by Chef Thomas
A small jug of warm, sharp, creamy mustard sauce, the kind that does quiet but essential work next to a gammon joint on a cold Sunday and asks for nothing more than to be poured generously.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Comfort Food
15 min
Active Time
10 min cook•25 min total
YieldAbout 300ml, enough for 4 to 6
There's a particular Sunday in January when nothing else will do. A gammon joint poaching slowly in the big pot, the windows running with condensation, the dog asleep under the table, and a small jug of mustard sauce waiting on the side to do its sharp, joyful work. This is the sauce I mean.
English mustard is its own thing. Not the mellow, vinegary French sort, not the sweet American kind in plastic bottles. The proper stuff, from the yellow Colman's tin, has a heat that goes straight up the back of your nose and brings tears to your eyes if you've been heavy-handed. Smoothed into a warm cream sauce it becomes something else entirely: rich, savoury, faintly sweet, with a clean fire that cuts through fat the way nothing else quite does. A spoonful next to a slice of pink gammon is one of the more useful things a kitchen can produce.
The trick, and it really is the only trick, is the bloom. You mix the mustard powder with cold water and you walk away for ten minutes. That's where the heat comes from, a small chemical conversation between the powder and the water, and if you skip it or use hot water you'll have made a yellow paste that tastes of dust. Cold water, ten minutes, patience. After that the rest is just a white sauce with somewhere to go.
I wrote it down in the notebook years ago, next to a note about a gammon I'd done for six people on a wet Sunday. Mustard sauce, hot, in the small blue jug. That was all it said. Some things don't need more detail than that.
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Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Colman's English mustard powder
Quantity
2 tablespoons
cold water
Quantity
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
Quantity
25g
plain flour
Quantity
25g
whole milk
Quantity
300ml
gently warmed
double cream
Quantity
75ml
cider vinegar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
caster sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Colman's English mustard from the jar (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Colman's English mustard powder | 2 tablespoons |
| cold water | 2 tablespoons |
| unsalted butter | 25g |
| plain flour | 25g |
| whole milkgently warmed | 300ml |
| double cream | 75ml |
| cider vinegar | 1 teaspoon |
| caster sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| Colman's English mustard from the jar (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| white pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Small heavy-bottomed saucepan
- •Small whisk
- •Wooden spoon
- •Small jug for serving
Instructions
- 1
Bloom the mustard
Spoon the mustard powder into a small bowl and stir in the cold water until you have a smooth, claggy paste the colour of a school jumper. Leave it alone for ten minutes. This is the part nobody tells you about, and it matters more than anything else you'll do. Cold water wakes the heat in English mustard. Hot water kills it. Walk away and let the chemistry happen.
Use it within twenty minutes or so of mixing. English mustard is fiercest in its first hour, then it softens. That sharp, sinus-clearing kick is the whole point, so don't make the paste too far ahead. - 2
Start the roux
Melt the butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over a gentle heat. When it's foaming, scatter in the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. It will come together into a pale paste almost at once. Cook it for a minute or two, stirring constantly, until it smells faintly biscuity. Don't let it colour. This is a white sauce, not a gravy.
- 3
Build the sauce
Pour in the warm milk in three or four additions, whisking hard between each one. The first splash will look like a disaster, thick and lumpy and stubborn. Keep going. By the third addition it will loosen into something glossy and obedient. Let it come to a gentle simmer, whisking now and then, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Five minutes, give or take.
- 4
Stir in the mustard
Take the pan off the heat for a moment, this matters, and scrape in the bloomed mustard paste. Whisk it through. Add the cream, the vinegar, and the sugar. Put it back over a very low heat just to warm through. Don't let it boil now. Boiling sends the heat of the mustard out the window and you'll be left with a beige sauce that tastes of nothing. Trust your nose. It should smell sharp and savoury and faintly sweet, all at once.
If you want a louder mustard kick, this is where the spoonful of jarred Colman's goes in. It won't develop further heat, but it deepens the flavour and gives the sauce a slightly grainier, more honest character. - 5
Season and serve
Season with salt and white pepper. Taste it. Then taste it again. It should make your eyes water just a little, in a friendly way. Pour into a small warmed jug and bring it straight to the table, alongside whatever it's going on. Gammon, ideally. Boiled beef. A wedge of cold ham on Boxing Day. It does its best work next to something pink and salty.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the Colman's powder, not just the jar. The jarred mustard is fine for a sandwich, but the powder is what gives this sauce its real character because you're activating the heat fresh in your own kitchen. Once you've made it this way once, you won't go back.
- •Warm the milk before it goes into the roux. Cold milk into a hot roux gives you lumps and a longer fight than you need. A gentle thirty seconds in a small pan or even a quick stint in the microwave is enough. Smaller battles, fewer arguments.
- •Don't boil the sauce after the mustard goes in. I know I've said it already, but it's the one thing that ruins this dish, and it's the one thing everyone is tempted to do. Warm through, no more. The heat of the mustard is delicate and it will leave the building if you push it.
- •If you've cooked the gammon yourself, ladle a tablespoon or two of the cooking liquor into the sauce at the end instead of the vinegar. It pulls the whole meal together in a way that feels almost like cheating.
Advance Preparation
- •This is best made just before serving. The bloomed mustard loses its fire over a few hours, and the whole point of the sauce is that bright, clean heat.
- •If you must make it ahead, prepare the white sauce base up to a day in advance and refrigerate it. Reheat gently, then stir in the freshly bloomed mustard, cream, and vinegar at the last minute.
- •Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a day. Reheat very gently and accept that the heat will be quieter the second time around. Still good on a cold ham sandwich the next day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 95g)
Calories
175 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
270 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
3 g
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