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.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Honey and Mustard Dressing
Created by Chef Thomas
A jar of honey and mustard dressing, made in the time it takes the kettle to boil, ready for whatever the salad bowl is asking for tonight.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Weeknight
Picnic
5 min
Active Time
0 min cook•5 min total
YieldAbout 150ml, enough for a salad for four
There's a jam jar at the back of my fridge that almost always has some version of this dressing in it. Not always the same. Sometimes more honey, sometimes more vinegar, sometimes a smashed clove of garlic in the bottom because I felt like it. A dressing is a conversation, not a contract, and this one has been going on for years.
It belongs to summer, mostly. The first proper salad days, when the leaves at the market have started to look like something worth buying again and the goat's cheese in the fridge is asking for company. Toasted walnuts, a few slices of pear if it's later in the year, a handful of bitter leaves, this dressing poured over the top. We're only making dinner. But there are few better dinners on a warm evening than a bowl of leaves dressed properly and some bread to mop up what's left at the bottom.
The trick, if there is one, is the mustard. Wholegrain for texture, a little Dijon for sharpness and to help the oil and vinegar hold hands. Runny honey, not set, because set honey clumps and sulks. Good cider vinegar with some character to it. And olive oil that you'd happily drink from the bottle, because you can taste it in every mouthful. Five ingredients. A jar. Thirty seconds of shaking. I wrote it down in the notebook a long time ago and have never needed to write it down again.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
wholegrain mustard
Quantity
2 teaspoons
Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
runny honey
Quantity
1 tablespoon
cider vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
6 tablespoons
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| wholegrain mustard | 2 teaspoons |
| Dijon mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| runny honey | 1 tablespoon |
| cider vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| extra virgin olive oil | 6 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Small mixing bowl or clean jam jar with a tight lid
- •Small whisk or fork
- •Measuring spoons
Instructions
- 1
Start with the mustard and honey
Spoon both mustards into a small bowl or, better still, a clean jam jar with a lid. Add the honey. Stir them together with a fork or a small whisk until you have a thick, golden paste flecked with the dark seeds of the wholegrain. It should look glossy and smell sharp and sweet at the same time. This is the engine of the dressing. Get this part right and the rest looks after itself.
If your honey has crystallised in the jar, sit it in a bowl of warm water for a minute or two until it loosens. You want it pourable, not gluey. - 2
Add the vinegar
Pour in the cider vinegar and stir again until everything loosens into a thin, cloudy liquid. It will smell properly sharp at this stage, almost too sharp. Don't worry. The oil and the honey are about to soften it. Add a generous pinch of salt and a few good grinds of pepper now, while there's vinegar to dissolve them.
- 3
Whisk in the oil
Pour the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking as you go, or, if you're using a jar, drop the oil in, screw the lid on tight, and shake it like you mean it. The dressing will turn pale and creamy and slightly thickened. It should coat the back of the spoon and slide off slowly. If it looks thin and watery, shake or whisk a little harder. The mustard does the emulsifying for you.
- 4
Taste and adjust
Dip a leaf of lettuce or the tip of a teaspoon into the dressing and taste it. It should be balanced: bright and sharp from the vinegar, rounded and warm from the honey, with the mustard humming underneath. If it tastes too sharp, add a tiny bit more honey. Too sweet, a few more drops of vinegar. Not enough seasoning, more salt. Trust your tongue. A dressing is the easiest thing in the kitchen to fix and the easiest to ignore.
Always taste a dressing on a leaf of whatever you're going to dress, not from the spoon. Salad leaves dilute the flavour. What seems perfect on a spoon can taste flat once it's tossed through a bowl of cold lettuce.
Chef Tips
- •Make it in a jam jar with a tight lid and you've got storage and mixing in the same vessel. Shake before each use; the oil and vinegar will separate as it sits, which is exactly what they're meant to do.
- •The honey matters more than you'd think. A good local honey with some flavour to it, chestnut, heather, wildflower, will give the dressing a character that supermarket squeezy honey can't match. This is a five-ingredient dressing. Each one is exposed.
- •If you're dressing something rich, like roasted beetroot with goat's cheese, push the vinegar up a touch. If it's going on tender lettuces and soft herbs, ease it back. The dressing should match what it's dressing.
- •A smashed clove of garlic dropped into the jar and left to sit for an hour does quiet, useful work. Fish it out before serving. You'll taste it without quite knowing why.
Advance Preparation
- •The dressing keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week. Bring it back to room temperature before using; cold olive oil thickens and clouds and won't coat the leaves properly.
- •Shake well before each use. The emulsion will loosen as it sits, which is normal and not a fault.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 37g)
Calories
200 calories
Total Fat
20 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
190 mg
Total Carbohydrates
5 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
0 g
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