In 1991, former Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Barry Levenson, despondent over the Boston Red Sox losing the World Series, drowned his sorrows by hosting a mustard-themed party.
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The celebration occupied just three parking spaces. Today it has grown into the massive National Mustard Day Festival, attracting thousands of visitors, raising thousands for charity and supporting the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin.
Aug. 1 is National Mustard Day, honoring one of the world’s oldest condiments.
Archaeologists have found references to mustard seeds in 6,000-year-old Sumerian and Indian texts. Ancient Egyptians scattered the seeds in tombs, including King Tut’s. Romans mixed ground mustard seeds with unfermented grape juice into a medicinal paste to treat toothaches and snakebites, while in the Middle Ages a French monk in France’s Dijon region substituted wine and vinegar, helping make Dijon synonymous with mustard.
America’s familiar yellow mustard, shelf-stable with a milder taste, arrived in 1904 when George French introduced it at the St. Louis World’s Fair.
While you can find hundreds of artisanal variations and regional brands on store shelves, prepared mustards fall into six types: yellow mustard, Dijon, spicy brown deli mustard (coarser with a spicy kick), whole grain (a chunky version with visible seeds), honey mustard (a sweeter blend with added honey), and hot Chinese and English mustard.
No matter the variety, mustard performs culinary magic. It cuts richness, brightens grilled meats, wakes up sandwiches and potato salads, and adds punch with virtually no calories.
Of course, mustard isn’t just history. It’s summer. Backyard grills are sizzling, hot dogs are everywhere, and America’s favorite mustard is still the bright yellow variety.
Despite my predilection for all things New York, I have to say that no city does hot dogs better than Chicago, and no restaurant does Chicago hot dogs better than our own Portillo’s in Buena Park.
The dog is a natural-skin, all-beef Vienna hot dog, giving it its signature snap, in a steamed poppy seed bun, served with mustard (yellow, of course), bright green sweet pickle relish, freshly chopped onions, sliced red ripe tomatoes, a whole kosher pickle spear, and hot sport peppers.
Want to try it at home? You’ll find the real deal in David Rosengarten’s cookbook, “It’s All American Food” (Little, Brown and Company, $29.95).
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Rosengarten was one of my favorite TV cooking show hosts back in the early days of Food Network when the programming was all about education, when chefs actually taught the home chef how to cook. Rosengarten hosted a show called “Taste,” in which he demonstrated, through exhaustive research and clear instructions, a single recipe, providing game-changing tips and strategies for the home cook. If David Rosengarten was baking a brownie, you knew it was going to be the best brownie ever.
With almost universal agreement that the Chicago hot dog is the gold standard, New Yorker Rosengarten seems to agree.
“This is pure genius at play, an absolutely wonderful conglomeration of ingredients that at first seems random, and then, once you get used to it, seems ordained by the gods,” he writes. “It’s a classic example of seemingly commercial American ingredients coalescing into something world-class (if you open your mind and let it happen).
“And here’s the best news: you can come pretty close to making a dog at home that’s almost identical to what you get in the Windy City,” he added. “Before you know it, you’ll find yourself rooting inexplicably for the Bears and the Cubs.”
Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.
Chicago Hot Dogs
The proper bun is a standard hot dog bun, but it has poppy seeds on the outside. You can make a facsimile at home by steaming the bun and, while it’s still warm, sprinkling poppy seeds on the exterior.
From “It’s All American Food” by David Rosengarten; yield: 4 hot dogs
Ingredients:
• 4 hot dogs
• 4 hot dog buns
• Prepared yellow mustard
• Bright green sweet relish
• Thin tomato slices
• Green pickled peppers
• Chopped onion
• 4 thin cucumber spears, peeled
• 4 long thin slices dill pickle
• Celery salt
Method:
1. Steam or grill hot dogs. Steam buns. Place dogs on buns and slather with mustard.
2. Top dogs with relish, tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, and pickle. (Some ingredients fit alongside the dog.) Sprinkle with celery salt. Serve immediately.
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