Dijon mustard is probably the best-known of French specialty mustards. Recently the staff of Cook’s Illustrated performed a blind tasting to compare various brands.
Twenty staff from Cook’s Illustrated blind-tasted nine popular brands of Dijon mustard, to see if French brands were better than American-made. Which is the best Dijon mustard?
Of the three top-rated brands, two were French: Roland Extra Strong and DeLouis Fils Moutarde de Dijon, and the Grey Poupon, manufactured in the U.S., but in accordance with the original recipe from Dijon.
Of the three, Roland and Grey Poupon are best buys. They were less than half the unit cost of DeLouis Fils. French’s Napa Valley Style Dijon, despite its name, scored well enough to make the “Recommended” list, as did newcomer Barhyte Select which is made not far from me in Oregon.
Take care when looking for the Roland. Their “Organic Extra Strong” Dijon landed next to last in the “Not Recommended” category. Dead last was Inglehogger Hot Dijon, which most tasters found sweet and too hot, twice as hot as the next spiciest, Grey Poupon. Maille Originale, from France, and U.S.-made Plochman’s Premium Dijon were also not recommended.
Spiciness, of course, is on the tongue of the taster. Our detail-oriented friends in Vermont quantified the heat factor in the mustards by measuring the levels of mustard’s active ingredient, allyl isothioocyanate, comparing samples purchased in supermarkets or from mail-order sources, with freshly-made samples they ordered direct from the manufacturer. They found that the heat of most brands deteriorates by 75-90% in just the normal shelf-life. So if heat is your thing, look for the use-by date (some are in code) and choose a small jar with the most distant date.
Think beyond hot dog or ham sandwich: try Chicken with Creamy Dijon Mushrooms or other recipes listed in the Burgundy-Dijon section of Regional Cuisine of Northern France.
For great suggestions for other ingredients typical in French cuisine, see Classic French Ingredients.
