The Chicago Tribune reported today that President Obama's character is now being analyzed through the mustard that he eats. According to the Tribune he ordered "spicy" mustard at a burger place in Virginia last week, and the conservative talking heads were yammering about it all night long.
All of this mustard talk got me thinking. Can a person's character really be judged by the mustard or condiments they consume? Do lovers of Dijon mustard have a finer or as Hannity said "more expensive" pallet than lovers of yellow mustard?
My personal thought is that the President's mustard choice was just a bad food choice not a display of character. Spicy mustard is not going to do what most condiments do to a hamburger. It will add some flavor, but it's such a dry mustard it will hardly even soak into the bun. The flavor of a hamburger, if it's a good hamburger, might be too strong for the subtle nuances of Dijon mustard. Choosing spicy mustard for a hamburger, in my eyes, is like choosing yellow mustard for a honey mustard glaze on a ham. There is a place for each kind of mustard where their flavors will be best represented and by using them elsewhere you're not really doing the mustard justice.
When I worked at the Bar Harbor Inn last summer a girl ordered honey mustard with her chicken strips. As the line cooks were shaking their heads and saying there is no honey mustard, a waiter grabbed the mustard and the honey and started mixing a little of each in a bowl. I had never actually thought of mixing my own honey mustard. It is of course the easiest thing in the world, but I stood behind my line almost awe struck. Sometimes I think we forget in the course of our busyness how simple the things we buy would be to make.
Frozen chicken nuggets will be a thing of your past when you try to make real ones. Just cut up chicken breasts into bite sized or strip sized pieces. Chop up a clove of garlic into small pieces and rub the garlic into the chicken. Squeeze half a lemon onto the chicken and cover and place in the refrigerator for up to two hours. Crack one or two eggs into a bowl and beat them. Pour bread crumbs into the other bowl. Dip the chicken into the egg then into the bread crumbs and place in a frying pan that is hot with oil. Fry on medium/medium high, flipping occasionally until the chicken is cooked. Drain on paper towels and serve, possibly with a side of honey mustard or whatever condiment you choose.
I promise I won't judge you if you use spicy mustard, although you may want to keep it quiet because someone might.
Happy Eating!!!
Emily
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Mustard on a hamburger? Until recently, that was unheard of east of Ohio. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, we could always spot people from Ohio because they sullied their burgers with mustard. We Eastern sophisticates used only ketchup on beef. Mustard was for ham, cheese, and hot dogs. Doesn't the president know anything? The fact that Obama ordered any kind of mustard for his hamburger proves only that he's used to eating in the Midwest. Poor man. The fact that anybody noticed only further explains the demise of the daily press.
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