dijon ketchup

my favorite condiment is mustard. so is beth's (unless i'm mistaken). in our refrigerators collectively, we probably have 9 to 10 types of mustard, from good old french's yellow mustard to garlic stone ground to wasabi to honey. the ketchup connoisseurs among our friends (brian included) commiserate that there are not equally extensive options for ketchup - dijon ketchup, in the words of the barenaked ladies. a chunky ketchup wouldn't work, because that's really more like salsa. garlic ketchup would be pasta sauce. while there is definite preference for heinz over hunt's, there aren't many other choices. i guess the argument could be made - why mess with perfection? would any other preparation have the diversity of applications - fries, eggs, meatloaf?

to revisit a previous topic - is ketchup a vegetable? some school systems have deemed it so. frightening.

mustard on the other hand, mustard is interesting. complex. an asset to any cook's arsenal. because of our reverence for mustard, this month's iron chef dinner featured mustard as the secret ingredient. first, let me explain iron chef dinners. basically, like on iron chef, whoever is hosting the dinner gets to choose the 'secret' ingredient. then each individual or couple prepares their own 'succulent variation' on the theme. we meet, we eat. we don't judge. it's fun to experiement. displayed are pictures of this month's mustard creations.

please note: potato salad does not photograph well. at least not in my experience. the salad contains mustard greens. and yes, that is mustard pound cake you see.