Balancing Dijon Mustard

As delicate as balancing on this fallen tree branch.

I love kir royales, the way their fizzy slightly acidic champagne is delicately balanced with sweetish pinkish cassis. This nifty trick on the balance beam is only out-rivaled by the bubblies the Union Bank House in Orange, New South Wales serves. Its sparkling wine is beautifully poised with wild hibiscus dipped in sugary syrup. So this lends that same balance but one better: this fizzy concoction is not only more palatable as a thirst quencher, it entices our visual realm as well. As one sale staff at Orange’s kitchen ware shop cum deli, The Essential Ingredient, testifies, “we ran out on our bubblies, even though none of our invited wedding guests were champagne fans. Every one wanted the sparkling wine as there’s a pretty flower in their drink!” 

And I’m so endeared with this New South Wales restaurant’s sparkling wine with wild hibiscus that I’ve actually rushed into The Essential Ingredient and bought those irresistible hibiscus flowers dipped in pinkish subtly sweet syrup (and no, I’ve never been enticed by kir royales to buy some cassis). That is one steady feat I want to repeat in Singapore. And should it work, hubby will be sent on a mission to stock up on those pretty syrupy flowers the next time he’ll be in Orange.

And as champagne or sparkling wine seems to pair up well with a sweet liquid, so does the acidity in a Dijon mustard pair up very well with a sweet or savory sweet ingredient. So I have three ways I can actually serve my lamb. The mustard can be equal parts stirred into pure golden honey and then pour as a sauce over the oregano roasted lamb racks. Or it can be laced with sweet soy sauce and that is splattered over the freshly bought lamb chops, lovingly marinating the red meat for at least a speedy hour before barbecuing the individual chops till they are charred on the outside by nicely pink inside.

And if you have run out of the soy sauce, this dilemma is easy to remedy: Just swap this all time time-honored Chinese sauce with an extra sweet fruity jam or chutney. The essential trick is to balance the Dijon mustard with something intensely sugary. Then the char grilled lamb will still be beautifully marinated before the burning charcoal caramelizes the sugar in the mixed marinate.