Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Mustard

Exquisite mustard flavour pairings and recipes, revealed through data science.

Pungent aroma and brassica notes are at the forefront of mustard's flavour profile, but identifying its perfect partner requires exploring its subtle nuances. We must examine the complex interplay of notes within its bouquet, like sulfur, vinegar, and hints of black pepper. We need to understand how these notes affect each other and which complementary flavors they harmonise with.

To illuminate these harmonies, we embarked on an ambitious journey, analysing thousands of ingredients. Each was meticulously deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, allowing us to pinpoint precisely which notes complement in both classic and unexpected ways. Our findings reveal, for instance, how celeriac's hexenal tones can carry mustard, or how parsnip's radicular notes create an unexpectedly harmonious bridge with the pungent aroma.

An ingredient's flavour comes from its core characteristics, like vegetal, spice, and maillard, combined with its unique aroma notes (outer bars). When pairing ingredients, aim to include a broad variety of core characteristics for a balanced dish. And choose aroma notes that complement each other for a harmonious combination.

The Flavour Code

To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Mustard Notes

Our analysis reveals a strong connection between mustard and parsnip flavours. Since mustard has a distinct mustardy flavour, try pairing it with the rooty flavours of parsnip.

The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing mustard with parsnip.

Harmonious Flavours Of Mustard

Just as our analysis highlighted that mustard and rooty flavour notes are commonly paired, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in mustard. E.g. the cabbagy flavours of mustard are often used with vinegary and menthol notes.

The accents associated with the various aromas of mustard can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of celeriac offers many of the aroma accents complementary to mustard, including grassy and mossy notes. Because the flavour profile of celeriac has many of the of the features that are complementary to mustard, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of celeriac across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with mustard.

Recipes That Pair Mustard With Celeriac

Linked Flavour Notes

Looking at the aroma accents that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of mustard, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of mustard, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the aromas complementary to mustard.

What To Drink With Mustard

The parsnip notes in carrot juice make it a perfect pairing with mustard. Likewise, the pine flavours in spruce beer create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of mustard below.

Which Cheese Go With Mustard?

Choose cheese that anchor its sharpness or awaken its intense aroma. Berkswell cheese and comté offer vibrant, clean counterpoints, their verdant freshness lifting the palate. Mature cheddar add a gentle, oniony brightness, while manchego introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.

Alternatively, embrace cheese that harmonise with mustard's greenness. The addition of parmesan, with its subtle proteolytic notes, can complement the chlorophyll beautifully, while blue cheese lends a savoury richness.

How Flavonomics Works

We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.

Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.

Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.

We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.

These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Mustard), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.