Mustard pots.

How do you serve your mustard?

Now that we all usually buy our mustard ready-made, I suspect that it is mostly put onto the table in it's original shop-bought container. But in times when we all mixed our own from powder, we used proper mustard pots.

Of the several mustard pots in my possession, these three are probably my favourites. A small Victorian glass-lined silver pot, an antique moulded glass pot, and a plain white porcelain pot. 

I certainly wouldn't use the silver one; it's tiresome to clean, and it's far too small. I tend not to use the white one because people don't know what's inside. Of the three, the glass one is by far my favourite; it's big enough to hold enough mustard for several people, one can see at once what is inside, and the pot itself is easily cleaned.

When I was small, it was always my job at Sunday lunchtimes to make whatever sauce was required. Mint sauce if we were eating lamb, and mustard if we were eating beef. I was never told to do it, I simply sniffed the air and got on with the job, it was my weekly 'culinary responsibility' and I loved the whole process.

I do remember that the family mustard pot at the time was made of glass. I've tried, on several occasions, to remember exactly how it was, but can recall nothing of it whatsoever.... Shame on me.