Memphis-style sauce for ribs and chicken...

[vagreys]

I used French's brand as an example for the mustard, but I believe most of us use the cheapest brand available.

Or maybe it's just me.

Nope, it isn't just you, but I do have a standard. I don't use anything as an ingredient that I wouldn't eat, myself. For the mustard, I generally use the house brand of the grocery where I'm shopping, unless one of the national brands is on sale. I'm pickier about the catsup. If it is too runny, too sweet, or too salty, I avoid it; but even there, it is a matter of taste and to each his own.

[BBQer]

Good point.

I thought I might have been mixing up the idea of rubbing ribs with mustard and making BBQ sauce as to which used the cheap mustard.

[vagreys]

...I thought I might have been mixing up the idea of rubbing ribs with mustard and making BBQ sauce as to which used the cheap mustard.

I don't use expensive mustards for either. In the case of barbecue sauce, unless the mustard is the feature ingredient, the finer points are going to be lost in such a strongly flavored and highly seasoned sauce, so why bother? Aside from knowing that you used a fine mustard, no one is really going to be able to tell much difference. In the case of using mustard as a rub, most of the volatiles in the mustard blow off between 70(F) and 90(F). For a piece of meat that is going to slow cook for hours, most of the character of the mustard will be lost early in the process, so why bother with a pricey product? A basic, inexpensive version of that style of mustard will do just as well.

It's a completely different question for a mustard being served at table or added at the last minute. I make a really nice, spicy, German-style whole grain mustard for putting on sausages. And I have a 750-yr old Catalan recipe for mustard that will knock your socks off...

[saucisson]

Can we have the recipe please?

Dave

[vagreys]

sure. i'll post them in the general cooking section when I get home, tonight.