Horseradish dipping sauce

[Steve Kroll]

I like the idea of rice wine vinegar. Although I'm of EU descent I vastly prefer Asian ingredients in so many recipes. I guess the cider vinegar must be to add to the bite. (Rice wine vinegar is pretty mild.)

Just like homemade mustard, vinegar is pretty much required when you make your own horseradish as it actually serves to lessen the bite. It's also very crucial to add it at the right time. You don't want to wait any longer than 2 or 3 minutes after grinding the horseradish. The longer you wait, the hotter the horseradish becomes. Well, unless you like it that way.

As for the type of vinegar, I don't think it matters that much as you aren't going taste it whole lot anyway. It's more there to prevent oxidation and help preserve the condiment. I've always used plain old distilled white vinegar myself.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I personally won't buy the prepared stuff - I like just the ground horseradish. I like to put it in beef marinades. It adds a lot of kick.

I've never seen "ground" horseradish. What is it?

 

[Dawgluver]

I've never seen "ground" horseradish. What is it?

I got some dried HR powder from Pennzy's. Is that it?

 

[Zhizara]

I make a cocktail sauce by mixing chili sauce and horseradish. Good for seafood.

Another is to add bleu cheese crumbles to some ranch dressing and add lots of horseradish. Good for steak.

 

[CWS4322]

I got some dried HR powder from Pennzy's. Is that it?

I have ground Wasabi powder...I don't think I've every seen dried HR powder. What do you think of it?

 

[Dawgluver]

I have ground Wasabi powder...I don't think I've every seen dried HR powder. What do you think of it?

Actually, I haven't used it in awhile. I subbed it when I was out of the regular jarred HR in shrimp cocktail sauce. It was OK, nice bite.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Actually, I haven't used it in awhile. I subbed it when I was out of the regular jarred HR in shrimp cocktail sauce. It was OK, nice bite.

Do you find it to be bitter? I have a jar of Penzey's wasabi powder that I used once to make wasabi mayo. I like most of Penzey's spices, but I don't care for their wasabi. I think it has a nasty aftertaste.

This thread has me hungry for horseradish and I just saw the roots in the produce section at the store this last weekend for $4 a pound. That sounds kind of expensive, but one decent sized root is only about 3-4 ounces and makes 6 months worth of horseradish at the rate I use it.

 

[Addie]

As I recall, Dad would peel and hand chop wild root, then whirl in the blender with some vinegar. Strong enough to crisp your eyelashes.

I stayed at the Y for a couple of months when I lived in Hawaii. There was a resident that loved the wildroot horseradish. She would sit and watch TV with us with a small knife, and her root. It would be so strong that our eyes would water and we would develop elf feet with curled up toes. She got hers from the Asian marketplace. We finally had to tell her to keep it to the outside or in her room. Dang, that stuff is strong!!!

 

[Ranchwifeg]

Maybe ground wasn't the correct term, more like minced. It is the same consistency as the prepared, but it is straight horseradish.

 

[taxlady]

The one time I used fresh horseradish, I grated it on the fine greater. I mixed it with some mayo and I still have some. I have a fresh root in the fridge wrapped in plastic.

 

[PolishedTopaz]

Although I haven't done this, you could also make a compound butter with fresh peeled grated root and roasted garlic, I wouldn't keep it around for long tho.

 

[blissful]

I planted some invasive horseradish outside the garden, hopefully it won't take over anything much.

Made some horseradish to eat.
I peeled the horseradish, there were a lot of brown spots under the outside peel, I peeled that away too.
In a tall narrow bowl I chopped it up with a hand blender. Yes I had to leave the room 3 times in the process--my eyes watering, well, that's good for eyes anyway.
If you ran a fan across the work area and a fan taking air out the window, you could do this in the house, otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.
I mixed the horseradish after letting it hotter and hotter for about 30 minutes, with vinegar, salt and citric acid. Put it in the old horseradish container (cleaned out). The older stuff was losing flavor. The new stuff is HOT, really good.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

How would you compare tearing from horseradish with tearing from onions?

 

[simonbaker]

I planted some invasive horseradish outside the garden, hopefully it won't take over anything much.

Made some horseradish to eat.
I peeled the horseradish, there were a lot of brown spots under the outside peel, I peeled that away too.
In a tall narrow bowl I chopped it up with a hand blender. Yes I had to leave the room 3 times in the process--my eyes watering, well, that's good for eyes anyway.
If you ran a fan across the work area and a fan taking air out the window, you could do this in the house, otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.
I mixed the horseradish after letting it hotter and hotter for about 30 minutes, with vinegar, salt and citric acid. Put it in the old horseradish container (cleaned out). The older stuff was losing flavor. The new stuff is HOT, really good.

Makes me want to find a spot in my garden to fit a row of horseradish.

 

[Dawgluver]

How would you compare tearing from horseradish with tearing from onions?

Heh. Not even close. You can't breathe with horseradish.

 

[blissful]

How would you compare tearing from horseradish with tearing from onions?

Onion fumes dissipate after a few minutes and then I can work on them again and usually finish them. Horseradish fumes were full force 15 minutes later and it took less than a minute for me to walk away from it again! I looked around for goggles but couldn't find any.

Makes me want to find a spot in my garden to fit a row of horseradish.

We just put in three plants. I want something I can have control over. If I left them to their own devices, I'd have a patch instead of 3 plants. They are coming out of the ground completely when harvested, every little piece. They are big leafed, plummy looking, they take up a lot of space.

 

[blissful]

Heh. Not even close. You can't breathe with horseradish.

I didn't know I was supposed to be breathing at the time. No wonder......

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Makes me want to find a spot in my garden to fit a row of horseradish.

Me too!

I've been re-reading this topic and there's some great ideas! Particularly the horseradish marmalade combination. I forgot all about this and I'm glad the topic got bumped.

Also, regarding the wasabi, I recommend Ottogi (brand) wasabi powder (made in Korea, dist. through Ottogi America in Bell, California). It is the usual blend of horseradish powder and mustard powder (+ cornstarch, probably to keep it powdery, and citric acid, probably a preservative). It tastes exactly like the prepared wasabi I get at all the local Japanese restaurants. Buy it from an Asian market if you can. I'm astonished at how expensive wasabi powder is in supermarkets, and how cheap it is in Asian markets. This is a 10.6 oz. package and I think it was around $5 or so. I still have half this package bought late 2009. For the same price I could have bought probably a 1 oz. bottle at my local supermarket.

I did a bit of research and discovered that both horseradish and wasabi (AKA Japanese horseradish) are Brassica family, and (this is boggling!) they share the same family with mustard, broccoli and cabbage!!! I'm just in love with the whole family!

Questions for the forum:

What differences do you perceive between Japanese horseradish (wasabi) and the more usual Western style horseradish? Okay the Asian version is green...

Have you tried wasabi on roast beef or steaks? (I don't know why I never thought to try this.)

 

[Dawgluver]

Penzys recs horseradish over wasabi. Check out their website. Most domestic "wasabi" is actually horseradish. My eyes water and my nose runs just thinking about them, though there's nothing better with prime rib!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I looked around for goggles but couldn't find any.

Maybe you should Google for goggles.

This is silly, but after my post just a few minutes ago I realized that Japanese style wasabi powder has both wasabi and mustard, both of them Brassica!!!! There must be some synergy there. This can't just be an accident.