Yesterday I had Cumberland sausages and greens. Filler was bread. With large slather of mustard on it – if it doesn’t make your nose fizz and brain expand like a sniff of amyl nitrite, then you’re not using enough.

The thing is, this mustard had been open for a few weeks, so it’s potency surprised me. As a long-time fan of Coleman’s English mustard*, the one thing I dislike about it is how fast it loses its punch. Not so with this variety. But then it is Tracklements – and they pretty much make the best condiments about. If you like English mustard, this is the one – their perky piccalilli and horseradish are also marvels.

Another good brand, particularly if you’re a fan of the sausage sandwich game (which scandalously ignores mustard), is Stokes, who do a very fine brown sauce. Better than HP. Their ketchup remains untried; these things are for bacon, not sausages, but I tend to prefer a chilli pickle, just to be perverse.

Which brings me to one last condiment, one that I’ve lost, it seems, and miss: sambal oelek. Some years ago, Indonesian foodstuffs popped up in a Sainsburys; a variety of items all under the same brand (Conimex – Dutch, oddly enough, it may have been). Sambal manis, a sort of fried onion relish, was okay if a little sweet for my tastes but the sambal oelek was wondrous – salty, spicy bite. Simple, clean and ferocious – barely anything to it other than chilli and salt. I could eat it by the jar – and frequently did.

It still exists, of course, but other versions are, well other versions. They don’t, ahem, cut the mustard.  But the supermarkets, and even delis, seem to have stopped stocking this particular version. And frankly, the Conimex version is probably not it. It’s the illustrated version that I can find a picture of but nothing else. Humbug. Oh well, keep looking…

*English mustard for cheese or sausage sandwiches; Dijon or wholegrain for dressings. Obviously.

Tags: Chilli, Condiments, Mustard, Sandwich