Cut the mustard.

Byline: Jessica MacMurray Blaine For The Register-Guard

Mustard can be refined and smooth, rough and textural, many-dimensional or simply flavored.

Sometimes, it's lurid yellow. Plochman's cheerful yellow plastic barrel screams of Chicago and dogs with sauerkraut at the ballpark. Metal pails of Edmond Fallot Dijon are emblazoned with a fat French chef, toque on and cheeks rosy, exclaiming "quelle bonne moutarde." Colman's powder is oh-so-British, with its yellow tin and bright red lettering, the head of the bull and the crown. Stout little Inglehoffer jars offer German styles - sweet and hot, spicy horseradish, roughly textured whole grain. Grey Poupon recalls the Bentley, window down, gloved hand extended: "Pardon me, sir, would you happen to have ..."

In all of its iterations, it is my desert-island condiment. The one I'd rather have above all else, the most versatile and useful - as an emulsifier for salad dressing, a key marinade ingredient, an accompaniment to grilled and roasted meats, or simply spread on a chunk of good bread, with a slab of cheese. It can add depth and tang when used subtly, or lead the way with driving, spicy flavor when used generously.

As far back as the great Indus civilizations (we're talking 2500 BC or so) people reached for the intensely flavorful seed as a seasoning for meat. The Sumerian diet included mustard greens and stalks, while in heartland India the stalks were a staple food - boiled with grain for porridge. Seeds figure prominently in the flavor repertoire of India, next to ginger, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, pepper, cumin. Hippocrates mentions mustard as a medicinal agent, for relief of muscle pain, and evidence of its use appears in 10th century Tang dynasty China.

Mustard seed seems to have a universal appeal, crossing traditions and borders. Today, mustard seed is grown from Nebraska to Nepal, Dijon to Manitoba, and

it appears, in prepared or seed form, in culinary traditions all over the world. Worldwide, more than 400 million pounds of mustard is produced each year.

Prepared mustard, the version we know lining grocery store shelves and hot dog buns, is simply a condiment made from powdered mustard seeds and spices, crushed and mixed with liquid - water or wine.

It probably came, as many things in the collection of condiments do, from the Romans, who mixed the seed that had been used in Sumer and Indus civilizations with unfermented grape juice to form "mustum ardens" or "burning must."

The plant, brassica, was given the common name "mustard" after the condiment, and there are three most common types: White (or yellow) mustard, brassica alba, the mildest of the three is most common in American ballpark-style mustards; brown mustard, brassica juncea, from which strong Dijon mustard is made; and black mustard, brassica nigra, the strongest variety, found most often in India and the Middle East.

In Europe, the French are responsible for one of the world's most versatile, popular mustards: Dijon.

In 1336, the Duke of Burgundy gave a dinner to honor Philippe de Valois - his dinner guests had a sumptuous feast that included a "hogshead" with 300 quarts of Dijon's already famous condiment.

Grey Poupon, the ubiquitous classic, was introduced to the citizens of Dijon in 1777 by Maurice Grey and his financial backer, a Monsieur Poupon.

Grey went on to invent a steam-operated mustard-making machine that perhaps explains the incredible volume that his product reached during the next two centuries (although I'm sure that the Bentley had something to do with it).

Dijon mustard is traditionally made from brown mustard seeds and white wine, but in 1856 Burgundian Jean Naigeon made a batch using verjus (made from unripe grapes) instead of wine, and discovered that the less acidic flavor produced a smoother, more versatile flavor.

Now, Grey Poupon and Maille, another French classic since 1747, are part of the condiment empires of Kraft and Groupe Danone, but true Dijon mustard is back in France after a sad slump.

For a while, mustard growers in Dijon were losing market share to cheaper, high volume products grown in Canada and the Midwest, but there's been a resurgence in the past decade.

On American shelves, Edmond Fallot is a great example of true French Dijon mustard, offering a strong classic Dijon, plus variations including tarragon mustard and a beautiful whole-grain mustard.

Germans are also responsible for a wonderful mustard tradition - for them, sugar often takes the place of acid and produces a sweeter mixture, to top Oktoberfest sausages.

Incredible horseradish mustards also come from the German repertoire, as do fantastic beer-based mustards and whole-grain varieties.

But prepared mustards aren't the only option. Powdered mustard offers a cook the ability to create a unique prepared version, or to use the powder as a spice.

Colman's powdered mustard empire, known for its famous yellow and red tin, was established in 1823, when Englishman Jeremiah Colman decided to expand his flour milling business into mustards. He bought a windmill in Norwich, and began grinding white and brown mustard seeds into powder - he received a royal warrant from Queen Victoria to supply the British Army and Royal Navy in 1866 and was so successful that his factory required four trains to carry a single day's output from his Norwich factory.

Luckily, Colman's didn't continue to dominate the market - the mustard shelves are thick with options. Pick one, and you're in a baseball park somewhere in the Midwest, paying more attention to the German sausage in your hand than whoever's rounding third base. Pick another and you're picnicking on a sun-soaked hillside in France, fields of yellow mustard flowers stretching to the horizon. Pick yet another, and you're at a feast in Tang China or a bustling market in India. I'll take them all.

Mustard Compound Butter

Compound butters are so wonderful to have on hand - as a last-minute touch, dab a bit on a piece of grilled meat or fish, or stir into a simple soup to add a layer of richness and flavor. My favorite use for compound butter - and this mustard-herb version, especially - is as a basting liquid for roast chicken.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons strong Dijon mustard

1 healthy pinch coarse sea salt

2 tablespoons minced fresh sage leaves

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Cracked black pepper

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and add the mustard in three or four batches, creaming the butter again between additions.

Add herbs, salt and pepper to taste, pack in a ramekin and refrigerate. Or, wrap tightly in parchment or plastic wrap and freeze.

(At Thanksgiving this year, I basted my turkey with a similar mixture, recipe doubled and melted in a saucepan - and the skin turned out a delicious crispy brown, and the whole turkey took on a bright, herbaceous flavor.)

Mustard-Brown Sugar Glaze?for Lamb

In my family, this is a Christmas classic: roast leg of lamb coated in this spicy-sweet mustard mixture. As it roasts, the sugar will melt and caramelize, creating a crispy, flavorful crust around the lamb.

1 cup Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons olive oil

5- to 6-pound leg of lamb, bone-in

In the morning on the day of the feast, combine the mustard, garlic, sugar, soy, wine and olive oil in a mixing bowl. Whisk briskly until completely combined and smooth. (You can also do this in a blender or food processor.)

Rinse and pat dry your lamb, coat liberally with the mustard mixture, cover, and refrigerate until it's time to roast. (Coating the lamb a few hours ahead of time allows the mustard mixture to mellow and infuse the roast.)

Preheat the oven to 350, and roast the lamb until a meat thermometer reads 135 to 140 for rare, 150 for medium (20 minutes per pound, or 25 minutes per pound, respectively.)

Hazelnut Mustard

This nutty, rich mustard comes from Janet Hazen's great little book about mustard (aptly named, "Mustard" and published by Chronicle Books in 1993). It's especially appropriate as a particularly Oregonian gift, if you'd like to share our incredible Willamette Valley hazelnuts with your friends and family. Locally, Kronke's and Evonuk Hazelnuts are readily available and delicious.

1/2cup toasted hazelnuts, skins removed and coarsely chopped

1/2cup whole yellow mustard seeds, coarsely ground

1/2cup water

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/4cup hazelnut oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2teaspoon pepper

Puree all ingredients together in a blender until smooth, scraping the sides of the blender frequently.

Transfer to a clean, dry jar, cover and refrigerate for up to two weeks before using.

Jessica MacMurray Blaine is a free-lance writer from Eugene.