Mostaza china

Braised together in a clay pot, fat is the only thing that tames the sharpness.

Pickled and chopped fine, a spoonful over plain rice is the whole point of curing it.

Heat on top of mustard heat, doubling down rather than balancing.

Raw sulfur against raw pungency; cooked together, both mellow at the same rate.

Stir-fried with sliced pork, the mustard sharpness cuts a fatty cut clean through.

Salt tempers a leaf that is otherwise nearly all bite.

Rendered fat against a genuinely hot green; the mustard does what watercress does for beef.

Malt acid on an already sour pickle, deepening rather than adding.

Bitter cocoa against bitter pungent greens, a tasting-menu pairing built on shared bitterness alone.