[Sca-cooks] Mustard - Can you cut it?

[Christine Seelye-King]

Dictionary dot com places it later:

Where does the phrase cut the mustard come from?

As with many slang and idiomatic phrases, the origin can be a bit unclear.
The first recorded use of the phrase cut the mustard was by O. Henry in
1907, in a story called The Heart of the West: "I looked around and found a
proposition that exactly cut the mustard". The modern sense of the idiom is
'to succeed; to have the ability to do something; to come up to
expectations', but the phrase is most often used in the negative form, as
"can't cut the mustard," meaning 'not able to handle the job'. The cut
probably refers to harvesting the plant, so if one cannot cut the mustard,
one cannot supply what is best. A phrase preceding cut the mustard is to be
the mustard (c. 1903) meaning 'to be special' or 'to be exactly what is
needed' with mustard being a slang term for importance. There is also
another phrase keen as mustard meaning 'very enthusiastic'.



Here's a great list of possible etymologies:

Cut the mustard
Here is the article on “cut the mustard” from the faq (frequently asked
questions list) of the UseNet newsgroup alt.usage.english:

This expression meaning “to achieve the required standard” is first recorded
in an O. Henry story of 1902: “So I looked around and found a proposition [a
woman] that exactly cut the mustard."

It may come from a cowboy expression, “the proper mustard", meaning “the
genuine thing", and a resulting use of “mustard” to denote the best of
anything. O. Henry in Cabbages and Kings (1894) called mustard “the main
attraction": “I’m not headlined in the bills, but I’m the mustard in the
salad dressing, just the same.” Figurative use of “mustard” as a positive
superlative dates from 1659 in the phrase “keen as mustard", and use of
“cut” to denote rank (as in “a cut above” ) dates from the 18th century.

Other theories are that it is a corruption of the military phrase "to pass
muster” ("muster", from Latin _monstrare_="to show", means "to assemble
(troops), as for inspection” ); that it refers to the practice of adding
vinegar to ground-up mustard seed to “cut” the bitter taste; that it
literally means “cut mustard” as an example of a difficult task, mustard
being a relatively tough crop that grows close to the ground; and that it
literally means “cut mustard” as an example of an easy task (via the
negative expression “can’t even cut the mustard” ), mustard being easier to
cut at the table than butter.

The more-or-less synonymous expression “cut it” (as in “” sorry” doesn’t cut
it” ) seems to be more recent and may derive from "cut the mustard".
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/mustard.html

-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Cassandra
Baldassano
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 7:09 PM
To: 'Cooks within the SCA'
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Mustard - Can you cut it?

I've been playing with three different mortar & pestles over the last couple
of years (marble, stone, unglazed porcelain). When I teach my sauces class,
I have a bit of mustard seed in each type. I find the best result is to
start grinding the mustard seed with  the stone mortar & pestle, then finish
it off in the unglazed porcelain to provide the finer grind.

Euriol

Euriol of Lothian, OP
Minister of Arts & Sciences, Barony of Endless Hills
Clerk, Order of the Pelican, Kingdom of Æthelmearc

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was
service. I acted and behold, service was joy."
-Robindranath Tagore, Poet/Playwright/Essayist 1913 Nobel Prize for
Literature

-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Suey
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 7:03 PM
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Mustard - Can you cut it?

Euriol wrote:

>
> After investing in a Cuisinart food
> processor, I found that it broke down the mustard seeds far better. 
>   
    Years ago a former boss speaking about poor work performance said 
he/she "could not cut the mustard." I have a hunch that phrase can be 
traced back to the medieval era.
    I am wondering to what extend the mustard was "cut" during that era. 
It would seem to me that fancy food processors are out of bounds. What 
we are after is: to what point could man breakdown mustard seeds for 
medieval sauces/flavoring?
    We are not after Durham mustard, later Coleman's which began to be 
developed in 1720 by a  Mrs. Clements of Durham, England who discovered 
how to grind the seed in a flour mill to obtain the more flavor. 
Suey

_______________________________________________
Sca-cooks mailing list
Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org

_______________________________________________
Sca-cooks mailing list
Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org