I love horseradish, the hotter the better. When you buy it prepared you’re pretty much stuck with what comes in the jar. But it turns out it’s pretty simple to make your own. A knife, a food processor, two ingredients and five minutes later you’re done. Awesome.
Ingredients
horseradish root
vinegar
(this is not an exact science, so no measurements this time)
Directions
Cut off a couple of inches from the end of the horseradish root and peel it.
I’ve seen this recipe done without peeling it first. I’m sure it makes no difference to the flavor, but you can see little brown specs in the finished product. I’ll take an extra minute to peel it. But I’ll do it quickly with a knife, not carefully with a vegetable peeler. The less time you spend handling fresh-cut horseradish root the better.
Now dice the root into chunks small enough to fit comfortably in your food processor.
Put the chunks in the food processor — since I’m using a mini, I had to dice pretty small — and run it until everything is finely chopped.
I’ve seen this done in a blender, but you’d have to make a pretty big batch for that to work well. I like the mini-chopper since I can do just enough for a single meal.
Carefully remove the lid from your food processor.
I’m completely serious about doing this carefully. I’ve seen recoemmndations to only do this outside. I think that’s taking it a bit far, but don’t expect this to just be run-of-the-mill food heat. If you get too close to the horseradish at this point it’s like chemical tear gas. I thought because I didn’t smell anything at arm’s length that I might have gotten a bad root, so I stuck my nose right into the chopper and inhaled deeply. It felt like I’d been punched in the nose. Don’t do that! Learn from my mistake.
The longer you process the root — or even let it rest — without adding vinegar the more heat it will develop. When it’s hot enough for you, pour in just enough vinegar to cover all the root.
Process again to make sure everthing gets coated, then strain the vinegar out using a strainer or simply a paper towel over a bowl. (You might recognize this technique from the pages on rendering tallow and storing bacon fat.)
Once it’s done draining, turn the finished horseradish out and serve with rare roast beef.1 And that’s it.
1 If you think this is foresadowing an upcoming post, you’ve been paying attention. If you just can’t wait, you can check out this earlier post for how to make pot roast. In fact, you might want to use that one anyway, unless you plan on spending 12 hours tending a spit over a fire. Subscribe using the link in the column to the right — you won’t want to miss this one.
17 Comments
I found you a few days ago and have been enjoying your posts via RSS. Thank you for your sensible approach to things culinary. I am curious to know if you can recommend a method of long term storage for the horseradish that assures its strength.
My mom made horseradish from the root. She stored it in the freezer. In 2009 I found some in the freezer made in 2004. It still had a very stong taste just as if it was just made.
I was just saying on my gnocchi recipe that I was using pesto that had been frozen for two years. I’m a big fan of treasure hunting in the frozen wastes at the back of the freezer.
No WAY am I going to make this, because I am a big baby. I can’t even handle that horseradish-like sauce stuff from the grocery store, and I think that only has a smidgen of real horseradish root in it. And by the way Drew, was that a photo of the ox roast that you took, or are you in it? And why don’t you list your e-mail address so I can e-mail you these questions instead of making every visitor read them in the comments?
That is very interesting – I didn’t know anything about horseradish root (or that it even was a root).
Your experience with sniffing the horseradish reminds me of when my dad made smoked jalapenos. He ground them up in the blender, then leaned in for a big whiff. Big mistake.
Men.
What else do you put horseradish on? I don’t think I’ve ever had it. And where do you even get horseradish root?
I was surprised to find it at my local grocery store a couple of weeks ago. I knew the Ox Roast was coming up (see my next post later tonight / tomorrow morning) so I grabbed it.
I’ll be using some more to make another batch of the onion ring sauce when I try a new batter recipe for the onion rings. Not sure when that’s going to happen.
This looks fantastic. I love horseradish, I have got to try this.
As for uses, one of my favorite uses for horseradish is mixing it into mashed potatoes.
Mmmm.
Ooh, that sounds good, Samantha. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi Drew,
This is great – I bough a horseradish root a few months ago to plant in the garden, it should be ready to harvest come October/ November after the first frost so I will be making some like this. It is true the shop bought stuff is a bit wussy.
I bought my root from a market, and according to the guy that sold it, I should dig it up and cut off say half to make sauce, then replant the other half for next year. And so on for continuous fresh horseradish each year!
Ryan, I never thought to just plant it. But it is a root, so no reason it shouldn’t work. I wonder if the one I’ve had in the fridge would still work.
Thanks, I've been growing horseradish for years and have never been ablt to get it hot enough. I thought it was my horseradish isntead of my processing. Note on processing: the punch in the nose anaolgy is quite descriptive and I agree but even at arms lenght I can breath and heavily suggest a well ventilated area… even outside. Maybe too far but I like to breathe.
Thanks for commenting. I'd completely forgotten that I've got a root still in the fridge. And I was just wondering what to do withe the leftover london broil for lunch. Mmmmm … thin-sliced london broil with fresh horseradish.
I have horseradish root in my garden. I planted it there several years ago and have never used it. We are Polish and put it on ham, sausage and in borscht. It's wonderful! I can't wait to make it. How long will it keep? I'd like to make some for the rest of my family.
I've never tried to keep it for very long, so I can't say for sure. If you keep it covered tightly — which you have to do anyway unless you want everything in the fridge to taste like horseradish — you're good for at least a couple of weeks.
After that, I've mixed it with mayonnaise and kept it for several months. And before anyone sees this and tells me you can't keep mayonnaise-based products for that long … I've done it, I've eaten it, it tasted good, and no one got sick.
I've made horseradish for years and have kept it in the fridge in glass jars for months. Tends to lose it's heat after a while. I have recently begun grating the root straight into recipes such as coleslaw…it's fantastic and I don't have to process a bunch at a time. We have so many plants that when we do dig some up my sink is full of it!
Was that intentional, or does it just keep spreading?
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