Making your own mustard couldn't be easier.  Just grind the seeds to the texture you like, add an equal amount of water, or white wine, or beer, or honey/water and mix.  You can also leave the seeds whole and make whole-grain mustard, or use a mix of ground mustard seeds and whole mustard seeds in whatever combination you like.  To make a mild mustard, use hot water instead of cold.  You can also add tumeric, horseradish, celery seeds, minced garlic…the only limit is your imagination and what appeals to your tastebuds  

Pete said:

The amounts evidently would depend entirely on how many seeds you grind, it would seem.  Add to the ground seeds the same amount of liquid – if the ground seeds are a cup and a half, then add a cup and a half of liquid, whichever liquid you choose, or combination of liquids…   

Or did I misread the instructions?  

No, you didn't misread the instructions…you are correct.  Just use the same volume of liquid as mustard.  Of course, you can vary the thickness or thinness of your mustard to suit yourself by using more or less liquid.  

To make 1/2 cup prepared mustard:

–1/4 cup ground mustard seed

–1/4 cup liquid

–Mix together and let stand for 10 minutes or so to develope flavor, then use however you want.  If you use cold water, the resultant mustard will be very hot.  To make a mild mustard, use hot or boiling water…hot or boiling water drives off the sulfur compounds that give the mustard its heat.

p.s.  If you want a smoother mustard, just sift out some of the broken seed shells.

***This is also over in the Just Recipes, Mustard Recipes for future indexing***

Oh, I know how you feel, 'cause that's the way I used to be, but don't let mustard scare you.  If it was me, I'd start out with a mixing up a small amount…maybe a couple of tablespoons each of mustard powder (some people say "mustard flour") and water just to get a feel for it.  From there, you can try different additives, like tumeric.  If adding the turmeric makes the mustard thicker than you want, just add more water a little at a time until its the consistancy you want. 

Perhaps it would help if I explain that I am a self-taught cook.  No one was there to tell me what to do, but also, no one was there to tell me what not to do, either.  I learned that if a dish failed, it wasn't the end of the world, and most of the time the only person to know was me, and I wasn't telling anyone…although I guess I'm 'fessing up to you now .