Weekend sauces

One of my most common culinary experimentations is whipping up some sauce to put on sandwiches. The other night, we were having salmon burgers (breaded, frozen -- basically a fancier Filet'o'Fish). I wanted to zip things up a little, so I whipped up a creamy mustard-dill sauce to put on it:

some mayo
dried mustard (a generous amount)
a pinch of saffron threads, crushed
dried dill
black pepper
a few drops (or more) of lemon juice
a touch of horseradish
salt (optional)

I thought it added the perfect complement to the sandwich, especially with the arugula, tomato and yellow bell pepper slices that were also added. My wife declined to have any, as she doesn't care for horseradish (I thought I could sneak it by her, but her heightened sensory perceptions were far too sharp to allow that!). But I'm sure she would have agreed, right honey?

Also this weekend, I was let in on the recipe for the Heins family super-secret Easter ham sauce. Now, it's well-known in my family that the big secret behind the secret sauce is that there is, in fact, no standard recipe, but I wasn't really aware of the exact ingredients until yesterday. So at the risk of being left out of the collective wills of my relatives, here's the low-down:

Throw a glug or two of corn syrup into a sauce pan. Add some brown sugar and/or maple syrup and heat on low, stirring until dissolved. Add your favorite mustard a couple of squirts (or spoonfuls) at a time until the sweet-sour ratio is to your liking. Dry mustard and a dash of white wine vinegar can be used in a pinch. If you want, a sprinkle of cloves or nutmeg finishes the sauce nicely.