Gear

©2009 Clove Garden

• Types of Mortar & Pestle
• Grinding Stones
• Using a Mortar & Pestle

Thai Green Granite Mortar

Back before the Wall Street Journal was bought by Murdock and turned into an extension of Faux News exclusively targeting the most wealthy, it had articles relevant to real people. They even occasionally had comparative reviews of kitchen equipment.

The reviewers, however, were a bit weak in the wrists, to the extent they marked down the wonderful Oxo salad spinner for not being motorized.

So then, why in the world did these reviewers select as "Number 1" this 11 pound green granite Thai monster mortar with its massive 3 pound pestle? Could it be just because it was the only one that worked? Others were found less effective, but "innovative" and "gourmet" models performed particularly poorly.

Fortunately, I already had a Thai mortar, having come to the same conclusion years ahead of them. The bowl is 5-1/2 inches inside and 4 inches deep, holding 6 cups (1-1/2 quarts).

One Thai chef reports having flown to America with his granite mortar on his lap the whole way to make sure it didn't get lost. A teacher of Thai cooking reports her students rush out after their first class to buy their own.

But it's not just for Thai cuisine, it works just as well for just about every other cuisine in the world.

Marble Mortar & Pestle

This is the minimum mortar that's really useful. It weighs a mere 5 pounds 5 ounces with a bowl 3-3/4 inches wide and 2-3/4 inches deep holding 2 cups. Trouble is, the pestle that comes with many of these is laughably inadequate and no amount of blue pills will help. I had a sufficient stoneware pestle made by a local ceramicist.

A mortar in this class is a kitchen essential for any cuisine. Mine sits on the window sill over my kitchen counter, ready for instant use for minor grinding and smashing tasks not sufficiently demanding to require the Thai monster.

Molcajete & Tejolote

Made from gray volcanic stone, this Mexican mortar and pestle is often used to make salsas, for which its coarse texture is a great advantage. It's probably a little too coarse for most mortar and pestle tasks in other cuisines.   Photo © i0023.

For stones used to sharpen kinves and other tools, see Sharpening Stones.

Metate y Mano - [Licuadora Azteca (Aztec Blender)]

Unlike the Mortar & Pestle, the Metate y Mano can be used to grind relatively large amounts of seeds into flour. This device has been used in various forms worldwide since the far depths of prehistory. In Mexico it's still used in the villages to grind corn into flour, as well as grinding chilis, cacao and other ingredients for mole (sauces). It is not generally needed in our kitchens because flour can be purchased ready ground and most other sauce ingredients can be ground in a food processor and/or spice grinder. A very similar device, the Sil and Batta, is used in India for similar purposes, but the "mano" is flat and triangular in shape.   Photo by Jim Conrad contributed to the public domain.

Stone Mill

Millstones were introduced to China through trade with the Roman Empire, raising the status of wheat from despised grain to a favorite of the Imperial Court. Small hand mills are still made in China, used mostly for grinding grains, seeds and beans for dessert pastes. The mill in the photo is available from The Wok Shop in San Francisco. Very similar but larger mills called Chakki are used in India by women who go from door to door grinding a weeks spices for households.   © source.

I recently read advice in a food article saying, "don't pound with the pestle, use a circular motion". Yeah, right. If you're doing much more than grinding a few peppercorns that's going to make a wreck of your wrist in short order.

Pounding in a mortar is so important in some cultures that a young woman's readiness for marriage is judged by the pace and rhythm of her pounding.

• When doing serious pounding you should place the base of your mortar on a shock absorbing pad. A folded towel or potholder will do. This will prevent cracks in your counters and things being shaken down.
• Pound relatively small amounts at a time, this will get the job done faster.
• When making pastes, start with the toughest ingredients, adding the next ingredient when the desired texture has been achieved. Finish with sticky ingredients like garlic.
• When making pastes, always chop ingredients as fine as you can before adding them to the mortar. This saves a lot of time and work.
• Mortar and pestle work is best assigned to the males of the household, who, besides being stronger, are well practiced in the appropriate stroke and rhythm.