Timeline for answer to When would a cook reach out for a mortar and pestle rather than an electric grinder for spices and a sharp knife for herbs? by GdD
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| Apr 20, 2024 at 20:41 | comment | added | David Mulder | Similar with mint leaves for mojitos, depending on the person you beat them up in a variety of ways (from just slapping them to mortar and pestle). You want them beat up, but not unrecognizable. | |
| Apr 20, 2024 at 12:34 | comment | added | Austin Hemmelgarn | @Sam7919 It’s not unusual if the spices are part of a garnish as well as for flavor that you want them non-uniformly crushed/ground and also probably want them in larger pieces (so they’re easier to see). For example, if I’m making cacio e pepe or a similar pasta dish, I’ll always preferentially use a mortar and pestle for the black pepper, because the larger, non-uniform, powder I get that way adds visual interest to the dish that is lacking otherwise. | |
| Apr 20, 2024 at 11:55 | comment | added | Jason S | @Sam7919 Cardamom is an example of when I'd use a mortar and pestle over an electric grinder. I only really ever need cardamom in small quantities, like one or two pods. The mortar and pestle will effectively remove the pod casing, and crush the seeds but not powder them. I might be adding cardamom to a rice pudding, or warm milk or a chai tea. I usually want to crush it a bit but not pulverise it. My electric grinder won't work with 1 or 2 pods, and others that do I imagine there'd be more wastage than a mortar and pestle | |
| Apr 20, 2024 at 11:51 | comment | added | Michael Seifert | @Sam7919: By "thick shells" on cardamom do you mean the outer husks of the pods? You definitely have to remove those before grinding in a pestle. Once you've done that, it takes less than a minute to grind up the seeds sufficiently. Coriander is trickier because the seeds act like little ball bearings; I find that if you start by crushing them with a firm downwards motion before proceeding to the usual "stirring" motion of grinding, this tendency is greatly reduced. And again it doesn't take very long to get an acceptable (if coarse) grind. | |
| Apr 19, 2024 at 21:27 | comment | added | Sam7919 | Garlic!! That's so far the most compelling ingredient for using a mortar and pestle. No need to see if every single hole in the garlic press is clear (before throwing it in the dishwasher). | |
| Apr 19, 2024 at 14:01 | comment | added | GdD | Black pepper is a good example, I do sometimes crush cumin seeds actually, as well as fennel, as it helps to release their flavor. It's not just hard spices, you can crush ginger and garlic. I've used mine to crush salt flakes into a smaller but still flaky consistency. | |
| Apr 19, 2024 at 13:46 | comment | added | Sam7919 | Neat, but can you provide an example or two? Here is a counter-example for context. Two basic spices in Indian curries are cardamom and coriander. I can't think of a case when I would want to fight their thick shells with a mortar and pestle until they reach a fineness that's suitable to leave in the dish. Hence an electric grinder is essential. The spices you're thinking of must be particularly brittle. Perhaps black pepper is one such example, but what else? | |
| Apr 19, 2024 at 9:39 | history | answered | GdD | CC BY-SA 4.0 |