Do you own/use a kitchen mortar & pestle?

[Alessan]

I have a beautiful white M&P I got as a gift. I use it once a year to make *charoset *for the Passover Seder.

[TroutMan]

@Bayaker

Until I read this thread I didn’t know the word molcajete, and I answered the poll in the affirmative because I regularly use my big-ass mortar and pestle.

A molcajete is a type of mortar and pestle, so you answered correctly.

I also have two and both are used frequently - the small one for spices and the molcajete mostly for guacamole.

[thorny_locust]

I voted that I have one but don’t use it. It would be more accurate to say that I have one and use it only rarely; but that wasn’t one of the options.

Mine’s a small ceramic version.

[teela_brown]

I have a teeny one that I use to grind up a pinch of dried rosemary or a few cardamom seeds. It’s big enough for that.

I have a bigger one that I use to grind sesame seeds for a Japanese dressing for spinach or asparagus. It’s also good to coarsely crack peppercorns when I need a bunch of them for steak or seared ahi or cacio e pepe pasta.

[pulykamell]

@Grrr

No, I already have a spice grinder which is all I would ever need one for.

I do often wonder if M&P would make for a better texture when making salsas though.

The one thing I find it indispensable for, and it’s a niche usage, is for crushing lemongrass. As I said above, I use it mostly to make various pastes (like for Thai curries), and many of those include lemongrass. I’ve tried to make it in a food processor, but lemongrass is just so damned stringy and fibrous that it really needs to be pounded down. I’m sure there must be a decent mechanical way of doing it, but no blade implement I have breaks down that fibrousness enough.

It is also said that a true pesto should be made in a mortar and pestle, to really get that broken down instead of cut/blended texture to it. I’m usually too lazy and just use a food processor for that, but apparently it really should be done in a mortar and pestle.

[markn_1]

I voted that I have and use one, but really I use it quite rarely these days. I used to use it to grind spices for a great vindaloo recipe, but I’ve found I can use pre-ground spices without any noticable difference.

[teela_brown]

This is a good thread to recount a story. A friend of my mom’s always pronounced it “mortal and pretzel”. English wasn’t her first language (she was Italian), and we never corrected her because we found her version charming, and often used the words ourselves just for fun.

To this day, and I have to stop and think if the correct version is “mortar and pestle” or “mortal and pretzel” before saying it.

[guizot]

@pulykamell

Yep, I have a pretty big Thai one that I bought 15 years ago for about $15-$20 at the Southeast Asian grocery. This appears to be it, or something very similar to it. Size is right, look is right. (I actually broke the pestle part of it a year ago, so I need to replace it. Like the top half of the pestle broke off when I dropped it awkwardly. I still use it fine, but it’s a little goofy looking.)

I typically use it for crushing things into pastes, but also for stuff like cracked pepper and when I don’t feel like getting my spice grinder dirty. Like if I’m only crushing a small amount of spices, it’s faster for me to just do it in the mortar & pestle.

I have that exact same one, which I bought down the street, long, long ago at Bangluck Market (next to Sanamluang), and use it to make curries from scratch. To be honest, I don’t have much time for that these days, but when you need a mortar and pestle, there really is no substitute. So even though the thing weighs a ton, it’s been worth having.

[thelurkinghorror]

In the last few years I have used it:

1. To grind up cat pills

2. To grind peppercorns, in a period of time after the grinder broke but before I could get a new one.

[KneadToKnow]

Own yes, use no. Mine’s in storage. Eventually, I’ll have kitchen space for it.

[Treppenwitz]

@Gray_Ghost

I have one, two if you count a stupidly large molcajete I inherited. But what do they do that a propeller grinder doesn’t do, faster and easier?

Small ones are an immense PITA to use: the bowl tilts all of the time, spilling ground product everywhere. Or I’m a klutz, I don’t know.

I have two. Can’t be beat for grinding small amounts of spices - for which task, it’s cleaning down the propeller grinder that’s a PITA.

But they are, as others have noted, great for pastes. Last used one yesterday, to grind garlic into olive oil, for the purpose of roasting polenta chips. Which is how I now know that, like tofu, polenta contains antiflavour which, when it comes into contact with flavour, is obliterated, taking the flavour with it.

j

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I am pleased that so many people have and use a mortar & pretzel ;); I was afraid I was an outlier.

[Aspidistra]

My parents always had one, growing up, and I’d love to have one. Unfortunately the grindy sound they make jangles my nerves in the worst way, so I know I’d never bring myself to use it. But in theory, I approve of 'em. Just give me time to get to the next room.

[Cazzle]

I have one but use it really rarely. Not even once a year.

[Chefguy]

I have two, a large and a very small. I use them rarely, so stick that in your poll.

[Kimstu]

Yup, a heavy medium-sized marble one. Great for general-purpose grinding and crushing, and easier to wash than a mug and spoon. I don’t like having lots of electric kitchen appliances, and grinders/blenders especially are a PITA to clean, so for any grinding/crushing that doesn’t involve a lot of volume, the m&p is my go-to.

[panache45]

I have one, but haven’t used it since administering chemo to my cat. I had to give him three pills a day, but he was really bad at taking pills. So I powderized them and mixed them with a little condensed milk.

[QuickSilver]

Yep. For Pesto. The basil is at its peak and you’ve inspired me to make some this weekend.

[kayaker]

We use ours for mashing garlic, making pesto, crushing peppercorns, etc. When our tortoise was tiny I used our m&p to crush his pellets.

[chela]

Yes, but I don’t use it all that much.