Re: Grinding Bay Leaves

Wayne wrote on Sun, 11 May 2008 17:49:34 GMT:

ChattyCathy wrote:
On Sun, 11 May 2008 11:49:16 -0400, Goomba38 wrote:

Last night I made chorizo per the recipe in Rick Bayless'
"Mexico, One Plate at a Time" cookbook. It calls for you to
grind the bay leaves
with
mortar and pestle, which I don't own.

You don't own a mortar and pestle? Good grief. We have two.

Call yourself a foodie? For shame!

<standing up> Hi... I'm Goomba... I used to be a foodie until
my dirty little secret came out-I don't have a mortar and
pestle! I have an adorable and very user friendly little
nutmeg grinder though.. does that count? LOL

I never had a recipe that called for ground bay leaves
before! Honest! I always use them whole. I guess I should
look into either the spice grinder or a mortar/pestle. I can
see other uses for one (I like those bigazz Mexican ones)
Since you own one, do you ever feel you needed a powered
spice grinder instead or was the ancient method totally
adequate?

Since I have both, and I do use both because some things just
work better in a mortar and pestle, for most things the bottom
line is speed. In a coffee grinder the results are almost
instantaneous. Not so with the M&P. You could also look at
it as tradition vs. technology. I'll usually pick technology
every time, but there are exceptions. One other caveat about
the coffee grinder, you cannot incorporate moist ingredients
(like garlic cloves) with the dry ingredients. You can
certainly do this in a M&P. IMHO, it pays to have both.

As a chemist, I learned how to use a mortar and pestle and I still know how but you can keep the things! Practically everything that involves incorporating damp things like garlic can be done with the jar-blender attachment of my Braun immersion blender. I used to have a mortar and pestle but I was eternally losing one or the other. To tell the truth I can't remember which is which but I suspect the pestle is the thing you grind with:-)
--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

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