Mortar & Pestle: Best Material?

[trillium]

Just a couple of hints for people shopping for the granite m&ps at their local Asian grocery stores. SE Asian stores in general have a better selection then East Asian, and they're not always displayed with the pestle. The pestle stays wrapped behind the counter.

I love our m&p brought back from Singapore, but it really isn't big enough for the double batches of curry pastes we like to pound, so I agree, get the biggest one you can find. Oh, and for lemongrass, roots, and rhizomes, you want to pound not grind... hope that makes sense.

It's important to pound rice in them until the rice no longer takes on a greyish tinge, unless you don't mind eating extra granite dust in your food.

regards,

trillium

[origamicrane]

trillium Posted on Jul 14 2004, 10:18 AM

It's important to pound rice in them until the rice no longer takes on a greyish tinge, unless you don't mind eating extra granite dust in your food.

thanks trillium thats was something that worried me about some of the stone m&ps

as i thought that you would get a lot of unwanted dust and colouring in your grind.

So in effect you have to season the m&p before real usage

[Samhill]

Ah, not so much, even though trillium has the sexiest cooking hands on eG.

A good scrubbing with soap will remove films, and dust.

Granite is impervious.

Edited July 15, 2004 by Samhill (log)

[trillium]

Thanks (umm, I think).

For the seasoning, I guess it depends on how your m&p is made and what you do with it. We were under strict S'pore granny instructions to not make anything in it until we had pounded rice that didn't turn grey anymore. Who were we to argue? It took a few times, but it was kind of fun. And we did wash and dry it between rice poundings. Some of the Thai ones look like they were manufactured differently though, they seem smoother inside and have a varnish or something on the outside. Maybe those don't have to be seasoned as much.

Granite is impervious to a lot, but ours is actually getting smoother on the inside, and the pestle is for sure smoother, that rock is going somewhere...I've decided that a little granite dust never hurt anyone...minerals are good for you, right?

regards,

trillium

[origamicrane]

hi all

i got the granite pestle and mortar;)

hansome isn't it?

well its weight a ton!! and looks like it would survive a direct hit from a bomb!

hey trillium did that rice pounding thing and you're right it took the forth to fifth pounding of rice before it become all white. :)

anyway it looks very cool on my tabletop

now to find all though pounding and grinding recipes:)

[FoodMan]

Looks wonderful. Congrats. May I ask how much did it cost you?

Elie

[origamicrane]

hehehe i didn't

friends bought it for my birthday present

but at a guess its would probably be in the £30-40 mark

[JC]

Glad to see so many people enjoying their granite M&P. It's very common here in Asia, and they last for ages. Mine was passed down from my grandmother!

It's much cheaper than £30-40 here. Definitely something to shop for when in Asia. Carrying it back is another matter though :)

[Richard Kilgore]

In the U.S. the granite M&Ps run about $40 in Asian markets.

[Richard Kilgore]

In the U.S. the granite M&Ps run about $40 in Asian markets.

[trillium]

In my part of the US they run between $20 and $30 depending on the size!

And JC, I still tell the partner how wonderful he was to lug it all the way back from S'pore...but now I want a bigger one for those quadruple batches of rempah and curry pastes.

regards,

trillium