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