Goomba38 wrote:
> 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?

Many sausage recipes call for powdered bay leaves... you can buy them
already ground form the sausage supply places... The Sausage Maker has
it <http://www.sausagemaker.com> but probably too large a size for
your need. One of those little coffee bean whizzers will handle a few
bay leaves easily, crumble them first... be sure they're whizzed to a
fine powder, you don't want anyone choking on any sharp bits. I
seriously doubt dried bay leaves can be ground with a mortar and
pestal, you'll grind the pestle to a nub first... Rick Bayless is a
foodtv personality, he's no kind of cook, he plays a cook on tv...
like most foodtv personalities he has no practical experience, his
backgrond is that his family owned a small family operated Mexican
restuarant in Okalahoma, as a kid they probably made him do scullery
work. He was an undergraduate student of Spanish and Latin American
culture, and then a doctoral student in anthropological linguistics,
didn't get his Phd... he never accquired formal culinary training...
that chorizo recipe is probably his mother's, he probably never
touched a bay leaf in his life... Bayless suits him. hehe