Molcajete for tamales? I don't know if you really need one, yes, they
are great for salsas and for grinding some spices.
Maybe you are confusing it with the "metate" wich was used to grind
grains like corn into flour and then into tamal dough. But they are
museum pieces now.

Anyway, if you want to get a molcajete go for the rougher one, since
they are made with volcanic stone the most originals are from the
central part of Mexico, like the state of Mexico, Puebla, Tlaxcala,
etc.

Before you use a new molcajete you should cure it by grinding garlic
with salt, until there is no more loose sand or gravel.

Good luck!

On Dec 23, 1:39 pm, Roughrider50 > wrote:
> I'm looking at buying a pestle & mortar(molcajete) for making tamales.
> The lady teaching this to my daughter says to be very careful when
> purchasing as some are very low quality & get very gritty in the
> grinding process. She emphasized that only a Mexican made one is high
> enough quality to bother with. I am looking at a couple on
> gourmetslueth.comhttp://tinyurl.com/34pvak
>
> http://tinyurl.com/32ofls
>
> Any suggestions from familiar with these items? Which is the more
> "authentic" the smoother or the rougher one? Or is this a non-issue?
> Or can one of you guys make a recommendation on where to to buy one.
> TIA