On Sun, 11 May 2008 13:56:31 -0400, Goomba38 >
wrote:

wrote:
>
>> Do you have a whirly blade coffee grinder? that would probably be
>> best. Did the recipe specify fresh or dried? I think that might make a
>> difference also.
>>
>No, I don't have a whirly blade coffee grinder! I don't drink coffee,
>lol. I'm a tea drinker.
>I will be in the market for either a whirly diddy or the mortar/pestle
>though. Which one would you suggest being most valuable if I only wanted
>one or the other?

Hmm..they both have their uses and are used differently. Right now, I
can't see myself having only one... but that is me.

Christine

Goomba38 wrote:
> wrote:
>
>> Do you have a whirly blade coffee grinder? that would probably be
>> best. Did the recipe specify fresh or dried? I think that might make a
>> difference also.
> No, I don't have a whirly blade coffee grinder! I don't drink coffee,
> lol. I'm a tea drinker.
> I will be in the market for either a whirly diddy or the mortar/pestle
> though. Which one would you suggest being most valuable if I only wanted
> one or the other?
I've got both and I use the small electric coffee grinder the most.
That's what I bought it for, never grind my own coffee anyway.

On Sun, 11 May 2008 14:48:59 -0500, George Shirley
> wrote:

>Goomba38 wrote:
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Do you have a whirly blade coffee grinder? that would probably be
>>> best. Did the recipe specify fresh or dried? I think that might make a
>>> difference also.
>> No, I don't have a whirly blade coffee grinder! I don't drink coffee,
>> lol. I'm a tea drinker.
>> I will be in the market for either a whirly diddy or the mortar/pestle
>> though. Which one would you suggest being most valuable if I only wanted
>> one or the other?
>I've got both and I use the small electric coffee grinder the most.
>That's what I bought it for, never grind my own coffee anyway.

even if you only use it to grind black peppercorns for use in recipes,
it's worth the money.

your pal,
blake

On Sun, 11 May 2008 10:44:00 -0700, wrote:


>
>I've gotten in the bad habit of buying mortars and pestles. I have
>probably 5 in graduating sizes. Believe it or not I use most of them.
>I don't have one as big as Christine's granddaddy of them all though.

I am going to buy a small one next, I think. That granddaddy, is hard
to drag over to the sink to clean it out. Weighs a ton!!! But it is
a great mortar and pestle.

For those of you that want one, this is a great site for them:
http://importfood.com/


And the mortars and pestles:
http://importfood.com/mortarpestle.html

I have the big round one. It weighs about 24 pounds, they say.

Christine

On 2008-05-11, Goomba38 > wrote:

> Any other suggestions to get the job done?

Yeah. Screw Rich Bayless (one screw-job at a time) and put in the whole
leaf and remove it before serving.

nb

notbob > wrote:

> Yeah. Screw Rich Bayless (one screw-job at a time) and put in the
> whole leaf and remove it before serving.

The idea here is it is a sausage seasoning that needs to blend.
I suppose you could have one bay leaf stuck in each sausage,
and later pull it out, but that seems a little odd to me.

Steve

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. I tried to do it in the food
> processor, even adding the salt from the recipe to act as an abrasive
> but it barely worked.
> Any other suggestions to get the job done?

You really need to get a small coffee grinder. I don't know how you
managed without either this long.

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
> 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. I tried to do it in the food
>> processor, even adding the salt from the recipe to act as an abrasive
>> but it barely worked.
>> Any other suggestions to get the job done?
>
> You really need to get a small coffee grinder. I don't know how you
> managed without either this long.
>
> -sw

LOL, neither do I now!? I always put whole spices in when I could, and
own the basics ground too, but bay leaves are NOT commonly called for in
many recipes so it has never been an issue before. I look forward to
discovering all I can use my newly ordered mortar and pestle for. I
decided to go low-tech to start with though.

Goomba38 > wrote:

> LOL, neither do I now!? I always put whole spices in when I could, and
> own the basics ground too, but bay leaves are NOT commonly called for in
> many recipes so it has never been an issue before. I look forward to
> discovering all I can use my newly ordered mortar and pestle for. I
> decided to go low-tech to start with though.

I use my coffee grinder 5x more than my M&P. The MP I use for small
amounts of cumin and wet/oily stuff, but there are a lot of whole
spices that a M&P won't be able to grind correctly (caraway,
allspice, eg).

-sw

On 2008-05-13, Sqwertz > wrote:
> spices that a M&P won't be able to grind correctly (caraway,
> allspice, eg).

That's cuz you got wussy M&P. Mere child's play for Thai granite!

nb

notbob > wrote:

> On 2008-05-13, Sqwertz > wrote:
>> spices that a M&P won't be able to grind correctly (caraway,
>> allspice, eg).
>
> That's cuz you got wussy M&P. Mere child's play for Thai granite!

I have a perfectly good 8x8 M&P. The coffee grinder works better
for almost all the dry spices.

-sw