Tonight I needed to grate 4 carrots for a dish I was making. That dish
turned out surprisingly well even though I didn't follow the recipe as
written. For one thing, I don't think it would have worked. Called for a cup
of brown rice and two cups of tomato juice. There were the 4 grated carrots,
a chopped green pepper and a chopped onion to add some moisture but I think
it would not have gotten cooked through in the oven in an hour and a half
and the cheese on top would have turned to rubber. But I digress.

I will tell you what I did though. Two cups cheapo brown rice cooked in 5
cups beef bouillon. 1.5 pounds lean ground beef, shredded carrots (should
have been 4 but used more like 3), 2 green bell peppers, chopped, 1 onion,
chopped. Meat and veg cooked in skillet until done. Added approx. 2 T.
Worcestershire sauce, approx. 15 oz can tomato sauce, plenty of freshly
ground black pepper and some dried Greek oregano.

Mix this all in a large, greased casserole then top with plenty of shredded
cheddar and a nice sprinkling of wheat germ. Bake at 350 degrees until
heated through.

My normal flavor profiles tend to be Mexican/Spanish, Italian, Asian or
boring Midwest USA. This was none of those. Very delicious but also very
filling.

The problem? None of my graters wanted to work today. I believe that I got
rid of my ancient box grater one one of my kitchen cleanouts. Gave up on
Moulis as they never seem to last very long and since they went to some
plastic parts, break pretty quickly. What I had were an assortment of flat,
hand held ones including set from Costco. IIRC, the Costco ones were cheap
and worked well for a time but then became dull. I have a couple of others
that never were any good. This is why I didn't get all 4 carrots into the
dish. My hands began to ache and I gave up. I know I could have used the
food processor but it got so little use that I took it off of the counter.

So... I went to searching for a new one and ordered a 6 sided one from
Amazon. I just hope I have room to store it. It got good comments and people
said you were less likely to grate a knuckle like I have done with the old
box grater.

What is your favorite grater and why?