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.com
http://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

I would go for this one. > http://tinyurl.com/32ofls The rougher one.
It will grind better. All the ones I am familiar with here in Mexico
are of this type.

On Dec 23, 11:39�am, Roughrider50 > wrote:

> Any suggestions from familiar with these items? Which is the more
> "authentic" the smoother or the rougher one? Or is this a non-issue?

I dunno. Do you like the nice shiny white enamel on your teeth, or do
you already have dentures?

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:03:02 -0800 (PST), ":-/"
> wrote:

>On Dec 23, 11:39?am, Roughrider50 > wrote:
>
>> Any suggestions from familiar with these items? Which is the more
>> "authentic" the smoother or the rougher one? Or is this a non-issue?
>
>I dunno. Do you like the nice shiny white enamel on your teeth, or do
>you already have dentures?
???????????? what's that got do with the discussion?

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

On Dec 23, 3:11�pm, Roughrider50 > wrote:
> On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:03:02 -0800 (PST), ":-/"
>
> > wrote:

> >I dunno. Do you like the nice shiny white enamel on your teeth, or do
> >you already have dentures?
>
> ???????????? what's that got do with the discussion?

Mexicans used to wear the enamel off their teeth by eating tortillas
made with stoneground corn meal made in the traditional manner because
of the grit that comes of the stones. The rough molcajete is made of
the same stone.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:10:49 -0800 (PST), "
> wrote:

>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!
Thanks! The ones we're looking at come with a curing packet to do just
that. The lady my daughter is learning from comes from Mexico & she
does it the way they do it down there. She does it with a minimal
amount of expensive gear. Two molcajete's, one for grinding the
peppers & spices & a larger one she inverts in the pot & lines with
the tamales. She uses pork boiled with garlic & onions( both
unpeeled).
There's a Mexican store where they live & she gets most of the
ingredients there. Outside of being very time consuming (5½ hrs to do
10 dozen) my daughter says there relatively simple & easy to make.
Only thing is its not labor effective to make small batches, but they
freeze real well & are delicious.
>
>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

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:32:25 -0800 (PST), ":-/"
> wrote:

>On Dec 23, 3:11?pm, Roughrider50 > wrote:
>> On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:03:02 -0800 (PST), ":-/"
>>
>> > wrote:
>
>> >I dunno. Do you like the nice shiny white enamel on your teeth, or do
>> >you already have dentures?
>>
>> ???????????? what's that got do with the discussion?
>
>Mexicans used to wear the enamel off their teeth by eating tortillas
>made with stoneground corn meal made in the traditional manner because
>of the grit that comes of the stones. The rough molcajete is made of
>the same stone.


LOL.......ok gotcha. However I don't have the time or inclination to
tackle stone ground tortillas. The ones at the store work fine.

On Dec 23, 7:08�pm, Roughrider50 > wrote:

> LOL.......ok gotcha. However I don't have the time or inclination to
> tackle stone ground tortillas. The ones at the store work fine.

Trying to make tortillas from total scratch is overkill when you can
buy 50 machine made tortillas for $1.00.

But, my point is that the molcajete is made from the same volcanic
basalt stone as the larger metate and the grit is not only unpleasant
when it gets into your food, it's bad for your teeth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molcajete

It should be noted that if you acquire a molcajete, you have to season
it before you can use it, whether to grind spices, make guacamole, or
as above. This can be done several ways. First, you need to get all
the loose stone out of it, lest it end up in your recipe. It might
actually be healthful for you, but you probably would not appreciate
the grit. Soak the thing in fresh water for at least two days. Then,
traditionally, take some dry white rice (raw) and grind it into the
bottom and sides of the pestle with the tejolote. Dump the rice and
repeat. After maybe an hour of this, the rice will stop taking on a
grey color. When the rice stays white, you are done. Alternatively,
and much easier, buy a copper brush and grind it on the bottom of the
wet molcojete until you stop feeling grit in the water, maybe 15
minutes depending on how stiff your brush is. Whichever way you
choose, never put detergent in the thing to clean it. Rather treat it
like you would a cast iron skillet and wipe it out.

"Roughrider50" > wrote in message
...

> Or can one of you guys make a recommendation on where to to buy one.
> TIA


http://www.tortillacocina.com/molcajetes.htm

On Dec 23, 11:39*am, 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

personally, I like the one I got at Crate & Barrel... It doesn't chip
like the old style molcajetes do... I remember using my grandmothers
and always finding the one chip of rock/stone that chips off sometimes
thinking it was pepper, not good. The one i got from C&B was about
$30.00 it's made out of granite and really smooth. It looks like the
old fashioned one and works really nice. You get all the spices out
of it, unlike the old style molcajete that left spices in the spaces.
As much as I wanted my grandmothers I like mine better.
chilichick