Food & Wine USA - (05)May 2020

58 MAY 2020

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IN AN ERA of convenience cookware and myriad gadgets, I enjoy

pushing back against the pressures of modernization by reach-

ing for the most ancient of cooking tools: a mortar and pestle.

I have a collection of 20 mortars and pestles from all over the

world, and they are my most prized—and most frequently used—

kitchen possessions.

Many of the world’s great culinary cultures devised their

versions of the mortar and pestle using available raw materials

to process native ingredients efficiently. Along the Mediterra-

nean coastline where Italy and France meet, throughout Mexico

and other parts of Latin America, and in Southeast Asia, many

fundamental dishes (think pesto, guacamole, and curry pastes)

are made, or at least begun, in the mortar. I’ve come to under-

stand the tool’s usefulness through a series of cooking experi-

ences, including testing recipes for my friend chef Andy Ricker’s

A Smash Hit For globe-trotting cookbook

author Andrea Slonecker, mortars and pestles

are the best culinary keepsakes.

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Thai cookbook, Pok Pok; teaching classes at a Mediterranean-

focused cooking school; and a constant search for classic cook-

ing techniques in my travels.

In my own kitchen, I take pleasure in pounding, grinding,

smashing, swirling, and bruising ingredients in a mortar; but

it’s not just the act that I enjoy, it’s also the outcome. The friction

between mortar and pestle releases the ingredients’ essential

oils, exposing more nuanced flavors than the cutting action of

a blender, food processor, or knife blade ever could. The mortar

and pestle produces more delicious foods by liberating their

flavors. Spices, herbs, and other aromatic ingredients like ginger,

garlic, and chiles are brought to life. With the following recipes,

my goal is to begin to show the breadth of what can be made

with different kinds of mortars and pestles, taking timeless

tools and using them in new ways. —ANDREA SLONECKER

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photography by VICTOR PROTASIO

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