What Size Do You Like

Well I guess I was bearing down with a tad too much weight or maybe tapped a bit too hard when grinding up some star anise, and popped a bit of porcelain right out of it.

So having destroyed a mortar, the question arises what material and how big is ideal. Thought I'd ask for opinions.

Porcelain, metal, stone?

5", 6"? More?

Don't want to take anything for granite....any opinions? Looking for function, not looks, at least not as a priority, nor am I looking for $1,000 trophy pieces, which seem to abound, presumably for well heeled bored wannabe cooks.

Bill, I mostly use a granite p&m about eight inch diameter, about ten dollars from Asian stores.
I used to have a much larger one but it was so heavy and difficult to store, gave it to a younger cook who happens to be Indonesian so she was delighted to have it for her spice pastes and a growing family to feed.
I also have a 3-4 inch wedge wood porcelain number which is terrific for smaller batches and comes in the motor home when we take off into the wild.
I find these suitable sizes as we don't cook large amounts of food at a time and I see no point in storing hand ground spice pastes as the freshness is soon lost. If I want some paste on hand for quick meals I use my dedicated electric spice (ie coffee) grinder.

Regards

I keep a repurposed older Braun grinder exclusively for spice use as well (when the main coffee grinder went out on us and the old one had to be enlisted, the faint spice flavours imparted by the grinder were quite interesting).

I need a larger one for doing things that the electric grinder doesn't do well. Small chunks of hard spices tend to just whirl around after a certain point in the electric grinder, without reducing in size any more - the small particles are hard enough that they aren't chopped, just pushed out of the way by the blades.

Star anise is the example that comes to mind.

I found an 8" stone mortar locally that looks promising (though I'll wait until after Christmas to go and check it out!)

I very highly recommend the Thai granite mortar and pestle from importfood.com: http://importfood.com/mortarpestle.html . I use the 8" diameter size. The base is rugged and stable, and the heavy pestle makes short work out of almost any pounding/grinding task (gravity does much of the work for you).

-Paul W.

Like that one a lot, Paul.

They don't seem to ship to Canada currently, sadly.

[Jenise]

My P&M is marble. Probably about 6" diameter bowl.

I use a small steel one, but I also have a little Krups coffee grinder reserved just to spice-whirling.

I, too, have a Krups coffee grinder reserved for spice-grinding. But I like to use the heavy-duty mortar and pestle for wet-grinding tasks such as Indian masalas and Thai ginger/garlic/chile mixtures. The crushing action of the mortar and pestle releases the essential oils from the ingredients in a more complete fashion than the cutting action of a food processor.

-Paul W.

Paul - went with your recco on an 8".

Will post once I get it and do a test 'grind'.

This is a killer M&P, Paul, thanks for the steer. Heavy (I'm going to use it as a bookend for cook books on the counter to save having to stow it away every time I use it) and well made

Not too much granite dust when you do initial grinding, either - some are very rough finish inside and it takes quite awhile to grind them to sufficient smoothness to grind food without additional stone powder. Something you can't take for granite!

[Jenise]

This is a killer M&P, Paul, thanks for the steer. Heavy (I'm going to use it as a bookend for cook books on the counter to save having to stow it away every time I use it) and well made

Not too much granite dust when you do initial grinding, either - some are very rough finish inside and it takes quite awhile to grind them to sufficient smoothness to grind food without additional stone powder. Something you can't take for granite!

And Sue's going to use it for your ashes when you kick the bucket. Talk about dual use!

And Sue's going to use it for your ashes when you kick the bucket. Talk about dual use!

Damn - and here I thought I was finished with the daily grind......

This is a killer M&P, Paul, thanks for the steer. Heavy (I'm going to use it as a bookend for cook books on the counter to save having to stow it away every time I use it) and well made

Not too much granite dust when you do initial grinding, either - some are very rough finish inside and it takes quite awhile to grind them to sufficient smoothness to grind food without additional stone powder. Something you can't take for granite!

Glad you like it as much as I do. Thai cuisine does a lot of smashing and grinding (those curry pastes are all traditionally made with a M&P), so it should be no surprise that they're experts at M&P design.

-Paul W.