This changes everything....

I loves myself a good piece of kitchen gear.

I am the sort of girl who will curl up on the couch on a cold winter’s eve with a glass of wine and work my way through the recommended equipment section from selections off my cookbook shelf.

However, I spent many years snorting at the cookbook authors who sang the praises of the mortar and pestle. With a fine and dandy Cuisinart sitting on my shelf, it seemed a pointless anachronism. Any recipe that said it could be done in a mortar and pestle gave a food processor alternative. So, fey I thought.

Then in July I was in San Francisco for a wedding and in the process of meandering the city I came across a cast iron mortar and pestle with a capacity of about a quart. It was true love the second I picked it up. It seemed a ridiculous purchase, so I left it. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I went back a dragged it home.

Incredibly satisfying. A few twists and its able to crush a handful of peppercorns to make a paste for seared tuna steaks or gentle garlic for aioli or toasted sesame seeds into miso for goma.