Why Use a Mortar and Pestle? - CHOW Tip

Douglas Ford, sous-chef at LA's Lucques, uses a mortar and pestle a lot for things like grinding spices or garlic. It's often preferable to a mechanical device like a blender or Cuisinart, because the heat those devices create will cause some ingredients to oxidize more quickly and turn brown.

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TRANSCRIPT
At our restaurant at Lacques, we use mortar and pestle for a lot of different things, pounding garlic, grounding spices, pounding herbs.  When you're using something mechanical, like a blender, the movement of the blade is so fast that it creates heat and that will oxidize a lot of herbs.  By using a mortar and pestle, you're grinding stone to stone, it's not creating the same amount of heat and it'll keep them staying really green instead of oxidizing and turning brown.

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