Pounding

Crushing releases differently from cutting

A blade severs cells cleanly and quickly, and it does so at high speed, which generates heat and incorporates air. A pestle crushes cells against a rough surface progressively, more slowly, with almost no heat and very little air.

For herbs, that means far less enzymatic browning — which is why pounded pesto stays green and blitzed pesto turns khaki.

For spices and aromatics, it means the fibres are broken down rather than chopped small, so the cell contents genuinely release rather than sitting inside chopped fragments. A pounded curry paste is smoother and more integrated than a blitzed one, and it emulsifies with the oil more readily.

What is worth pounding

Curry pastes

Thai, Malay and Indonesian pastes. The classic case, and the difference is genuinely noticeable.

Pesto and salsa verde

Colour and texture both improve.

Garlic with salt

The salt is an abrasive as well as a seasoning, and the result is a smooth paste no knife achieves.

Whole spices

Freshly pounded spice is more aromatic than pre-ground, and a mortar handles small quantities a grinder cannot.

Guacamole

Traditionally made in a molcajete, and the texture is better than mashed.

Meat, with a flat mallet

A different sense of the word — flattening rather than crushing.

Not anything wanted in pieces

A pounded salsa is a sauce rather than a salsa. Use a knife where the pieces are the point.

Using a mortar well

1. Start with the hardest and driest ingredients. Whole spices and salt first.
2. Add garlic or ginger next, with a pinch of salt as an abrasive.
3. Work with a grinding, circular motion against the side rather than hammering straight down. Hammering splashes and achieves less.
4. Add the wetter ingredients progressively, working each in before the next.
5. Add herbs last, and grind them against the side rather than pounding them.
6. Stir in oil at the very end rather than pounding it in.
7. A heavy mortar with a rough interior does the work. A smooth polished marble one looks better and grinds worse.

Pounding meat, which is a different thing

• Use a flat mallet, a rolling pin or the base of a heavy pan. Not the spiked side of a tenderiser unless you want it shredded.
• Put the meat between two sheets of baking parchment or in a bag. Direct contact tears it.
• Work from the centre outwards with glancing blows rather than straight down. You are spreading it, not smashing it.
• Aim for even thickness, which is the whole purpose — an escalope cooks in two minutes because it is one thickness throughout.
• Stop before it tears. Thin is the goal; holes are not.
• Chicken breast, pork loin, veal and beef all pound well. Fatty or sinewy cuts do not.
• It genuinely tenderises by physically breaking muscle fibres, as well as reducing thickness.

Common questions