Molcajete

Pronounced Mol-cah-het-te

I've wanted a mortar and pestle for years and that feeling was amplified when moving to Mexico with molcajetes, which is the term they use for these giant basalt mammoths they use to make salsas, mole and all sorts of other tasty things. These are actually pretty versatile and it seems like most cultures have some variation of this that they employ, sometimes made of marble and other materials where volcanic rock just isn't as abundant.

I've been putting off buying one even though I've had the money for a few months for one reason and that's the fact that it weighs a ton. This is literally a carved hunk of stone with a little hunk of stone and it was not fun to carry around the market. When picking mine out I considered one that was 1000 pesos but was huge and pig shaped. One day, maybe I'll go back for it.

I paid 150 pesos for mine and the pestle was 35 pesos and I literally got to choose it from a bucket of options. This one felt best in my hand.

Now these are most commonly used for salsa here but honestly the uses are endless. Anything that needs minced can be smashed in a molcajete and many Indian recipes require the smashing of seeds in one just before adding to food.

I was under the impression that other than a rinsing before use, these were ready to use but research told me I was wrong and honestly so did personal experience. I tried grinding a few things and....they were hard at best to get out.

If you see there in the center there's a....tan smudge of sorts. That's what happens when you grind up a raw cashew in an unseasoned molcajete. That stuff gets stuck.

Seasoning the Molcajete

Its similar in concept to seasoning a pan but honestly it's a totally different process involving different things. As you can see by the photo it starts with white rice, just a little bit depending on the size of your molcajete. This process takes time and honestly is a lot of work but it's worth it for a few reasons.

You learn how to use the molcajete as well as clean it at the same time. By the end of the seasoning process, you will know everything you need to to care for your molcajete for a lifetime.

Add a little water....and start grinding. And grinding....and grinding....

Literally the idea is to grind the rice and break it down until it's a paste and when it becomes a paste, you'll start to understand why it's a good idea to do this.

That Gray Paste

Naturally these things pick up dust in those little cracks as they sit at the store or wherever they are before they end up in your possession. You're not likely to be given one that's already been recently seasoned and even previously seasoned molcajetes will need some work after sitting for awhile.

I personally had the authentic experience of buying mine from the central market, pricing them out. I determined I was going to buy one pig shaped until I realized that made it a lot pricer. The central market is in fact one of the dustiest places in the city so this process gave me a nice gray paste.

So what now?

Rinse and repeat and I'm not just reading a shampoo bottle here. The idea is to keep going until the paste is white signaling that you finally cleaned all the particulates out of the cracks. That gray paste just has dust and other particles suspended in it. When you rinse it fill it with water and use your hand to swirl the rice paste on the bottom. It'll start to swirl out naturally and over time less and less of the rice will stay.

Elbow grease and Determination Needed

Like the feeling of having successfully seasoned a reclaimed cast iron pan, seasoning a molcajete is very rewarding but honestly in a different way. You really start to get ideas for how to use it as you grind down the rice, everything from chocolate to pizza sauce. You respect the process and every time...just as you're ready to give up you notice something that makes you want to keep seasoning.

After the Season

Once it's seasoned it's ready to use, even if it's still wet. When you do use it, to clean it just fill with water and use your hand to help food swirl out of the divits in the surface. Changing the water and doing this will get most things out of the molcajete.

NEVER USE SOAP

Like a cast iron pan part of the allure of these things is in the fact that they do hold former flavors. This can be an advantage but sometimes isn't desired when going for a specific flavor profile. Soap is honestly the worst thing you could do because the stone will absorb that and it's not a flavor easy to season out like ginger or garlic.

What to do with a smelly molcajete....

If you notice your molcajete has any odor you don't desire coming from it that means it's time to re-season. With regular maintenance doing a re-season is way easier than the initial one as you generally only do one wash with the rice. It does wonders to get strong flavors out of the stone for when you want to make chocolate or something.

Always rinse with clean water and allow to air dry. If you store it in a cabinet, allow it to dry completely before storing it. I personally keep mine on the counter like a chef's trophy.