Mortar & Pestle: Everything You Need to Know

And a discount for your new M&P

Sawaddee Ka 🙏🏼

If you’ve seen more than a few HTK videos, you have probably noticed that I use a mortar and pestle A LOT. For Thai people, a mortar and pestle is absolutely essential, and we use it for a ton of things. The action of pounding and grinding is as second-nature to Thai cooks as chopping and stirring is for Western cooks.

But over the years I’ve gotten lots of questions about them, and you might be wondering the same things. What can I use it for? How do I take care of it? Do I need to season it? How do I choose the right one? Granite? Wood? Marble? Small? Large? Is there a technique that I should know?

In this video I will try to convince you that it is awesome and you need one, and then attempt to answer all the questions that you might have so you can proceed with confidence. A quick note that this discussion pertains only to Thai-style mortar and pestles, not molcajetes or other kinds.

If you prefer to read rather than watch, I’ve also written an article with the same information below, though the video does have some useful visual demos.

A Discount for Your M&P!

This video is sponsored by our friends at KROK who makes high quality Thai granite mortar and pestle that is large AND light, a combination that I didn’t know was possible! You can get $10 off with code PAILIN10 and sign up for their newsletter to find out about their Black Friday deals. Check it out here!