Of mice and molcajetes

This is what Santa brought me this year.

Hot dang I am so excited! I’ve always wanted one, but never knew their history or how to say their name. In fact, I just left tripod spice grinder thingy on my list to Santa. The kids were doubtful old Saint Nick baby would come through. Well step back nonbelievers, cause Santa delivered.

Three-toes, my new molcajete (mol-ka-HE-teh), is hand carved out of lava and was really rough when I got him. Yes, it is a he. I checked. Like my guns, I name my kitchen gadgets too. I wouldn’t hold a woman that way. Moving on.

Molcajetes means stone sauce bowl. According to Aztec lore, the three legs is thought to pay homage to the god of the hearth, Huehueteotl, who is associated with the number three. Who knew.

To season the three-legged beast you can take the pear-shaped grinder thingy called ajolote (ah-ho-LO-teh) and grind rice or corn. What this does is basically sands the inside of the bowl to make it a little “smooth”. (This is where we have a break down in communication, as it depends greatly what your definition of smooth is). Anyway I ground like a bored Aztec woman, whose kids had left the nest or cave, whichever. For days I ground, rinsed and repeated.

 Here’s the rice before.

And after.

On the third day Ben said, what you need is a wire brush on a drill. (A great idea really.) But I glared at him at explained I didn’t want to miff the god of the hearth, besides I’m a traditionalist. A traditionalist until I start getting blisters, that is. Then I ran out and bought a whole set of wire brushes and commenced to scrubbing. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there.

 There are a lot of imitations out there for real live molcajetes. If you want to order a real one, you can go to Melissa Guerra or if you want to read another post about them check out The Homesick Texan’s post here. Great stuff.

Knuckles and brushes be damned, I think I’m almost there. While cast iron is easier to season, it was kind of a earthly fun project. Like cast iron in Mexican kitchens you pass your molcajete down through the family. I will be putting this in my will as some sick joke to my kids after Mommy is long gone. *sphnicker sphnicker* If nothing else I’ll be remembered for my twisted sense of humor.

What do you think? Do you think my saucy new rice griding past time is cool or just plain weird?

Simply,

Sis

Tags: ajolote, authentic molcajete, bowl and pestle, homesick texan, how to season a molcajete, lava sauce bowl, Melissa Guerra, mexician spice grinder, molcajete, Simple Eats