Recently, I signed up for a workshop on the history and uses of the mortar and pestle in Southeast Asian cuisine. It was part of the Food and Culture Series rolled out by the National Museum of Singapore aimed at linking culture and history to our modern lifestyles.
The workshop touched on the different types of mortar and pestle commonly used in the region, and there was a demonstration on how to use it to grind spices and herbs. One may think it is quite straightforward when using a mortar and pestle to grind spices and herbs. Actually there is more to it than meets the eye if one wants to do it efficiently. The trick is to grind the dry, harder spices first before the fresh, softer herbs. Of course, you can put everything into the mortar and grind them together but the flavor profile would be different and that would also take a longer time. I was especially intrigued by the way the pestle was used to pound the spices/herbs. It is not just a straight up-and-down motion to smash or crush the spices/herbs. It involves, at the end of the downward motion, a rotating movement of the pestle. This results in a combination of crushing and shearing. I call this type of grinding, ‘tumbuk’, to differentiate from the regular up-and-down grinding. It was said that in the olden days, the worth of a prospective daughter-in-law was based on her proficiency at using the mortar and pestle.
Several of the participants commented that they do have mortars and pestles at home but have never used them. Some recounted how their grandmothers would tumbuk pastes and cook up wonderful meals for them in the past, but they seldom have the time to cook now, much less to tumbuk the pastes. It seems that if this trend were to continue, the mortar and pestle would be ‘extinct’ one day.
Nowadays, the food processor has taken over the place of the mortar and pestle at home. It is more convenient, faster, and provides multiple uses in one machine, such as extracting juices, grinding meats, kneading dough, and even stuffing sausages. All these features help in optimizing the small space that we have in our kitchens. In addition, as most people are working, there is a lack of time for lengthy preparations. This tedious task is replaced by ready-made spices and pastes which offer more convenience.
The purists would argue that the spices / pastes produced with food processors would not be as good as those produced traditionally. I would not say that they are not as good, but I would say that they are different. ‘Good’ suggests a certain standard that has to be met and very frequently this standard is derived subjectively. It depends on one’s innate preferences, family traditions, societal norms, culture, industrial practices, etc. For example, would you eat tofu that has turned green and emits a foul stench? Well, not for me! But, in Taiwan this same tofu is deep fried and served with chili sauce and considered a delicacy. So, which is good and which is bad? None, there are just differences in food preferences. Similarly, the spices/pastes produced using modern technology are just different.
There is nothing wrong with being different. What is important is the meaning of the food to the eater. We eat food not so much for taste than for meanings that are embodied in it. We need sustenance, sustenance beyond just physical nutrition, sustenance to satisfy those insistent hungers that we have – for love, warmth, security ….
I remember my early university days when I was in the States. Sometimes, when I was really homesick, I would cook an instant noodle, adding lots of chili to it. Never mind that it was different from what it was actually like at home, it was the memories evoked from smelling, tasting, and swallowing it which reminds me of my homeland, my home and my loved ones that were important. It was the emotions that were accompanying these memories that I was craving for, and these were the meanings associated with the instant noodles.
Try this out for yourself: Look at the picture below and ask yourself - What is it saying to you?
Like to most people, it is probably saying to you: Have a break (or something related to relaxing). This is the meaning we associate with Kit Kat. Other brands of chocolate e.g. Cadbury or Hersheys would not be saying the same thing.
We always remember the food that is cooked by our mothers or grandmothers. It may not be up to standard. In other words – it may not be good. Does it matter? We still like it because it is associated with the love showered by them. Along the same vein, does it matter if they used a food processor or a mortar and pestle to prepare the meal? The feelings of love, warmth and security would not diminish a bit. At the end of the day, it is the memories and emotions attached to the food that matters. Isn’t it?
History is always evolving, and so is food. How can one stop the change? It is part of life. With the trend of less and less people using the mortar and pestle, these tools may finally find a permanent home in the museum or as a super paperweight on our writing desk. The future of the mortar and pestle seems bleak.
The workshop culminated in tasting some dishes that were prepared from the pastes made during the demonstration. The workshop was quite informative and the atmosphere relaxed as participants interacted spontaneously with the friendly and knowledgeable instructor. It was especially rewarding for me as I actually met Chubby Hubby and the mysterious S whom he frequently mentions in his posts. To me, he is the icon of food blogosphere and it was an honor to shake his hand. It was a memorable evening.
As I was leaving, I thought: Years from now, the grandchildren of these participants might be recounting how their grandmothers would pulverize pastes in food processors and whip up wonderful meals for them, and smiling as the fond memories stir up warm, reassuring emotions in them.
If you are interested in the other programs or workshops in the Food and Culture series or the events lined up for the Singapore Food Festival, visit this site: http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/
The Museum also has an interesting exhibition called “A Banquet In Stone” where delicacies such as “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” are created using rare stones which closely resemble real food. Check it out!
15 comments:
Hi Mr Sin, I'm Tsali. I read all your posts and the one that I'm really touched and agreed is on the "Fate of The Mortar and Pestle". These kitchen utensils are not new to me as in every Indonesian households, everyone does own pestle and mortar. I've been "playing" with them since i was 8 years old. It's very important as it is used to pound different types of spices before it is cooked.
About the part about you cooking instant noodles and the feeling of missing your homeland is exactly what I'm feeling right now. Whenever I go back to Indonesia for holiday, I would prefer to eat home-cooked meal than eat outside food. it is because i miss the feeling of eating together with my loved ones such as my parents and my sibling.
sometimes when i do feel homesick, i would go to the indonesian restaurant and eat. however, to me, no matter how nice the food is, is nothing to be compared to my mother's cooking, as her cooking is filled with warmth and love and that is the CRAVING AND FEELING that i'm missing. this is the price to pay being a foreigner.=)
Hello Mr Sin.i find the posts "if love like bread" and "fate of the mortar & pestle" most interesting and meaningful. but i find that the Mortar & Pestle had more impact in my life compared to love.
Since young, i've seen my mother using the mortar & pestle to pound spices and dried shrimp. what attracted me was the sound the pestle made when pounding. "tak tak tak tok tok tok".i used to begged my mother to let me try pounding and when i tried, it was actually quite a good experience.
What tickled me was the picture you posted. the traditional kitchen utensil had actually turned into a pen holder!i agree that these utensils had gradually been replaced with electrical blender but they definitely still have their uses.Such as reminiscing the wonderful past.:)
nUR Faezah a7j2
Hi Mr Sin, this posts catch my attention once i finish reading it. The grinder is really an ancient 'machine' pass on from generation to generation. I myself still have it at home. My grandmother gave it to my mother and i hope she pass it to me one day. At the age of 10 i started to notice this grinder when i enter the kitchen one day and i did not know what does this 'machine' used for untill i saw my mum using it to make a paste. I did not know that there is methods to use this grinder. I usually watch my mum use this grinder and she seems so good at it. When i try it out for the first time, all the ingredients seems to jump out of the grinder =) but after a while im able to grind the spices. The grinder is quite heavy as well so it surprise me that this 'heavy machine' can gives a lot of difference to the dish if we use it to make a paste.
In my opinion i agree that the taste of homemade paste is different from the processed but using the grinder takes ones time and energy since it quite heavy. and since both of my parents are working, my mum use blender or processed paste instead. The dish still taste nice because the person who cooks it is from our loved ones so i do not mind having processed paste now.They help actually in that sense. In the end what matter most is who cooks the dish.
Usually the hawker centre food does not taste quite nice maybe because they cook to earn income not for love or enjoy doing it which is why it taste so different compare to our loved ones cooks using the same ingredients.
Hi Mr Sin. I particularly i like this post, " Fate of The Mortar & Pestle".
For me, i don't think i would ever let mortar and pestle to be extinct. Because mortar & pestle brings back alot of wonderful memories for me.
When i was 7 years old, the only thing i remembered when i was in the kitchen, is holding a stone bowl and another long stone,which was beyond my ability to carry it. My Mum use it as a punishment against my bad behavior and make me squat at one corner to pound all the dry shrimps for her. And i always vent my anger on those dry shrimps inside by thumping it as hard as i could.
And i always wonder why everytime ingredients get into this heavy bowl the dish will turn out to be super delicious. And there will be a very different taste as compared to a dish which is prepare using a blender instead of a grinder. And this is the taste of "Home".
This is also the reason why i like homecooked dishes rather than outside dishes. And no matter how many food i eaten, eventually what i misses most is homecooked food. Instead of eating out, i enjoy eating at home more beause there is more warmth.
My Mum always say that the older the mortar and pestle, the more pounding and thumping, the more stronger and delicious the outcome of the dish is. This is also probably one of the differences between homecooked food and outside food. =D
Yan LiHui A7J2
michelle yap said ...
Hi Mr Paul Sin. i am attracted to this post the most as i remember how my dad and grandma use this equipment when they are cooking. When i was younger, i was very fascinated by this equipment. I would bug my grandma or my dad to let me try using but they often refuse. When they finally relented, i was overjoyed. I remember thinking that pestle was very heavy but i enjoyed using it nonetheless.
I agree that commercially made pastes taste different from pastes made at home. To me, home made paste tastes much better than commercially paste as the taste of love can never be replicated in commercially made paste. The same goes for home cooked food. They will always taste the best as there is the added ingredient of love.
Hi Mr. Sin, I read your post on 'Fate of the Mortar & Pestle' and something that caught my attention was the picture of the mortar and pestle that you posted. It reminds me of the past when I used the mortar and pestle to help my grandmother grind the chilies for sauces or curries. Having such experience before, I believe that it requires one to put in effort and patience in order to get the spices grinded well. However, due to the advanced technology, the chances of seeing people using the mortar and pestle now have diminished. Instead, electric appliances like grinders or blenders have replaced them for their convenience. That is also why nowadays, I seldom see my grandmother uses the mortar and pestle anymore. It’s such a pity to see these traditional objects being abandoned and disused. Nevertheless, I agree that the taste of the food does not fluctuate just because it has been processed differently. It’s the sincerity that matters.
Jolene Lim A7J2
Hi Mr Sin, this is Lee Juen from A7J1. After reading all the posts that you have put up, i must say the one which i find the most interesting is "Fate of Mortar and Pestle".
I'm attracted to this post because i also have a Mortar and Pestle at home. This is because my grandma would often use the Mortar and the Pestle to make the chilli sauce for her traditional Hainanese Chicken rice. I can still remember myself offering to help her with the pounding when i was young as i was curious. However, i ended up regreting because it did not seem as easy as how she did it.
Luckily for me, my grandma prefers to pound the chilli sauce rather than to use modern appliances with the same function as she believes that the taste would be different. Because of this, i am able to taste the authentic flavours of the chilli sauce even till now.
Hi Mr. Paul Sin
I decided to comment on this post is because when I saw the picture of the mortar and pestle, it reminds me of a dish made by my grandmother. It is call ‘rempah yang tau foo’. ‘Rempah’ means a combination of spices pounded into a paste with pestle and mortar. It is a spicy dish and I like it ALOT. The ingredients are cheap and it is delicious! (:
Each time she cooks this dish, I would ask her to teach me. When pounding the spices etc, she adds the amount of spices according to her own experiences. So, she doesn’t have a recipe to follow. I really admire her because she is able to remember all the recipes in her mind. I believe this is really through experiences as she has been cooking my meals since I was young. The taste has never change.
Katherine Chua - TJ01
Hello Mr Sin.
When I was scrolling your blog, I got attracted to the “Fate of the Mortar and Pestle” post especially the picture. I find this post is very unique. This is because it is so called a machine used in the olden days. That time they don’t have any food processor like now. It is a very traditional way of pounding and grinding. Some still have it at their homes.
My mum still has the mortal and pestle. Sometimes, my mum used them to grind small amounts of example garlic. It is fun doing it because it has this pounding sound like I called them the elephants walking sound. =)
I love to use them especially when I’m making garlic bread. In my opinion, I found out that using the old fashion way is better than using the food processor. This is due to the texture. The old fashion way, the food is more rough and thicker. As for the food processor, the food will be thinner and smother. The food will be tastier using the mortar and pestle compared to the food processor.
It’s really depended on individual taste bud but I still like the “MORTAR & PESTLE”, more UNIQUE, SPECIAL and TRADITIONAL.
Nur Shahidah
A7J2
Martin Tan Chee Kiat TJ02
This post caught my attention immediately above all the others. It's because i was wondering why there were stationery in the mortar with the pestle. As amusing as it was, i read on. The post definately intrigued me.
The mortar and pestle is, as you written down, an excellent tool for grinding spices and herbs together, in which my mother still uses even with the busy working days. Her hard work towards making food makes it taste better than a processed one.
Different techniques can be applied when pounding and grinding herbs/spices. Some examples would be slow or fast pounding, shearing or not shearing, grinding them for short or long peroids of time. Various use of technique results in various outcome and taste of the substance.
Processors, on the other hand, just cuts up the spices continuously at the same speed,power and technique. It has pretty much very little variation in taste but it is consistent.
In my opinion, i don't think the mortar and pestle will ever be 'extinct' as the usuage of the tool brings out the flavour in spices and herbs more than processors.
It is true that the mortar and pestle are getting replaced by modern appliances. However, there are still many households which still makes use of the mortar and pestle. Many people, maybe the minority, uses the mortar and pestle during weekends to pound spices to cook up a delicious meal for thier family.
There are no shortcuts to making good food. If given the same amount of ingredients and cooked with 2 methods. The processed way may be good, but the traditional way is definitely better.
'Fate of the Mortar and Pestle', this reminds me of my childhood too. At 20 this year, my childhood days are still fresh in my memories. At times, it seemed like all those events just occurred yesterday.
My dad is a chili lover and i seemed to inherit that love for chili from him. Almost every meal I take must come with something spicy and as a result, my poor mum always have to painstakingly prepare home-made chili for us, only to have me finishing 2-3 containers of them within a month.
As a child, I recalled seeing my mum using the mortar and pestle to prepare that home-made chili. The one I had at home was black in color, resembling something made from stone (just like the picture in the post). It was really heavy, at least to a child like me back then. Whenever I saw plates of dried chili, shallot, garlic, dried shrimp, etc on the kitchen table, I just knew my mum was going to prepare chili and I would "intelligently" lay the newspapers on the floor and put the mortar and pestle on it. Then I would sit beside my mum as she threw in the ingredients in a certain sequence (dried shrimp first?) and begin pounding and grinding away. It was hard work which took hours and lots of "hand-power". I would always offer to help and the sense of satisfaction came when my mum praise me for doing a good job.
Throughout the long hours, I would be there talking to my mum about anything under the sun. Although I cannot remember what topics a 5-year-old like me would be talking about, but I certainly remembered the warmth and bond that I shared with my mum at those time.
Nowadays, just like any household, we switched to using the food processor (we threw the mortar and pestle away when we shifted). The food processor certainly uses much less effort and time; it certainly fits into the modern lifestyle of time and energy efficiency. But at the same time, does it weaken family bonds and traditions? In the modern society, we want everything to be done fast and efficiently, but does that made us slaves to our time and work? Sometimes, after weeks of mad rush from work and activities, weeks of not being home for dinner, I asked myself, 'when was the last time i slowed my pace to appreciate things around me?' and ' when was the last time i told the people around me that I really appreciate their care?’ The answers were usually nowhere to be found. In the mad rush to accomplish everything, I have lost track of all those simply but beautiful things in life.
Would there be a day whereby we could find the delicate balance between life's simplicity and luxuries? Would there be a day whereby we would choose to use the mortar and pestle instead of the food processor? Perhaps, the answers are hidden in the deepest site of our hearts, waiting to be discovered.
-serene (yr ex mp student)
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