Crushing, grating, mashing and grinding

Crushing, grating, mashing and grinding

1. Tools that assist the cook in processesthat change the size and texture of ingredients

   • Grater
     • used for grating vegetables. chocolate, cheese and zest from citrus fruit
     • PROS
       • faster than slicing and dicing by hand
       • gives a different texture than using a knife
     • CONS
       • can easily cut your finger/hand
       • very sharp
       • hard to clean because of the small holes
   • Mouli grater
     • used for pureeing food such as vegetables
     • CONS
       • hard to clean all the nooks and crannies
       • can only puree and small amount of food at a time
     • PROS
       • good for pureeing food
       • fast and efficient
       • easy to use for right and left handers
   • Pestle and mortar
     • made from wood, metal, ceramic or stone
       • ceramic and stone models have an unglazed interior to increase the surface area when grinding spices
     • PROS
       • does not absorb any odours
       • good for grounding spices in powder
     • CONS
       • very heavy
   • Potato masher
     • breaks down lumps in foods such as cooked potato
     • PROS
       • breaks down any unwanted lumps
       • easy to clean
     • CONS
       • takes very long if mashing a large amount of food
       • as it uses manual labour, will be vey tiring
   • Potato ricer
     • often used for pureeing potato for gnocchi
     • cooked potato is squeezed through the tiny holes to emerge like softly cooked grains of rice
     • PROS
       • can remove excess water from foods
       • potato is squeezed through very finely
     • CONS
       • can only fit a certain amount of food in the ricer at once
       • hard to clean all the small holes