Ask the Alchemist #332
Level: Novice
Read Time: 5 minutes
Can I use my melanger for anything other than chocolate?
Synchronicity is a lovely thing. This year, the first time in ages, I have a rocking garden going. I have 3 types of corn growing (dent, flint and broom {which is a sorghum, not a corn)), super hot peppers (yep, not the best location but they are getting there), Fordhook Lima beans that I love so much but can’t buy anymore for some commercial finance reason, pumpkins, tobacco (I want to remind myself what curing tobacco smells like since I mention it often enough)....and SO MUCH BASIL. OMG I love pesto. I’m half Italian (both my dad’s parents came from Naples) and grew up eating spaghetti every Sunday, the tomato sauce cooked from scratch in the family’s hammered aluminum pot that belonged to my mother’s grandmother. I’m the 4th generation to use it and it will go to my daughter.
One day I’ll get around to putting a handle on that nub on the lid (I’ve only been saying that for 30 years). Any day now. I wonder if it will change the flavor of what I cook?
Now that I’m older, I’ve broadened my horizons as to what I can both use it for and what I put on my pasta. One of my favorites is radiatore pasta ala pesto. I just love how the shape of the pasta, with all those nooks and crannies loaded with succulent garlic laden pesto.
Pesto Genovese ala Chocolate Alchemy
The key to making it great is using a great pesto. Me being me, that means making it from scratch. But I have an admission to make. I’ve not always loved the pesto I make myself. It always seems to be missing something that I can’t put my finger (or tongue) on. It doesn’t burst with flavor. The flavors seem separate. It isn’t harmonious. It isn’t unctuous.
Again, me being me, that lead me down an internet rabbit hole until I came upon this on Serious Eats. The Best Pesto alla Genovese.
Pesto Genevese is special because you don’t just toss everything in a food processor (like I always did). You crush the garlic and pine nuts together in a mortar and pestle, melding and working the flavors together. You slowly and painstakingly add the fresh basil and olive oil, creating this luscious and unctuous emulsion that showcases and unites all the flavors just so.
But. There is always a but, isn’t there. All my mortar and pestles are small and I have 4 pounds of basil to turn into pesto.
Do you see where this is going?
“Can I use the oh romantic mortar and pestle for making chocolate?”
“No, we have something MUCH better”.
So, YES, there are other things you can use your melanger for.
You can make absolutely, freaking awesome and unctuous Genovese Pesto.
editor’s note: someone needs to flip john’s word a day from unctuous
Pesto Genovese ala Chocolate Alchemy
Ingredients
270 g fresh, clean basil
70 g fresh garlic
100 g pine nuts
135 g grated pecorino or parmigiano cheese
230-300 g olive oil
12 g salt
Directions
Per Serious Eats, you are going to loose about 1/4 - 1/3 of your picked basil to stems so adjust accordingly.
Grind the garlic to a paste in the melanger. I tossed it in whole.
Pro Tip:
I would recommend giving it a rough chop or even pressing it.
2. Add the pine nuts and about 100 ml of olive oil until it is only slightly chunky and a tan paste starts to form.
3. Add basil leaves a handful at a time.
4. Continue until all basil leaves have been crushed to fine bits.
5. Add the cheese and drizzle in olive oil as needed until a fairly smooth, creamy, emulsified sauce forms.
The original Serious Eats recipe called for 570 ml of oil. I ended up adding only about half of that, 230 ml. Feel free to add more oil, if desired.
All told, this took me 16 minutes to put together. If you want it super smooth, another 16 minutes would probably do it. I like a bit of texture to my pesto.
I neither confirm or deny the possibility that a few cocoa nibs made it into the pesto before it was done.
Because I am a scientist at heart, I had to put together a control. After the utter breeze it was making it in the melanger, the food processor method turned out to be way more messy and difficult to do. Go figure. As expected, the food processor pesto didn’t quite emulsify. You can see the sheen of oil on the bottom one.
Now, I’ll admit the food processor one is a bit more vibrantly colored. I chalk that up to less oxidation due to less grinding. The taste bares that out. It is hands down less flavorful. The basil taste is muted and the garlic is too sharp and the whole thing is oily. After I was all done and cleaning up I came back to the food processor pesto and noticed it had darkened up a lot where in contact with the air.
At the end of the day, I’m going to take flavor over appearance every time.
So what else can you make in a melanger? I’ve made stone ground mustard, being a stone grinder and all.
Anything you would use a mortar and pestle for, and is not dry, a melanger will do better. Remember, they started out as Indian Wet Grinders where they are used for all manner of batters and such.
What else?
Nut butters
Bay nut ‘chocolate’
Tomato sauce (my daughter does NOT like chunky sauce)
Praline
Gianduja (hazelnut and chocolate)
In short, anything you want to grind down fine can go into a melanger and this time, water is approved and even required!
Raise your hand if you thought I was going to make Pesto Chocolate.
It certainly crossed my mind.
I have made one to take to Scarborough Fair. Raise you hand and call out if you know what went in it.
So get out there and make something fun, #FAFO and let me know what inventive alchemical creation you’ve come up with.
I’m off to make Chicken Pesto Pasta. Buon appetito!
