You do the wrong pesto – try this for a creamier, greener sauce

After the fourth of July when I filled it hot dogs and flame hamburgersI turn to what I consider to be a true glory of summer: Pesto season. I grow a whole basil bed, including genovese, lemon, Thai and less known varieties, such as purple ruffles, just to keep up with my habit. Pesto goes almost everything in my kitchen at the top of the summer, so they just bounce with a single or sieve here: grilled vegetables, charred chicken thighs, pasta, pizza, sandwiches and fried eggs. And while I love how quickly I can spoil an item in a food processor, I learned that the toughest, most delicious, most sauce-like Pesto is the easiest to achieve with mortar and dagger content.

It's not just that I'm expensive about tradition. This is the best technique eaten by serious culinary director Daniel Gritzer Pesto Alla Genovese RecipeOr

What exactly is Pesto?

The core of the Pesto is a raw emulsified sauce, which is made by crushing fresh basil, pine nuts, cheese and olive oil with a smooth spoon. The most famous version, Pesto Alla Genovese, comes from Ligurian Genoa, Italy. Intensively aromatic, deep herbal and lively green. The great pesto must be smooth and creamy, not with an oil pool, chopped basil; It should be completely integrated, not like the individual ingredients that have been collected; And you have to stick to the dough like a proper sauce and don't fall into the stains.

The name Pesto itself comes from the Italian Pestare, that is, Mash or Crush, which is exactly what the mortar and the dugger designs. Even the word pestle has the same root. The food processor, on the other hand, is the pieces and the little things that fundamentally change both the texture and the taste.

Demolition of test results

In order to see how much the tool matters, Daniel tested both methods side by side, the same ingredients, the same proportions and the same process. Daniel observed the striking differences that go far beyond aesthetics. The methods affect texture, taste, and how much sauce fulfills the food. Here's what Daniel found:

More fragile texture: Pesto emulsified quality, thickened, coherent textured, more thin mayonnaise or creamy sauce made in the mortar and dormant, not like a broken sauce at all. He bathed each dough when he was thrown with dough and was much smoother, not pebble. In contrast, the food processor version has fine, granular pieces that insisted on the glitter instead of flowing as the sauce.

Deeper taste: Covering with a moving device releases essential oils from basil, garlic and pine seeds, which are struggled by food processing blades for its imitation. The flavors are mixed in such a way that they feel completely integrated and coherent.

Better color retention: If you are slowly working in olive oil by hand in the mortar and dormant content, avoid colorful, struck heat and micro-show introduced by a food-processing whirling blade. The mortar theorem had a fresh pea-green shade, while the food processor version was slightly blunt.

The Pesto Food Processor had a good taste and came together in a minute. But the hand -made version of the marble mortar and the wooden spices were in a different championship: smoother texture, livelier taste and fully emulsified, luxury, the processor version simply failed.

What mortar and mortar should be used?

At home, I use a Molcajete, a traditional Mexican mortar carved from volcanic stone, donated to my husband's father after visiting the Oaxaca family. It has a heavier and coarse texture than the smooth marble mortar recommended by Daniel, but still does the job nicely. The coarse surface promotes the grasp and degradation of basil leaves, garlic and pine seeds with efficiency.

Nevertheless, you don't need a family heritage to make an excellent Pesto. Daniel tested many mortar from Thai granite to smooth ceramic and classic Ligurian marble style. The most important selection of Pesto is the traditional marble mortar, which is accompanied by a rounded wooden mortar: smooth enough not to break the fine basil leaves, but it is muscular enough to make ingredients a creamy emulsion. Just make sure that yours is wide enough to keep the ingredients comfortably and stable so as not to fluctuate while grinding.

THE Great mortar and mortar holder You don't have to be expensive and you won't sit idle. I use mine, from garlic aioli to fresh curry pastes, romesco, guacamole, muhamma and even spice. It is functional, versatile and probably the most beautiful equipment on the kitchen lamp.

Simple steps of making a pesto and a dormant

Creating Pesto by hand requires more efforts than throwing everything in the food processor, but this is a method that provides much better results. This is how to do it:

1. Start with garlic and pine seeds. Discard them into a rough paste with the mortar and the dorm holder. This forms the tasteful basis of the sauce.

2. Add the basil gradually. Work on a small handful at a time, the pinch with coarse salt. The salt acts as a natural abrasive and helps to break down the leaves. Use a circular grinding movement and gentle fucking to reduce the basil to a bright green pasta.

3. Let the basil moisture help. Do not worry about the full drying of the leaves. The small amount of water that sticks to the simply washed basil can actually help to build the emulsion.

4. Insert the cheese. Stir in grated matured cheese like Parmigiano regiano (or pecorino, if you like) until completely combined.

5. Finish with olive oil. Add a little bit at once and work with the lever to maintain the creamy, coherent texture.

This is not a five-second centrifugation in the mini-prese, but the result is a real sauce, not a piece of dressing. Pesto sticks to the dough like silk and can leak into grilled vegetables.

Why is it worth the work

If you are in a rush, use the food processor. But if you swim in basil, you need to do 10 extra minutes with a slower path with mortar and dormant content. Finally, it will be with a basil dip, which is smoother, richer and more vibrant in every way. The dough (and your summer) thanks.