You can really connect with your inner cave woman when using a mortar and pestle. Or maybe it will take you back to Baba Yaga, that terrifying witch of childhood fables who flew around in a mortar, using her pestle as a rudder. There's something very primal about this kitchen tool, although you can see that the one I have, above, is pretty civilized. I also have a deeper one made of cement that I use for making papaya salad Thai-style, and a small wooden one I use for crushing herbs. Some people like to use a traditional Mexican molcajete for guacamole, although I prefer squishing the avocado in my hands. And real pesto aficionados always rely on a mortar and pestle. They are available in a wide range of materials, from porcelain to marble. My point is, your kitchen shouldn't be without one. Any time you need to smash or pulverize anything, in smallish quantities, your mortar and pestle will give you greater control than a spice grinder or food processor. Use it to make spice mixes and salt blends, to crush peppercorns, mix compound butters, make a garlic-salt paste, and on and on.

Actually, even Alice Waters says it's a bit ambitious to make a lot of pesto in your mortar and pestle. She offers this compromise: use a food processor to puree the basil leaves then add them to garlic and nuts you've pounded yourself. Below is her more purist recipe...