Can I Make Pesto in the Food Processor? | Kenji's Cooking Show 

It's why he's always been one of my favorites. The science angle is something that initially drew me to cooking as someone who had only really worked in a fast food setting and never really needed to learn how to actually cook. But people like Kenji, and Alton Brown when I was younger were huge in making cooking and recipes from around the world really appealing and interesting to me, while also giving me a good foundation to know why I was doing things, not just telling me to do them and blindly follow along. I like that he always tells you about how something may not be the most authentic, but it's good. Or how you can do an alternative way, because not everyone has the same tools available.

Couldn’t agree more! Well said 👍

@@Carloshache Congrats on being part of the problem.

Yeah, I won't be doing pesto anytime soon in a mortar, my shoulder's too crabby about anything more than a quick grind of something like rosemary. Machines may not make things better than handmade, but easier, and sometimes possible, when the body may want to but just can't...

Agreed. I got about 15 pounds into making it the "right way" and said screw this and threw it in the food processor. I was using some half frozen macadamia nuts though 😅

Sounds like you’re from Big Freezer

That's genius. Thank you.

what an insanely good idea holy shit. might as well do this for any flavorful fresh veg going into a food processor too

This might work. Does it?

I feel like you'd prob want a little longer than 15 minutes, but the logic seems sound

As post-Michelin Marco would say, "Again, it's your choice"

You are after all the Communist Manifesto of exactly how to make your pesto!

Well-said. When I was a bachelor, I had all sorts of time to do crazy stuff like slow fermenting dough, managing a sour dough starter, grinding coffee by hand, using a mortar and pestle, etc. Now with a family and a demanding job: Where's my food processor?

nothing improved ingrediants like POUNDING them in a motor and pestle

lol That reminds me: so Indian cooking tech has a category of electric grinder that uses stone wheels in a stone bowl. They are a bit pricey for me, but I think I see the point now.

For some reason I’d rather put in the work with the mortar instead of washing my food processor. It’s slower, but I hate washing and drying that thing

I like it. It's a good mix between the two pathways and I think it would certainly be faster and easier than just using a mortar and pestle the entire way

@@Android480 If you use an immersion blender in a tall and narrow beaker, the only clean up you'll have to do is to add some warm water with a drop of soap afterwards, run the blender in it for 5 seconds, and you're done

Sold my mortar and pestle as soon as my arthritis said ha ha just try this again.

I’m gonna tell my kids this is beat poetry

I am Italian and I use the food processor 😂 it’s still better than store bought! 😂

i was wondering, is there some compromise people use if they dont have a mortar and pestle, like a little bit of food processor chopping, then you rub it on the inside of a bowl with a wooden spoon? or put chopped basil on a cutting board and crush it with the bottom of a bowl?

@@user-zr9hu3tf1ysadly I don’t think those suggestions sound like they’ll do what a mortar and pestle will do, but by all means give it a go. A decently sized mortar and pestle can be had quite cheap from Indian or South American grocery stores if you have any of them nearby.

Maybe he's a climber

4 x 8 wok toss. 3 x 12 pestle and mortar. 5 x 5 cast iron pan oven removal.

maybe he makes a lot of pesto

??? Are they

His hands and forearms are usually pretty strong from day-to-day activity. His biceps look like they’ve had some work recently however. Hard to miss when you’ve been watching him as long and frequently as I have 😂

I thought the same. Process to break down the leaves & pine nuts, xfer to the P&M, Godzilla the containers, then drizzle in the oil.

They do make something similar, for things like making fresh masa, but the price for a home cook is unreasonable.

They do make electric stone grinders

THIS

It's a standard thing some immersion blenders come with.

Came to ask the same question.

Look for black granite

Sounds like a very inexpensive and easy experiment you could run yourself! But since you asked, Ethan Chlebowski did just that about 1.5 years ago. The video is titled "Are San Marzano tomatoes actually worth it?".

Blending olive oil at high speed will cause it to become bitter. Because pesto uses the pungent ingredient garlic (often without its bitter germ removed) and very aromatic basil, I suspect these mask the changes done to olive oil in that application.

Has to do with aeration/ the stability of the emulsion. Olive oil is bitter by default, but when whipping it up significantly as is the case in a mayonnaise, you are exposing more of the molecules to air and it brings out the bitterness more. In the case of pesto you are only creating a weak emulsion and not really whipping the olive oil all that much, so the bitterness is subdued and your taste buds can't perceive it as much.