The mortar and tools

In Canarian cooking there is a sound that comes before everything else: that of pounding. The mortar and its pestle are the heart of making mojo, the tool where the sauce takes on body. For making mojo fits into three words —pound, mix, bind—, but between them hides the knowledge of generations. You begin by pounding the garlic with coarse salt —the salt acts as sandpaper and helps break it down— and add the cumin; then in goes the pepper or the chilli (soaked and scraped if dried), or the herbs if the mojo is green, until a paste forms. And finally it is bound, little by little, with the oil and the vinegar, without haste, until the sauce takes on body and shine. The right point of salt, acidity and heat is told by no scales: it is decided by the hand.

Against the blender, the mortar respects the texture and releases the aromas little by little; that is why, though it is slower, it remains the gesture that sets a true mojo apart.