FinaMill - next new cooking toy/tool?

[jeffshoaf]

Stumbled across this newish item today - looks interesting:

https://www.finamill.com/

Anybody have one?

[Syzygies]

I'm unlikely to experiment with the FinaMill, because I don't want to lock into someone else's system for storing spices. This is something I've thought long and hard about. My first recollection of school was teaching my classmates to play Simon Says backwards, and the student teacher leaving in tears. So I don't take direction well.

Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill -"Skerton Pro"Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill -"Skerton Pro"

Recently, our ancient, inexpensive "Pavoni" grinder started to fail. All it really needed was a good cleaning.

This however prompted me to buy the new edition of the Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill. Various people had figured out you really want to run this with a cordless drill/driver, so the new design features a handle that slips onto a hexagon stem that's drill/driver ready.

I was never before able to grind spices as finely as one can buy them pre-ground. Now, the spice I grind this way are so fine and fluffy that they're actually hard to pinch. They squirrel out of the way. Not sure how I feel about this. One could back off on the grind.

Peppermate Traditional Pepper Mill

For general use we have a number of colors of the Peppermate. It was billed to me as a "cook's" pepper mill: It doesn't make a waiter's impression like the ornamental pepper mills many people get as wedding gifts, but it can grind a teaspoon at a time like no one's business. I first saw these taking Italian cooking classes with Giuliano Bugiali in his New York apartment, long ago. (He has passed.)

The one pepper that is a challenge to grind is Sichuan pepper. Two passes at different settings with the Hario does a wonderful job, I'll cache a few weeks worth at a time.

Good Sichuan pepper can be hard to find. Back when the real thing was contraband in the US, I saw a worker at a Flushing, Queens Sichuan restaurant open a cabinet at the front of the store, housing a 50 lb bag. Their Sichuan pepper clearly rocked, as the meal was already reminding us. I approached the worker with an outstretched twenty dollar bill, only to have the woman manager tackle me. This was their livelihood at stake.

So if I claim this is the best Sichuan pepper I have ever found, I hope my recommendation will be taken seriously:

Sichuan Tribute Pepper (Mala Market)

One can't go wrong with anything they sell. Their best Pixian chili bean paste, best soy sauce, and best vinegar are each transformative. I buy all of their chilis.

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Syzygies

[braindoc]

On 4/10/2021 at 3:09 PM, Syzygies said:

 

Sichuan Tribute Pepper (Mala Market)

One can't go wrong with anything they sell. Their best Pixian chili bean paste, best soy sauce, and best vinegar are each transformative. I buy all of their chilis.

 

Mouthwatering products.  

Sorry for going off-topic but . . .   I was hoping Mala might have a replacement for something that has been gone from the local shelves and Amazon for at least a year - 
Lan Chi chili paste with garlic.  This is very thick, not like chili garlic sauce or sambal oelek.  I just ordered a jar of Dynasty Thai chili garlic paste, so I’ll see how that compares.  Syzygies, do you have any recommendations?

Thanks, and sorry again jeffshoaf for hijacking the thread.

 

[tony b]

Here's a Plan B if you aren't happy with the Dynasty:

AmazonSmile : Huey Fong Chili Garlic Sauce 18 Oz : Hot Sauces : Grocery & Gourmet Food

[Syzygies]

5 hours ago, braindoc said:

Lan Chi chili paste with garlic.  This is very thick, not like chili garlic sauce or sambal oelek.  I just ordered a jar of Dynasty Thai chili garlic paste, so I’ll see how that compares.  Syzygies, do you have any recommendations?

Not exactly what you asked for, but a good sauce one can buy, a spectacular sauce one can make:

Roasted Chilli Paste – Nahm Prik Pao

The recipe is by my Thai cooking teacher, now retired. I took every weeklong intensive she taught in Oakland, and traveled for a month in Thailand on one of her food tours. I even repeated one of her weeklong intensives: several people dropped out, and she invited me out of fear that without another set of fast hands the classes would go too deep into the evenings. She's very direct: Introducing me to everyone, she explained that I would be leaving if one absentee showed up, as the woman in question found me an acquired taste. Somehow this made liking me a matter of pride; I got along famously with this group.

The recipe isn't as hard as it looks, and the paste is astounding.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Syzygies

[braindoc]

Thanks to you both.

I have a jar of the Huy Fong.  It is fine for when we want more of a sauce, but is not a paste like the Lan Chi.

I’ve downloaded the recipe for future use.

[jeffshoaf]

I ordered the finamill a while back and have put it to use. I got a bundle with 3 pods and I'm using them for my most used items - salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. While I had hoped it would be a big more powerful (it occasionally sounds like it's in pain as it sold down while grinding), I'm liking it.

I've been using manual grinders that require two hands for salt and pepper and it was a struggle keeping them clean while applying and turning meat over to get all sides prepped; that struggle has gone away now since i can use one hand to handle the food and one to handle the finamill. The relatively long grip and smooth grip is also easier to clean than my old grinders.

 They're working on a rechargable one but i haven't found an ETA for it or whether it will be more powerful than the current unit that's powered by 3 AA cells.