Tahini
The beliefTahini is assumed to need a stone mill, and anything made at home to end up a dry paste.
The truthGrind roasted sesame for long enough and it releases its own oil. You add nothing.
How to make it
What you need
- 400 g hulled sesame seeds
- 1–2 tablespoons of olive oil, only if needed
- A pinch of salt
How the engine read this list (3 lines)
| 400 g | Hulled sesame seeds | sesame |
| — | Olive oil optional | extra-virgin-olive-oil |
| 0 g | Salt | salt |
An empty weight means that line could not be turned into grams — either the amount is open ("to taste") or the ingredient has no record here. Neither enters the sum as zero; they do not enter it at all.
Toast the sesame in a dry pan over low heat, stirring constantly, for eight to ten minutes. It should go pale gold; seeds that turn brown make bitter tahini.
Spread it on a tray and cool it completely. Warm seeds steam inside the processor, and that steam ruins the texture.
Grind in a strong processor: powder at two minutes, a stiff paste at four, a flowing one at eight. Stop now and then to scrape the sides down.
If the motor heats up, rest it for five minutes. Heat turns tahini bitter, and the wait costs less than a bitter jar.
If it still will not flow at eight minutes, add a spoon of oil, season it and give it one more minute.
The others that work the same way
Hazelnut spread
The truthRoasted hazelnuts, ground long enough, release their own oil and turn to cream on their own. The rest is cocoa and sugar.
Mayonnaise
The truthOne yolk binds 200 ml of oil. The only reason it splits is adding the oil too fast.
Mustard
The truthThe heat is not in the seed: an enzyme creates it when the crushed seed meets water. The temperature of that water decides how fierce it gets.