The Microplane Grater: How to be cruel to garlic
Written: May 29 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Handy, easy to use and clean, extremely useful
Cons: Your dishwasher will eventually kill it
The Bottom Line: It turns the drudgery of grating into a fine art, and quickly earns one of those most-used-item positions in your kitchen drawer.
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| ahathaway's Full Review: Microplane 10.75" Coarse Grater |
NOTE: For the record, I'm not sure what the "10.75" refers to in Epinions' title for this item. The actual blade length is 4 7/8", and the width is 2". And the handle isn't that long. Oh well. Also, much of what I have written in my review of the "Microplane 8.5" Grater/Zester" applies to this grater as well, with the differences noted below.
Garlic & Ginger have met their matches:
Once you run a full clove of garlic through this thing, which takes about five seconds, you'll be hooked and will never look back. Its transformation of garlic is borderline miraculous. What emerges is an even and paste-like substance that disperses quickly whether you're adding it to dressing, soups, or sauces. I've even noticed that Microplaned garlic seems to act as an emulsifier, naturally thickening dressings, and it delivers a more powerful flavor in smaller amounts. In short, this is the tool for garlic—I recently bought the highly regarded Zyliss garlic press, and I find myself trying to talk myself into using it more. But then it feels like I'm cheating on my Microplane. It's complicated. We're working it out in counseling.
I've long been annoyed at dealing with ginger. Mincing is a slow process, and those ginger "graters" are utterly worthless. They seem to simply make ginger juice and a tangle of pulpy fibers (maybe that's the point?). The Microplane, on the other hand, produces a fine ginger paste which is marvelous in soups, sauces (particularly vinegar, soy, and garlic sauces), and salad dressings. Again, a little goes a long way. And the ease of grating the ginger means that I'm inclined to cook with it more often.
Cheese:
While it will attack cheese, the teeth are so fine that you're likely to spend longer than you'd like trying to grate a useful amount. The longer, narrower 8 ½" Microplane is better suited for the task.
Zesting:
It will zest anything, anywhere, anytime. Truly. You can throw away though other pointless "zesters" you own. Or maybe save them for carving pumpkins or something.
Cleanup:
This Microplane is dishwasher safe, which is critical, as far as my lazy self is concerned. But I often find that I can simply rinse it off under water (for garlic or ginger) and let it dry.
Durability:
This was one of the first Microplane graters I bought, and it's almost two years old now. Alas, this is its Achilles heel. Maybe two years should be considered a sufficient tour of duty in my house, but I think its time is drawing near—I'm making funeral arrangements for it. The plastic frame around the blade has hundreds of hairline cracks from—I suspect—trips through the dishwasher and its drying cycles. It's still usable at present, but the cracks are getting worse, and I expect it to break apart soon. In fact, I've replaced it with an all metal version, which I would expect to last longer.
This raises another issue though. After two years of use, it's not as sharp as it once was. I've noticed that for ginger I need to grate near the edges, since the center teeth are fairly worn. Needless to say, I don't think it's possible to sharpen these things, not unless you can train mice (or maybe dextrous rats) to sharpen it with tiny wet stones while you sleep. Right. Probably not. Then again, at $14, you can splurge and start all over in two years.
Conclusion:
While I own a small fleet of Microplanes, this one has been the most used and useful. While it's showing its age now, it has lasted well and still represents a good value. This sounds clichéd, which it is, but it is truly one of those items that you'll wonder how you lived without—which means that until you have it, it will be hard to go on living, of course.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ahathaway
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Member: Aaron Hathaway
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Itinerant materialist, movie snob, and snoot, but otherwise a tolerable mammal.
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