Years ago, when I was on the opening team of Olive’s NYC, I was introduced to the rotary cheese grater and its possibilities. The genius of freezing blue cheese and then grating a shower of it over a salad sparked endless ideas. My first trial was to put foie gras in it and shower it over steak carpaccio, back in 2000. Over the years since, we have grated everything from avocado to brie cheese to smoked nuts. But over time, the grater fell out of fashion and we transitioned to the more multi-functional microplane rasp. What is tough about the microplane is that when we are grating frozen products, our hands warm and melt them. I finally broke down and went back to what worked best. I bought a Zyliss Classic Rotary Cheese Grater for the doughnut shop. Okay, to be honest, Aki bought one for the house and I stole it for the shop. I loaded pieces of our nut and white chocolate butter into the grater and turned the handle. What had been a painstaking process became fast and efficient. I was able to more easily direct where the grated shavings went and better shower delicious flavors onto my doughnuts. I am thrilled to have this tool back in our kitchen and I am looking forward to exploring what else we can grate.
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