knight of the pestle
- noun
- Archaic
:
caballero del mortero
- In the busy restaurant, the knight of the pestle ground fresh spices for every dish.
Examples
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The guests praised the knight of the pestle for the complex flavors in their meal.
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The famous knight of the pestle prepared a feast for the king.
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She prided herself on being called the knight of the pestle in her family.
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Have you ever met a knight of the pestle?
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In the busy restaurant, the knight of the pestle ground fresh spices for every dish.
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The guests praised the knight of the pestle for the complex flavors in their meal.
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The famous knight of the pestle prepared a feast for the king.
Synonyms
559
2.3
A professional cook who leads a restaurant or hotel kitchen
Antonyms
How Skilled
Surface Forms
Morphology
knight + of + the + pestle
The components 'knight' (a champion or titular honorific) and 'pestle' (a grinding tool associated with food preparation) give a recoverable metaphorical sense of a 'champion of the pestle' — i.e. someone expert at using a pestle, probably a cook. However, this is a creative/archaic metaphorical formation and the specific identification as a 'highly skilled cook/chef' is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Knight of the pestle may come from a playful image of a kitchen hero: a knight with a big pestle, the tool used to grind spices, standing at a mortar as if it were a sword. That's why the phrase means 'a very skilled cook' who is expert at grinding spices and making fine dishes.