Conference turris::cooks

  They do work really well -- the right tool for the job. They're also
  perfect for pounding chicken breast real thin for Chicken Kiev. You
  might be able to find one in a "yuppie" kitchen store, like Crate &
  Barrel, Williams Sonoma, etc. Or maybe one of the department stores
  would have them (Lechmere, Jordan Marsh, Bloomingdale's, etc). They're
  made of stainless steel, and come in assorted weights. When in doubt
  about which weight to choose, heft one in your hand, and pick one that
  feels a little too heavy. That way, gravity will do the work for you,
  not your muscles.

    We always use a cast iron frying pan to flatten out our veal!  :-)
    Same idea as .0 I guess!
    
    Cara
    

    Larry,
    
    I think I saw one in the Kitchen Store in the Auburn Mall. Or was it
    the Cook Inn in Shopper's World?  
    
    Oh well, there's a couple of places to look.
    
    Martha

Put the meat into a "freezer" quality food storage bag, then pound it with 
anything that's heavy and handy.  This eliminates the mess of cleanup.  If you
use a gallon zip lock, you can usually do all the meat at once, and then add
the marinade or flour to the bag and toss.  This is especially good for chicken
as you won't get "bits o' salmonella" flying about if you get carried away.

Jeff Smith recommends using 8 mil plastic sheeting (but he keeps calling it
8 millimeter which would be about 1/3" thick...8 mil is 8/1000" thick) and a
2x4 for the pounder.  The side of a heavy cleaver works well, too, if you're
careful.

    I always use my rolling pin...can't be bothered spending more money
    and then trying to find a place to put awkwardly shaped tools in
    an already crowded kitchen.
    
    Judy
    

    i hear that the hardware stores has mallets that are great.  julia
    child uses it and even though she is a monster the mallet pounded her
    veal to paper thin pieces in a matter of seconds.  i bet these would be
    cheaper too.
    
    carlajeanne (who is wondering why she hasn't bought one herself if they
    are so nice) :)                               
    

    Anything FLAT and HEAVY will do.  I've pounded meat all my life and
    never had any special tool for it... a small cast irom skillet works
    like a charm, a pestle is what my mother always used for breaded veal
    and pork, a rolling pin works like majic too. 

  It's not like these pounder tools are all that expensive. I don't know
  what thay cost around here, but we got ours in France for the gigantic
  sum of $3.00 (and it's a 2kg model). Not many kitchen items are that
  cheap. And they do work considerably better than a skillet or a
  cleaver (unless maybe you have a four-pound cleaver). A mallet would
  probably be about as effective, though.

If you  have  trouble  finding one, I saw one the other day in the Community
Kitchens catalog.

- Brad

    I use an 18-inch chunk of carefully selected scrap two by four and a
    square of heavy plastic left over from a rug we purchased.
    
    The two by four can be used narrow side or wide side down, and gripped
    at the end or in the middle depending on how much force you want. Works
    great.
    
    --Jim

    
    The Kitchen at Burlington Mall has them.  $12.95.
    
    Diane
    

  $12.95???!!!! I take it back -- use a 2x4!

    I'll second the 2 x 4 method. It works great when I make Chicken
    Marsela.
    
    Jim

    	This reminds me of an article I read in Reader's Digest too
    many years ago. The author ( an ex-cop ) used a blackjack to
    tenderize his steak.

    
    Well, I never did ending up buying one of these.  As was suggested
    I tried using a 2 x 4 and it works great.  Thanks for the suggestion.
    
    - Larry