Why I Haven't Cooked With Black Pepper in Years (article)


 
And I'll keep mine as well. Didn't even get halfway through the article. I like my fresh ground pepper. Not a lot of it, but I definitely like it.
 
And I'll keep mine as well. Didn't even get halfway through the article. I like my fresh ground pepper. Not a lot of it, but I definitely like it.

Ditto. Definitely a personal preference. While a good peppered steak is great, I find my favorite foods for pepper a potatoes and also eggs. <shrug>
 
I like pepper on a lot of things and seeing I'm on a low sodium diet I use pepper more than ever now. I'll be keeping my pepper mill.
 
I'll answer the question posed in the first part of the article. Yes, there are many pepper mills that function perfectly for more than a few weeks. I have several that have worked perfectly for years. I have a Cole & Mason pepper mill that according to Amazon I bought almost exactly four years ago. I use it at least several times a week and have on occasion used it to produce large amounts of ground pepper. I've found if you pop off the top, you can take a Tim Taylor "More Power" approach, attaching a cordless drill to the grinding mechanism and quickly crank out mass quantities of freshly ground pepper. I'll admit, this mill is not cheap and I thought long and hard about the purchase, but four years later I'm very glad I bought it. It's a good quality tool that's worth the price.

The article lost me entirely when I saw the misuse of "begs the question". It's bad enough when regular folks use it improperly, but when I see alleged professional writers using it in place of "raises the question", if really irks me. (Sorry, pet peave.)

This strikes me as one of those "I have to file 500 words and have nothing really interesting to say" articles that pop up all too often.
 
I've been served some pretty bland meals over the years and the only thing that saves them is fresh ground black pepper and maybe some catsup.

Tim
 
Maybe if the author bought a quality mill they wouldn't have issues.

I use a Brass 9" Atlas pepper mill, and a chrome 8" Atlas salt mill.

atlas-peppermill-chefscatalog-Remodelista_3.jpg
 
Those are some nice looking grinders! I've loved my Unicorn Magnum Plus Pepper Mill, but yours has got it beat in the style department by a long shot.
 
Pasta,olive oil,olives,Pecorino Romano cheese, and fresh black pepper! One of my favorite meatless dishes. Also potato soup with black pepper.
 
I like pepper on a lot of things and seeing I'm on a low sodium diet I use pepper more than ever now. I'll be keeping my pepper mill.

I found myself doing the same thing after giving up (adding salt at the table) salt in 1984.

I've driven through the Bonneville Salt Flats, toured the salt mines that named Salzburg, Austria, the sea-salt fields in Mallorca, Spain and others. FWIW, salt is actually a mineral.
 
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Pasta,olive oil,olives,Pecorino Romano cheese, and fresh black pepper! One of my favorite meatless dishes. Also potato soup with black pepper.

Doesn't get much better than that!

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I always add black pepper with beaten eggs before scrambling them.

I don't have a pepper grinder though.

I'm delighted to see that others share my love of fresh ground black pepper with some of the milder foods like eggs and potatoes (potato soup!). Add pea soup to this list also.

Rusty, I recommend you get a pepper mill. You will likely be very pleased with how much it can elevate your enjoyment of black pepper. I've become a "fresh" ground black pepper snob and won't use pre-ground anymore. There is a vast difference.

And additional thanks to those who offered specific quality pepper mills to try. Having basically wasted quite a bit on "quality" (that usually means some money involved) and knowing that my quality (but inexpensive) mill really does have a life-expectancy, I'd sure like to find a long-term successor. Unfortunately, with pepper mills, the hit-and-miss approach is not very successful. Almost all of our attractive mills quickly joined the seldom used group due to either inefficiency, ineffectiveness or break down. So specific brand name and model recommendations fall under the category of "good thing".
 
I'm a big fan of Penzeys California seasoned pepper. It's a mixture of black pepper, red & green bell pepper, granulated garlic & onion. The mixture really gives a great pepper taste with just a little bit different flavor.
I use it on anything that I would put straight black pepper on.
 
Rusty, I recommend you get a pepper mill. You will likely be very pleased with how much it can elevate your enjoyment of black pepper. I've become a "fresh" ground black pepper snob and won't use pre-ground anymore. There is a vast difference.
A place I used to work had a cafeteria that did really good tossed-to-order salads, but some of them, plus the occasional fettuccine alfredo, benefited greatly from the addition of fresh ground black pepper. I bought a very small pepper mill to take to work just for that reason. The packaged stuff they had in the cafeteria was no match for freshly ground. People may have thought me weird but I was eating a lot better than they were.
 
I'm pretty sure the author was using too much black pepper to begin with.
Pammi and I have a combination salt and pepper grinder on our dinner table. Turn it one way, you get ground sea salt, the other pepper! Truly a nice thing!
I even bought a pepper mill just for the kitchen. Nothing expensive, mind you. But it is adjustable. so I can get coarse or fine grind with it.
And like everyone else, I'll keep my pepper mills!!
 
I threw my pepper mill away after it kept clogging up, but I guess I'll have to find another one after seeing this thread.

I used to salt foods a lot at the table, but I found myself using it less and less over the years. I prefer a sprinkling of black pepper on lots of things like cucumbers and tomatoes, and even hamburgers. Nothing wrong with salt, but I eat enough deli meat and sausage to make up the difference.
 

 

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