Share pics of your pepper mill!

While owning a pepper mill does not a foodie make, the lack of one certaintly causes me to question one’s taste. I often wonder why more restaurants don’t keep a small mill on each table (well I intend to answer my own question – read on!)

What could be simpler to elevate one’s cuisine than throwing out the nasty preground stuff and cranking out the fresh cracked?

I grew up in a house with an ugly little pepper shaker, I used it a couple of times, and than ignored it. I don’t really remember pepper again until I was an adult at a “fine” restaurant. The salad was tossed tableside, and after plating, the server wielded an enormous pepper mill. The grinds were large and luscious and the flavor popped in my mouth. Aha! Now I knew what the fuss was all about. I married my dining companion and years later my family has to endear that long uncomfortable moment when our waiter utters, “say when … sir … SIR?”

You’d think from my musings that I use a lot of pepper, but you’d be wrong. I only use enough pepper for each dish. I’m proud, though of my teenage (no strike that) young-adult daughter who puts the fresh ground stuff on everything, even, I’ve heard, Fruit Loops. Though, of course, she salts her food generously before tasting it, so maybe she’s got some more growing up to do.

Pepper is almost as essential to food as its more popular cousin salt. I’ve read countless times that when a chef adjusts the seasonings, he isn’t calibrating the level of the smoked paprika or assessing the quantity of nutmeg (a whole nother grinding subject!), but deciding, solely, whether to add more S&P. I don’t buy it myself, though I’m sure there are those who will argue the definition of seasonings. When I taste a near complete dish, I don’t limit myself, yet that optional and optimal final toss of salt and a smart twist of the old grinder are what can set apart the pro from the proletariat.

Two pepper grinders currently reside in my kitchen within easy reach. One set to coarse grind, mostly for steaks and salads. The other is set to a finer grind for most other uses.



The battered fellow on the left, the elder at the table, is set to merely crack the peppercorns – releasing the essential oils and adding a textural component to the dish. Manufactured by Olde Thompson right here in the good ol’ USA, and stolen by me from a family seafood restaurant. Too further add to the shameful act, I hid the implement in the baby’s diaper bag. I may have been over-served. (That’s why restaurants don’t leave the pepper mill or have pepper mills so large that they are difficult to conceal!)

The big guy’s partner in crime is a more eccentric affair set to produce dust of pepper essence. It is a treasured gift from Mrs. Ramon and I particularly like the exposed gear works. It can be a bit cumbersome to use, and is truly a pain to fill, yet it will always grace my table. Its manufacturer is unknown, but at least its origins are honorable.

Someday I hope to own a third mill (hint hint) to keep in my car next to the containers of fleur de sel and crushed red pepper. Pepper grinders make great gifts. They can be quite creative and you might be thought of fondly with each use. You can use the opportunity to splurge on some “gourmet” peppercorns to fill it, saving the remainder for your own use. At least if the gifted allows the mill to languish, you can be sure they will bring it out when you dine in their home. This will aid you in choking down their bland victuals.

Important names in a search of the history of pepper included Pliny the Elder, Alaric the Visigoth, Vasco de Gama, and Elihu Yale. It is thought that black pepper originated in the Western Ghats of Kerala State, India, due to the many varieties found there. Wars have been fought over this berry. In cartoons, pepper makes people sneeze.

Please share photos of your friend the pepper mill. Share your stories, and celebrate life, if necessary, one grind at a time.

-ramon

Ps: Examining the photo, I now note the dented salt cellar, also stolen, from some long defunct gyro joint. The road to redemption is long …

I hate to say it but my pepper mill was the "but wait-- there's more!" free gift with an order of Omaha Steaks I got about 15 or more years ago. It works, adequately, sorta. I have tried a couple of times to replace it, going to Sur La Table or somewhere to look over candidates. Somehow I never manage to pull the trigger. I'll be interested if anyone has one they actually, genuinely love. That I don't have to steal from Red Lobster.

Mine, and indeed bought from The Spice House. Don't have a love, hate, or love/hate relationship with it, although just last night I actually had to use pliers to get the top off so I could refill it -- and I believe this is the model Cook's Illustrated despised in a review shortly after I bought it because it can be so awkward and imprecise. As the kind of cook who doesn't measure so much as look and smell and taste, I can deal with (and even appreciate) a certain level of imprecision. But if I take to take out the pliers again, it's probably on the way out.

For reasons both sinful and romantic I love my pepper mills. If I had none, though, I'd buy the one I've frequently seen Ming Tsai wield expertly one handed, branded (I believe) by Chef'n. They appear easy to fill.

There are certaintly a multitude of variations. I remember being in one dark restaurant that had a battery powered pepper mill / flashlight combo. I resisted the urge to mug the waitress.

-ramon

Ramon wrote:Someday I hope to own a third mill (hint hint) to keep in my car next to the containers of fleur de sel and crushed red pepper.

Is that your emergency spice kit? I've always wanted to create one. Some maldon salt, a mini peppermill with good pepper in it, some crushed red pepper, some lemon juice, etc etc. Something about the size of a first aid kit.

My peppermill is a Tom David Magnum/Unicorn. It's utterly fantastic. It's expensive, but it's incredibly easy to adjust grind size and refill. And it is faster than any peppermill I've ever seen.

I just love it.

I use the OXO spice grinders I originally received in the "stinky set" that was filled with onion and garlic. I have one filled with pepper and the other with cumin. They do a great job of grinding, you can of course adjust it, it's easy to fill, and the lid has little measuring lines. Now they have specific salt and pepper grinders, but I'm sure they're the same as what I already have.

Ramon:

Thanks for posting on this topic: an excellent idea and a fine post as well. To nitpick, however, I must add that I disagree a little with the wording of the following phrase:

Ramon wrote:Pepper is almost as essential to food as its more popular cousin salt. I’ve read countless times that when a chef adjusts the seasonings, he isn’t calibrating the level of the smoked paprika or assessing the quantity of nutmeg (a whole nother grinding subject!), but deciding, solely, whether to add more S&P.

There are for me many dishes where I find myself over the course of the cooking process repeatedly checking and adjusting the amount of one or another ‘seasoning’ other than salt and pepper, including such things as paprika, Spanish pimentón, ground peperoncini, cumin, cinnamon and, indeed, also and even especially, nutmeg (which is used quite extensively in the Italian kitchen). So, while I certainly agree with you that for the most, ‘adjusting seasoning’ is shorthand for ‘adjusting levels of salt and pepper’, I just feel the need to call attention to the fact that the ‘adjustment’ often can and should involve the handling of other seasonings.

***

Pepper, specifically piper nigrum,* is a very prominent ingredient in Italian cooking, finding its way into even more dishes than parsley, which is proverbially said to be in everything but actually doesn’t show up in any sweets, at least that I know of. Pepper, on the other hand, does show up in a number of Italian sweet preparations, as well as almost everything else. And from a regional standpoint, the use of pepper is especially prominent in the cooking of Lazio, I believe. This is reflected in my own family’s use of the spice and I seem to stand in a direct line of inheritance, from my grandfather to my father to me, of a powerful propensity to ‘pepperise’ (just take a look at the pictures I’ve posted of my bowls of pasta or soup).

For me there are four basic ways that I use pepper: 1) whole grains, 2) cracked grains/very coarse grind, 3) medium coarse grind, 4) fine grind, and I therefore need three devices on hand to produce the three different grades of non-whole pepper. Ecco:



In the back of the photo stands the noble Turkish coffee mill, which I use for producing finely ground pepper and which remains for the most part in the kitchen. I should note that this is the model that Mr. Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, popularised back in the 1980’s (the only abiding positive memory of him for me). In the foreground to the left is the combination salt-shaker / pepper mill which we have on the dinner table. The milling action is set for a medium coarse grind. Finally for pepper grains that are just cracked or only very coarsely ground, I use the old mortar and pestle.

Bon pro’,
Antonius

* I also use white pepper with some frequency and it is the preferred pepper in many of the German, Belgian and French dishes we make.

Antonius' mention of pepper in sweets reminds me of two pepper-flavored holiday sweet treats I make a point of having sometime during each holiday season.

One is Swedish Bakery's traditional Swedish coffee cake, not a holiday thing specifically except that I don't usually find myself there except during the holidays. The flavor of cardomom and real, peppery pepper is surprising, but once you're used to it, coffee cake just doesn't seem the same if it's one-dimensionally sweet in the American bakery fashion.

The other is pfeffernüsse, German pepper nuts, the hard little cookie that's a traditional snack in the Kansas Mennonite communities one side of my family traces back to. Pfeffernüsse come in a variety of recipes these days, and commercially they're usually softened and sweetened (often dusted with sugar) to match American ideas of what a cookie should be, but traditionally they were meant to be hard so that you could fill your shirt pockets with them and nosh in the field as you worked. I make two varieties each Christmas season, one the very old-fashioned recipe with molasses, pepper and anise oil, another (which I dye pink) a lighter, peppermint-oil-flavored German-American version. Here's the recipe for the peppery kind, which are aging in my fridge right now awaiting baking this week (though I cut it in half; this really is a farmhouse quantity):

Dark Spicy Pfeffernüsse

1 C vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1 C water
3 C white sugar
3 C brown sugar
7-8 C flour
1/4 C molasses
1/4 C corn syrup
1 tsp each ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine ground black pepper
1/2 tsp anise oil

In mixer, blend sugar and shortening. Then add eggs, water, all the spices and mix until well blended. Place in large bowl and mix in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Place dough in the refrigerator for several days to blend flavors. Roll out dough into ropes about as thick as a thumb and cut into pieces an inch long. Bake about 15 minutes at 350; let cool and harden before eating.

I used to dye these green to go with the pink ones, but too many people couldn't get over their resemblance to dog biscuits. Au naturel seems to go over better.

Nice thread. I love my pepper mill.



I do not know the brand, but I found it at Edward Don outlet and it was ridiculously expensive.

Here are the reasons why this is one of my most prized kitchen gadgets:

1) It's small, but not too small. It holds enough peppercorns for regular use, but if i need to quickly empty it and give it a quick clean to ground up some cumin or something, it's a very quick job.

2) It has a ceramic grinding blade which has little or no need for sharpening (just don't drop it).

3) It has an ultra-sensitive dial on the bottom for controlling the coarseness of the grind.

4) It's tri-lingual (see below):



Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:4) It's tri-lingual (see below):



l

Now I'm jealous!



A

Ah, a T&G Woodwareproduct, with "CrushGrindinside." Very fine, indeed. It beats a Peugeot any day.

Michael, excellent choice.

Antonius wrote:In the back of the photo stands the noble Turkish coffee mill, which I use for producing finely ground pepper and which remains for the most part in the kitchen.

My primary kitchem pepper mill looks almost identical to your Turkish coffee mill. Except I got it in Greece, and the vendor would undoubtedly become apoplectic to hear it described as "Turkish."

Ramon,

My pepper mill of choice is Perfex. Aluminum body, steel mechanism, fully adjustable. Mildly expensive, I paid $50 10-12 years ago, maybe longer, but it still works perfectly.

Another absolutely essential pepper/spice item is a coffee grinder, which makes short work of large amounts for BBQ rubs, sauces etc. Also, in the last few years, I tend to have small bowls of black pepper/white pepper/kosher salt/sea salt, red pepper and my spice combo of the moment out on the counter. Add the occasional use of a mortar and pestle and that's my Pepper grinding roundup.



Interesting thread, and a nice story how you 'aquired' your pepper grinders.

Enjoy,
Gary

Ramon wrote:If I had none, though, I'd buy the one I've frequently seen Ming Tsai wield expertly one handed, branded (I believe) by Chef'n. They appear easy to fill.

This pepper mill is easy to fill only if you purchase their branded peppercorns as well. Otherwise, the grinding action of this is highly erratic. I've had two of these mills (sea salt, pepper) for two years and prefer to use a cheap steel grinder from LTD commodities.

Flip

Strange, it appears my pepper mill is discontinued. Mine is from Wm. Bounds and it looks like this except mine has a chrome grind selector under the cap that I can switch between coarse, medium and fone grounds.

Over the years I've gotten tired of spending money on mills that just don't seem to hold up. The last decent one I had was an OXO, sadly it was horribly disfigured in a run in with a burner and had to be retired.
Not too long ago I discovered these pre-loaded and ready to go grinders at Trader Joe's. They come with nice snap on caps, take a beating and best of all can be reloaded with any spice you please.

A word of caution, Joe being the trader that he is has secured the labels to these things with glue straight from hell. If you're gonna keep them in your kitchen then he gets to advertise.

Antonius wrote:Ramon:

Thanks for posting on this topic: an excellent idea and a fine post as well. To nitpick, however, I must add that I disagree a little with the wording of the following phrase:

Ramon wrote:Pepper is almost as essential to food as its more popular cousin salt. I’ve read countless times that when a chef adjusts the seasonings, he isn’t calibrating the level of the smoked paprika or assessing the quantity of nutmeg (a whole nother grinding subject!), but deciding, solely, whether to add more S&P.

There are for me many dishes where I find myself over the course of the cooking process repeatedly checking and adjusting the amount of one or another ‘seasoning’ other than salt and pepper, including such things as paprika, Spanish pimentón, ground peperoncini, cumin, cinnamon and, indeed, also and even especially, nutmeg (which is used quite extensively in the Italian kitchen). So, while I certainly agree with you that for the most, ‘adjusting seasoning’ is shorthand for ‘adjusting levels of salt and pepper’, I just feel the need to call attention to the fact that the ‘adjustment’ often can and should involve the handling of other seasonings.

Antonius:

Thanks for the compliments. I'd like to think I post for the intrinsic value alone, but I am only human. Great pic. I bet I'd have a hard time sneaking that Turkish coffee mill out of your house!

Regarding "seasoning": I think if you reread the paragraph you partially quoted more carefully than I wrote it, you will find we are in complete agreement. My point was supposed to be that many respectable culinary cookbooks and textbooks define "adjust seasonings" as add more salt and pepper (only) if necessary and then end each recipe and technique with this phrase. I think this is plain stupid and its repetition doesn't make it any more true. At every stage in the cooking process, the chef should evaluate every quantity and proportion of ingredients, adjusting accordingly. I will edit this paragraph in my original post for clarity in the novellized version.

Mike G:

While I am intrigued by the idea of pepper in sweets, I hesitate to bake with it before trying it -- I'd lack the experience to know if what I created was correct (although when did I let that stop me before.) Share your cookies!

On a side note, over the weekend I heard this report on a gourmet Seattle candymaker who they think is on the cutting edge combining salt and chocolate.

eatchicago:

Is that a pepper mill or a butt plug? (I apologize profusely. I'm sure your grinder produces heavenly shards of Piper nigrum.)

G Wiv:

That's a lovely photograph and the table cloth is divine. I'm pleased that you enjoyed my story on the "acquisition." I wish to state categorically that I do not condone theft, even of the petty and amusing kind. I share so that others may learn.

Flip:

Your absolutely right and I should edit my subsequent post. Also, the Chef'n grinders were condemned by Cooks Illustrated for hand fatigue (!) and the lack of a way to adjust the grind.

JSM:

You missed finding an egg last Easter! Awesome, homey, personal pic. Who carved the fish? What's in the mini crock pot? Does Star EVOO really have that "Rich Olive Flavor" I so desperately crave?

To all that have responded to this thread:
thank you.

To all I hope to add to this thread:
The pic is key, but more so is the story. I know its there, waiting to be shared.

-ramon

Ramon

I'm glad you feel so at home in my kitchen. In answer to your questions

Who carved the fish?

Creighton Barrel. Its a signed original worth quite a bit of money.

What's in the mini crock pot?

A very small pot roast.

Does Star EVOO really have that "Rich Olive Flavor" I so desperately crave?

I don't know about Star EVOO satisfying your desperate cravings but it sounds like eatchicago better hide his pepper mill

I'm sure someone will tease me about it, but I do like the Pepper Ball by Chef'n. I am in the same camp of being sick of spending money on pepper grinders only to be lost ina move, damaged by heat or BBQ sauce or winding up in the booty of some larcinous bastard (um, that's booty as in pirate's haul ). I like the Chef'n, because you can use it one handed. I agree that the adjustment is not very good and loading is difficult.

The OXO grinders are now relatively inexpensive, so I have a few of those for other spices. I also use the coffee/spice grinder for filling a pre-ground shaker. Grinding pepper for your shakers even a month or two out is still much, much better than that flat adulterated (anti-caking) crap you buy in the stores. This is the real question to ponder: why don't more restuarants put out pepper they have ground themselves (within a month or two)...seems to be little extra time and expense for such a great payoff.

pd

OK, I'll play -- although this might be a totally amateurish admission that we have TWO matching sets of salt and pepper mills. The tall stainless steel ones from Crate & Barrel that are on our cooktop, and the two small acrylic ones for our table. I dunno, we're happy with them.


>>Brent

Here, looking something like a second cousin to Antonius' Turkish model, is my "Atlas" peppermill, from Greece by way of Crate & Barrel, Vernon Hills. This mill cost about $50 when I bought it 10 or 12 years ago, over the complaint of ex-Mrs. JiLS. Benighted woman, she thought it was a waste of money. (And this from the person for whom I had previously purchased (and maintained) an $8,500 flute and a $4,500 picollo. ). Anyway, I got rid of her, but I kept the peppermill! It's easy enough to change the grind, from barely cracked to fine as dust. And I never had to pay a penny in maintenance for the peppermill, either!

I own the Chef'n grinder and never use it: it's not as ergonomic as it seems, and it takes a hell of a long time to grind a proper amount of anything. I had a small grinder that I dropped one day, shattering the ceramic mechanism.

So you know what I use now? IKEA! Can't find a pic on their website, but I have 3 grinders ($5.99) that I got there. They're wonderful! I filled one with sea salt, one with black pepper, and the third is whatever spice I need ground on short notice. I have an OXO grinder too (pictured in an earlier post), but I find that one much harder to clean than the IKEA ones. The IKEA ones, I just put in a teaspoon of kosher salt, grind away, and it is "clean." The OXO one makes everything taste like cloves.

publicblast wrote:I own the Chef'n grinder and never use it: it's not as ergonomic as it seems, and it takes a hell of a long time to grind a proper amount of anything. I had a small grinder that I dropped one day, shattering the ceramic mechanism.

So you know what I use now? IKEA! Can't find a pic on their website, but I have 3 grinders ($5.99) that I got there. They're wonderful! I filled one with sea salt, one with black pepper, and the third is whatever spice I need ground on short notice. I have an OXO grinder too (pictured in an earlier post), but I find that one much harder to clean than the IKEA ones. The IKEA ones, I just put in a teaspoon of kosher salt, grind away, and it is "clean." The OXO one makes everything taste like cloves.

I bought a bunch of spice jars and matching grinder at IKEA and am now on my fourth grinder. The plastic in the cheap grinding mechanism self destructs in short order. I would love to get a durable grinder that fits the jars. Whenever I use the grinder I grind very gently, but I know it is a matter of time before it too goes out.

We also had an electric grinder from Sharper Image that didn't last long either when the plastic holding the grinding mechanism started to break up. I found a chunk of it while eating a salad. I almost broke my tooth!

Why any peppermills are constructed with plastic parts in and around the grinding mechanism is beyond me.

I second the Perfex mill. After 19 years, it is still working. I always give them as wedding presents.

I have the Peugeot Fidji 8" Salt and Pepper grinders.



I like them quite a bit. They adjust grind by loosening the ball on top, and hold quite a bit. The salt grinder kinda sucked when I was using Maldon Rock Salt, but works as it should now that I am using Baleine coarse sea salt crystals. No idea why as they look and feel fairly similar.

Jamie

I hve the same one as JiLS and I adore it! It was a wedding gift we had registered for.

I was never a huge fan of pepper before getting this grinder. I didn't like big pieces of pepper. This grinder gets it so unbelievably fine that I fell in love with pepper in a way I never thought I could!

I got mine from Chef's Catalog and have since bought them for my sister, father-in-law and brother-in-law! My sister told me it was the most beautiful thing in her kitchen!

Well, I'm no gourmet, but I love my pepper mills.



The two on the left are by Olde Thompson, the two on the right are by Wm. Bounds. All have served admirably, without failure.

The one from Marshall Fields Gourmet Shop is the oldest, a gift from my MIL, which has resided faithfully beside the cooktop for over 20 years (the mill - not the MIL), seasoning literally thousands of dishes.

The newest is the the other Olde Thompson, which I bought on a half price sale for $11 (along with a matching mill for sea salt at another 11 bucks) for every day use at the table. Nice course grind from the "top" of this mill (as viewed in the picture), which keeps the table/table cloth free of stray pepper/salt granules.

Had several other mills over the years, none of which endured.

To Antonius and JiLS... impressive mills you have, very nice.

G Wiv wrote:Ramon,

My pepper mill of choice is Perfex. Aluminum body, steel mechanism, fully adjustable. Mildly expensive, I paid $50 10-12 years ago, maybe longer, but it still works perfectly.

Enjoy,
Gary

I "we" too have a Perfex that's been around for many years... it was my SO's uncles who passed it on to his dad who passed it on to my SO... it's not as shiney as i imagine it once was but it still works really damn well!

they're about $60-70 new now...

Ramon wrote:For reasons both sinful and romantic I love my pepper mills. If I had none, though, I'd buy the one I've frequently seen Ming Tsai wield expertly one handed, branded (I believe) by Chef'n.

This is funny. It was Ming Tsai (via TV, of course) who convinced Mama happy_stomach that she needed a pepper mill. Grinding pepper with one hand, apparently, looks very enjoyable.

I'm bumping this thread to see if anyone can recommend a battery-powered pepper mill of good value and available in a Chicago area store right now. Mama happy_stomach is having some arthritic issues so manipulating a traditional mill can be difficult. I've used battery-powered mills at friends' houses. Maybe it's just been a coincidence of low batteries, but they always seem like they're petering out. Any relatively inexpensive* suggestions available in stores**?

Nothing really caught my eye at the Spice House (Evanston) or Northwest Cutlery when I checked.

Thanks,
Sharon

*Mom, the fiery cook that she is, has a tendency to break gadgets, which I then need to replace.
**Daughter, oblivious to Christmas, wants to get the pepper mill before going to visit Mom on Thursday.

I just purchased a battery operated pepper mill at Williams Sonoma and I love it!
you just turn it upside down and it grinds!
I too was having some hand issues with grinding enough pepper for dishes...
It is a tad tricky to refill-do it over a bowl and have them demonstrate the process in the store...
According to their website it now costs $40
It can be adjusted, but the grind is not perfect- fine may have some larger bits, etc,
however I think its just perfect because I don't have to twists and twist and twist!
Go check it out, it may be just what you are looking for.

Here is a link to the one I got:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products ... cm_src=SCH