The Best Thing I've Bought for My Kitchen
And why it’ll make you a better cook
And why it’ll make you a better cook
I go through an unbelievable amount of black peppercorns: if I had to guess, I’d put the number at about 8oz a month— one of these. Freshly ground black pepper (FGBP, for brevity’s sake) has the ability to bring flavors out of a dish in ways that pre-ground pepper doesn’t: it enhances our ability to taste food, stimulating our salivary glands so we experience flavors more fully, and it also offers a subtle heat. Once the hard shell of the peppercorn is cracked open, its aroma immediately starts to fade, and most of its flavor and scent disappear within a half an hour, so using pre-packaged black pepper isn’t going to offer much by the time it makes its way to you.
“If you think you don’t like black pepper, then what you truly dislike might be the dusty vibe of months-old, pre-ground pepper. Tinned pre-ground pepper is like a dub of a dub of a dub of a cassette tape—a vague echo of its original glory. Grind fresh peppercorns, and the flavor will be like listening to your favorite band from 1992 digitally remastered and on a very nice stereo. In other words, wow.” Says Sara Bir of Simply Recipes.
When you see a recipe calling for a generous amount of FGBP, it’s generally calling for much more than you might think. I went on a trip to a cabin with some friends a couple of years ago, and I was making two sheet-pans worth of crispy smashed potatoes. They were asking how they could help, so I put them on the pepper grinder. I’d forgotten my large grinder at home, so all we had to work with was a small grocery store jar with a built-in grinder, and it took a good 15 minutes of switching off between wrists and around 2/3 of the 2oz jar’s worth of peppercorns to reach the amount I was looking for. That’s where my very favorite kitchen purchase comes in: the electric spice grinder.
FinaMill Spice Grinder: Cream, Stainless or Black ($63) & Salmon, Red or Grey ($44)
This is the one kitchen item I wish I’d purchased five years earlier, just thinking of all of the time I could’ve saved and all the sore wrists that could’ve been prevented! As you might imagine, I go through significantly more black peppercorns than ever before, but my food’s never tasted better.
If it feels like your food is lacking a certain zest or punchiness, reach for some whole peppercorns and notice the changes— taste your dish before and after the addition of all of that FGBP and prepare for a major upgrade in your everyday cooking. :-)
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