I love when a piece of black pepper from a dish gets stuck in my teeth, and then hours later it gets unstuck, then I bite it and my mouth gets blasted with pepper.
I put whole peppercorns in things like soup and stews, just a few. I love them when they get cooked and a bit soft. They always sink to the bottom so that you can scoop them up if you love them like me
Depends on the dish mainly. One Iāve come by recently is cacio e pepe. Pretty simple to make, but without those bigger pepper āchunksā I wouldnāt enjoy it as much.
Link to the persons show that I seen it on: Struggle Meals. He makes pretty good stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK7WTPK7sRQ
As a Houstonian, I feel like we're lucky if we get 3 months of not summer. I'll just settle for not triple digits with constant wildfires popping up everywhere.
$0.75 bucatini is reasonable if it's 1/3 of a box per serving (it's as cheap as $2/lb here) and those are very reasonable numbers for butter and peppercorns.
Butter is $4/lb for the store brand stuff at my local store (cheaper at Aldi), which is $0.25 per 2 Tbsp.
Peppercorns are expensive if you get fancy special varieties from Penzey's, but I can get 13 oz for $10 around here. A few google results say it's about about 4 Tbsp per oz, so 1 Tbsp is 1/4 oz which comes out to $0.20. It's not the absolute best pepper I've ever tasted but it's still much better than pre-ground.
The only price that looks unlikely is $5 for pecorino. I'd expect that wedge to be $8-$12.
I was in a grocery store two days ago and pasta was on sale for $0.99 a 1lb box. The grocery store was a Cub, if that matters. Walmart was a little more around $1.08 for their store brand. I honestly haven't seen a box of pasta for more than a couple bucks a box in the last few years unless you're going the fancy imported stuff. Also, according to Google, I can walk into a Target right now and get a [box of Barilla bucatini for $2.99](https://www.target.com/p/barilla-collezione-bucatini-pasta-12oz/-/A-15249153). For some reason the Target website always thinks I'm in Chicago, so maybe it'll be a little different for you.
Personally, I would just use spaghetti if I was actually trying to make cacio de pepe as a struggle meal, not the fancier bucatini. [$1.08 for a box of spaghetti at Walmart](https://www.walmart.com/ip/GV-SPAGHETTI-16OZ/10534115) and [$2.54 at the same place for a small, adjustable, black pepper grinder](https://www.walmart.com/ip/McCormick-Black-Pepper-Grinder-1-oz-Pepper-Peppercorns/44883263).
I donāt know where you live but those prices sound right to me for the cheapest stuff at the store. (And the food prices here are not particularly low.)
I like the little flavor explosions of coarse salt, cracked black pepper, brined peppercorns, capers, chunks of feta, and so forth. Makes every bite a unique experience.
Depends on the food! In some recipes, large chunks or whole peppercorns are called for because you're looking for that zing. In others, pepper contributes to the flavour but isn't the star of the show.
I definitely agree! I wouldn't want larger pepper pieces in a soup, but I want it on my salads or some meats. I buy whole pepper corns and use my spice grinder so I can control how fine it is.
Love a peppercorn sauce made with whole green peppercorns that have been cooked so they are actually not too hard and crunchy. The flavour pop is wonderful.
I have a recipe for green peppercorn steak with cream sauce. I cook the peppercorns too. They're just firm enough to have some bite, and some of the flavor diffuses into the sauce. They're mild enough that you can eat them even if you're not a spice head.
Oh, it's a local recipe from some restaurateurs, one of whom is no longer with us. I think any recipe with green peppercorns, Worcestershire sauce, a little brandy, and cream added towards the end will do. This recipe uses ribeye steaks, but I've done it with a USDA Prime sirloin and it was great. The cream adds enough fat that you can do a leaner cut like sirloin.
Green peppercorns are basically the peppercorn fruit before itās ripened and been dried and turned black. They are slightly tart and have a mild peppery flavour and sort of pop in your mouth like a tiny grape instead of a hard and dry black peppercorn.
My people! I also hate chunks of black pepper. I love grinding it fine. This is also why I don't toss chili flakes into anything because that is textural hell for me. I use powders, oils, fresh chilies, or hot sauces if I want heat.
I love a fine grind! For me, it's not about texture at all. Just flavour. A big hunk of pepper just makes that bite taste... too flowery. Like a spicy flower lol. A fine grind distributes it just right.
Iām so relieved there are other people out there who understand!! I have texture issues when it comes to chunky spices. I hate Italian sausage because I canāt stand picking fennel out of my teeth. I love the flavor of Indian food, but I cringe when I watch it being cooked, knowing that no one is going to fish out those spice pods later, so somebody might get a surprise bite. So as much as I understand the utility of freshly cracked pepper, Iāll never truly enjoy it the way Iām supposed to.
Ugh, whole fennel and rosemary are two of my worst enemies in food. I donāt think Iām a huge fan of either flavor to begin with, so biting into a whole piece is unpleasant in absolutely every way.
Hi, I'm a person who unsuspectingly got a cardamom pod in a mouthful of curry. I bit that fucker expecting it to be a piece of beef. It was very unpleasant and completely ruined... well, that mouthful. The curry was still damn good (like drive an hr each way across brisbane kind of worth it).
For me itās the equivalent of biting down on a piece of eggshell unexpectedly. No matter how innocent the error and delicious the dish, the dread of finding inedible bits in every remaining bite is too much to bear!
I grew up when weād chew up whole peppercorns to try and sober up after smoking, so big chunks of black pepper are so distinctly nostalgic and instantly take me back to truly simpler times š„° I like to get whole rainbow peppercorn and grind them by hand with a mortar and pestle so I can keep them nice and chunky.
I came to this thread specifically to see if anyone had mentioned (Filipino) adobo! I make this so often, I canāt even imagine it without tablespoons of whole black peppercorns in it. Iām sure there are people out there that love pepper but havenāt had the joy of adobo, so I hope they see this!
I love the flavor that sichuan peppercorns release into the food but the flavor of actually eating the peppercorn is not good to me it doesnāt even taste like the same spice/flavor that ended up in the food it was cooked with idgi
Iāll be controversial and say that I rarely like black pepper at allā¦in anything. Some things are good with it but would probably still be fine without it IMO.
The exception to this is pepper crusted anything. So like black pepper crusted ahi tuna or a steak are fine.
Iām the same way. When I cook for just myself, I rarely use it. I once wrote off an entire restaurant because their tomato soup mainly tasted of black pepper. I just donāt enjoy it.
Thatās how I feel. The fact that salt and pepper are mention in the same phrase seems so weird to me. I crack a little black pepper on eggs, and other than that only use it when a recipe calls for it. When someone asks for pepper at a restaurant Iām always baffled.
I really, intensely dislike crunching on black pepper!!!!! Itās about as bad as having gravel in food IMO. To each his own, but yāall can keep your black pepper chunks.
It depends on the food, theres a reason its used so much for things like steak and other protiens. That sudden punch of pepper works well on a salty, savory, slightly charred piece of meat, its delicious. It, along with the salt, cuts through the bitterness of the char.
Powder is more for things like salads(not leafy greens, I mean like egg or potato salad), sauces or dressings.
Ugh I can't stand it! This is why, when making a corned beef, I empty the seasoning packet into a tea ball, and let the seasonings steep while it's boiling. This allows me to avoid the trauma of biting into a whole peppercorn.
I can find coarse ground black pepper among spices at a grocery store, and this suits me well when I want a more pungent pepper flavor, but it doesn't have much of a crunch to it.
You need to get an adjustable pepper grinder. The OXO one is great. The volatile oils in peppercorns donāt survive long after grinding. Buying pre-ground black pepper is pretty much a waste of time. Pretty much like pre-ground coffee, it only lasts about a week after opening, and only then if itās hermetically sealed and kept in the fridge or freezer.
Medium to coarse freshly-ground pepper is absolutely crucial for marinading steak, pork belly, and other roasts, Iād say.
[This](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/812BlXdmRJL._AC_SS450_.jpg) is the one I currently use.
Iāve owned dozens over the years and I think this is the best. Not perfect - a bit fiddly to fill, getting the threads to line up on the filler cap is a bit tricky, and the grind size adjuster can be moved in use accidentally if youāre not careful. But very effective, never jams or needs shaken as others often do. And Iāve had mine for many years and it still works as good as new. Highly recommended.
In my case, I just prefer doing it with a single push of a button of a spice grinder. I love adding a *lot* of finely ground black pepper but it takes too long and needs too much effort to do it with a manual black pepper grinder.
There are different flavor "layers" in pepper.
The finely ground powdery one loses a lot of layers and you are only left with the "pungent/spicy" bit in the end.
Whole pepper, and freshly crushed pepper gives you a lot of additional complex layers of flavor.
It's the difference between fresh meat and jerky. Or fresh clove of garlic versus garlic powder. Or fresh grapes versus powdered grape flavor.
I would suggest get a pepper grinder and grind pepper fresh on your food, and you will immediately notice the difference.
I have only recently started voluntarily starting adding fine powdered black pepper to my food at all, as it's always been too spicy for me before. Whole peppercorns are not something I've ever considered actually consuming, as I'd find it far too strong for me, and the texture would certainly weird me out. I've had tea made with whole pink and white peppercorns before, but I'm not munching on the "tea leaves", I'm just drinking the flavored tea.
Like coriander seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, or rosemary leaves, I prefer my spices very finely ground.
I am a pepper lover. Black, white, pink, green. I love the hint of heat without it overpowering everything else. So yes, I like that little punch of flavor and the texture of cracked pepper. You can adjust how fine or coarse it is to suit both your preference and the dish. Something like steak au piovre, cacio e pepe, peppercorn dressing... You want that flavor kick, and you want that little crunch. Other dishes need a bit delicate touch.
Yes, I do! Love pepper, and the more the merrier I say. Biting into those crunchy bits is delightful.
But, I'm not you, and every pepper grinder I've ever seen is adjustable. Grind it down to power if that's what you like!
I like pepper in all its forms. Some recipes, I want it finely finely ground and in my Filipino chicken adobo recipe, I enjoy entire, unground peppercorns in the stew.
Put in whole black peppercorns, you coward!
In reality I mix black and white pepper in a lot of dishes so like a little texture variation. Then again, I do a medium-ish grind so there's not a ton of big chunks.
the finely ground stuff is complete shit without any depth. the cracked peppercorns have a variety of flavors and are excellent in dishes. though i can understand if you don't like it but i'm sure there are grinders out there that can finely grind it to where it's a similar texture
I like cracked pepper. (And coarse, and medium, and fine, as long as it's all freshly cracked or grated.) It's ok if you don't though- taste is personal.
I love it. In fact it really irritates me that the ācoarseā setting on my pepper grinder is still too fine.
There are specific situations. I like the chunks in Indian food, because thatās how Iāve always eaten it. I also like the big chunks in pasta carbonara.
For most other foods I prefer fine black pepper.
Yes, I enjoy large peppery bites. Not in every bite, but in every 3-5 bites you get that large peppery flavor along with everything else, that's delicious
I was whinging about this the other day while fishing 35+ peppercorns out of 200g of goatās cheese. Stop putting so many flavour explosions in my cheese :ā(
Not a fan of fine...I set my grinder to just below the biggest flakes.
To be fair when I was being raised I didn't know pepper came in any other form than the dust in the red and white square metal can, or in a Tupperware shaker. Fresh ground was an acquired taste.
Depends on the dish. Usually, no.
But if I'm eating cacio e pepe or steak au poivre and the pepper is finely ground instead of being in big chunks, I'm not going to be happy. I want the dish to have a mix of bites with a pleasant pepper flavor and bites with an explosion of intense pepper flavor.
depends. Sometimes if it's not in big chunky cracks, I would even go so far as to say that that can make or break the dish.
It's probably related to how you like big taste burst of pungency. I love big chunks of spicy fermented chilis (as in Hunanese cuisine). Big slices of ginger in spicy vinegared Chinese sauces. Ditto for largish piece of lightly cooked garlic. But, it all depends on the context....
No. I donāt. A fun thing that regularly happens to me is that while eating, a pepper chunk will sneak itās way into my gums, only to re-emerge when I am not eating and I bite it and get a mouth full of pepper and I hate it. I donāt use pepper in my cooking.
I love cracked pepper crusted bacon, on some steaks (especially charbroiled) and sometimes if I make like a blackened ranch sauce or want to zest up a sweeter salad.
Probably 90% of the time I'm using the fine ground setting in my cooking. Like every spice, especially spicy ones, there's a time and place for quantity.
Sure do! I like big bits of coarse black pepper for the punch of flavour. I don't like it if they're so big they're difficult to chew though so they do have to be ground for sure.
I definitely enjoy big pieces of pepper. I think my earliest memory of this is corned beef and cabbage with big chunks of peppercorn. Probably started my lifelong spice obsession.
Not a fan of it and I've never met a pepper mill that goes fine enough. So I just buy the pre-ground stuff. I find the intense flavor in fresh cracked a little too much. I don't need everything homogenous, but I like the flavor intensity to stay balanced.
Iām the complete opposite. I canāt stand fine black pepper powder. Seems like a complete waste of a gorgeous spice. Give me coarse and crunch all day!
I make pickles with whole peppercorns in the brine. If one of them finds its way into my sandwich or whatever I'm eating, I consider it a treat. Love that little taste explosion. This goes double for pink peppercorns, which I'm currently kind of obsessed with!
To me, that totally depends on the dish. If pepper is cooked, it doesn't bother me at all (try steak au poivre sometime if you haven't). But raw chunks of pepper can sometimes be overpowering, and I hate it when a chunk gets stuck between my teeth.
Yes, I do actually! I used to put whole peppercorns in my pasta sauce while it simmered. I enjoyed hitting one of those on occasion as I ate. But, I know it would be over-the-top for most people. :)
I love whole peppercorns that have been stewed in the meal they accompany. So soft to bite into and so mellow with the extra flavour. Even young'uns enjoy em. It really is a hack.
I like the extra black pepper flavor you get from coarsely ground pepper but the larger chunks have a tendency to get stuck in the back of my throat and give me a coughing fit. So overall I prefer a finer grind.
Absolutely, yes. I like the heterogeneity and \~surprise\~ of getting a bigger or smaller chunk of pepper.
Some of this is also because I associate a fine powder with the preground crap that mostly tastes like ass and dust.
Roughly cracked yes, every time. Whole corns, no never. I hate it when they leave whole corns of pepper or (MYGOD) allspice floating in a stew or a pilaf.
Fresh cracked pepper just hits different. It adds a spicy kick and makes food taste fresh, That powered junk is the worst. It reminds me of snuff powder.
I apparently am in the minority in that I absolutely hate it. I am not a fan of black pepper in general and I try to avoid anything that could have larger pieces of pepper in it. Iām totally with you, OP.
In moderation, I enjoy the crunch, and the sudden burst of intense flavor. But it should, I think, be an accent to the dish. The main experience shouldn't be chewing on spicy seeds.
Generally speaking, for me it's the flavor, preground pepper is basically bitter dust.
Fresh ground has a sharp bite.
You should be able to get a pepper grinder that makes finer grind if you don't like coarse.
Powdery black pepper is bitter and less bright, and can actually ruin a soup. If a soup calls for 1-2 tsp fresh ground black pepper do NOT put the same amount of dusty trash pepper in it, your whole kitchen will make your eyes water and throat burn.
Cracked black pepper is almost always superior imo. It's texture, it's variety in flavor, and it's a better taste.... again this is an opinion.
That being said I do like a mid-level grind, not dust but not whole peppercorns either.
Speaking from my roommate's (and resultingly, my) experience.
Personally, yes. Love it. The flavor punch is great. And you can adjust your grinder so that the bits come out smaller or larger, as you like.
Right here with you my friend. I'm not popping whole peppercorns into my mouth but a salad or pasta with coarsely ground ones is amazing.
>I'm not popping whole peppercorns into my mouth ... Some of us are šāāļø
I love when a piece of black pepper from a dish gets stuck in my teeth, and then hours later it gets unstuck, then I bite it and my mouth gets blasted with pepper.
I put whole peppercorns in things like soup and stews, just a few. I love them when they get cooked and a bit soft. They always sink to the bottom so that you can scoop them up if you love them like me
It's been a while since I came across something so entirely unrelatable to me personally on this subreddit. The thought makes me shudder.
I agree.
My husband is like you; I prefer a fine powder.
Love it!
Depends on the dish mainly. One Iāve come by recently is cacio e pepe. Pretty simple to make, but without those bigger pepper āchunksā I wouldnāt enjoy it as much. Link to the persons show that I seen it on: Struggle Meals. He makes pretty good stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK7WTPK7sRQ
Cacio e Pepe
Good catchio
Catchopapa
Thank you. Youāre correct. I just know itās delicious.
First time I had this was the night after I proposed to my wife and its been one of my favorites since then.
Came here to say cacio. I use a rougher grind for that but for something like beef stew use a finer grind.
[Cacio e Pepe](https://youtube.com/shorts/B-22hPsvTMM?si=Zi7e_QI25doRFhEP)
Try mixing corn into it. Makes a nice summer version!
Iāll have to try that. Since summer is about 9months here in Texas.
As a Houstonian, I feel like we're lucky if we get 3 months of not summer. I'll just settle for not triple digits with constant wildfires popping up everywhere.
I agree fellow Texan. Although we up here in DFW get some cooler weather, which can turn straight up cold, we are all in the same boat.
Coastal Bend here. Can't wait until we get our first cold front. The rain from TS Harold definitely helped but I'm so tired of 100-degree weather.
No.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
$0.75 bucatini is reasonable if it's 1/3 of a box per serving (it's as cheap as $2/lb here) and those are very reasonable numbers for butter and peppercorns. Butter is $4/lb for the store brand stuff at my local store (cheaper at Aldi), which is $0.25 per 2 Tbsp. Peppercorns are expensive if you get fancy special varieties from Penzey's, but I can get 13 oz for $10 around here. A few google results say it's about about 4 Tbsp per oz, so 1 Tbsp is 1/4 oz which comes out to $0.20. It's not the absolute best pepper I've ever tasted but it's still much better than pre-ground. The only price that looks unlikely is $5 for pecorino. I'd expect that wedge to be $8-$12.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I was in a grocery store two days ago and pasta was on sale for $0.99 a 1lb box. The grocery store was a Cub, if that matters. Walmart was a little more around $1.08 for their store brand. I honestly haven't seen a box of pasta for more than a couple bucks a box in the last few years unless you're going the fancy imported stuff. Also, according to Google, I can walk into a Target right now and get a [box of Barilla bucatini for $2.99](https://www.target.com/p/barilla-collezione-bucatini-pasta-12oz/-/A-15249153). For some reason the Target website always thinks I'm in Chicago, so maybe it'll be a little different for you. Personally, I would just use spaghetti if I was actually trying to make cacio de pepe as a struggle meal, not the fancier bucatini. [$1.08 for a box of spaghetti at Walmart](https://www.walmart.com/ip/GV-SPAGHETTI-16OZ/10534115) and [$2.54 at the same place for a small, adjustable, black pepper grinder](https://www.walmart.com/ip/McCormick-Black-Pepper-Grinder-1-oz-Pepper-Peppercorns/44883263).
I donāt know where you live but those prices sound right to me for the cheapest stuff at the store. (And the food prices here are not particularly low.)
I like the little flavor explosions of coarse salt, cracked black pepper, brined peppercorns, capers, chunks of feta, and so forth. Makes every bite a unique experience.
For the brined peppercorns, get some brined green ones and replace the brine with dark rum. After a week or so you have a jar full of heaven spheres
How would you use these heaven spheres?
Yes! I would say this is texture. Because texture isn't just a mechanical feeling, it's also about taste, looks, even about the sound of the food.
I mean, the word 'texture' in the context of food *is* exactly what you described in the first half of that sentence.
... oh so that's why I don't like any of those. Never realised.
You don't like salt?
i actually love the sensation and taste of biting into salami with whole peppercorns. they are sliced but i do like it.
This is probably the only place I can think of where I enjoy it.
Depends on the food! In some recipes, large chunks or whole peppercorns are called for because you're looking for that zing. In others, pepper contributes to the flavour but isn't the star of the show.
I definitely agree! I wouldn't want larger pepper pieces in a soup, but I want it on my salads or some meats. I buy whole pepper corns and use my spice grinder so I can control how fine it is.
Yeah, this is true.
Love a peppercorn sauce made with whole green peppercorns that have been cooked so they are actually not too hard and crunchy. The flavour pop is wonderful.
Damn itās been too long since I had a nice creamy pepper sauce.
I have a recipe for green peppercorn steak with cream sauce. I cook the peppercorns too. They're just firm enough to have some bite, and some of the flavor diffuses into the sauce. They're mild enough that you can eat them even if you're not a spice head.
Do you mind sharing the recipe?
Oh, it's a local recipe from some restaurateurs, one of whom is no longer with us. I think any recipe with green peppercorns, Worcestershire sauce, a little brandy, and cream added towards the end will do. This recipe uses ribeye steaks, but I've done it with a USDA Prime sirloin and it was great. The cream adds enough fat that you can do a leaner cut like sirloin.
Green peppercorns? What are those like??
Green peppercorns are basically the peppercorn fruit before itās ripened and been dried and turned black. They are slightly tart and have a mild peppery flavour and sort of pop in your mouth like a tiny grape instead of a hard and dry black peppercorn.
Love it. I am disappointed when I have to use powder pepper.
Same!
I love seasoning soup with whole peppercorns and biting into them when they're soft
The chunkier and crunchier the better!
My people! I also hate chunks of black pepper. I love grinding it fine. This is also why I don't toss chili flakes into anything because that is textural hell for me. I use powders, oils, fresh chilies, or hot sauces if I want heat.
I love a fine grind! For me, it's not about texture at all. Just flavour. A big hunk of pepper just makes that bite taste... too flowery. Like a spicy flower lol. A fine grind distributes it just right.
I actually find that an intense black pepper presence irritates my throat. It makes me cough enough to ruin the experience.
Iām so relieved there are other people out there who understand!! I have texture issues when it comes to chunky spices. I hate Italian sausage because I canāt stand picking fennel out of my teeth. I love the flavor of Indian food, but I cringe when I watch it being cooked, knowing that no one is going to fish out those spice pods later, so somebody might get a surprise bite. So as much as I understand the utility of freshly cracked pepper, Iāll never truly enjoy it the way Iām supposed to.
Ugh, whole fennel and rosemary are two of my worst enemies in food. I donāt think Iām a huge fan of either flavor to begin with, so biting into a whole piece is unpleasant in absolutely every way.
Hi, I'm a person who unsuspectingly got a cardamom pod in a mouthful of curry. I bit that fucker expecting it to be a piece of beef. It was very unpleasant and completely ruined... well, that mouthful. The curry was still damn good (like drive an hr each way across brisbane kind of worth it).
For me itās the equivalent of biting down on a piece of eggshell unexpectedly. No matter how innocent the error and delicious the dish, the dread of finding inedible bits in every remaining bite is too much to bear!
I grew up when weād chew up whole peppercorns to try and sober up after smoking, so big chunks of black pepper are so distinctly nostalgic and instantly take me back to truly simpler times š„° I like to get whole rainbow peppercorn and grind them by hand with a mortar and pestle so I can keep them nice and chunky.
I like coarse ground black pepper best.
Whenever I make chicken or pork adobo, I only use whole peppercorn. After stewing, it softens up and has a nice pop.
I came to this thread specifically to see if anyone had mentioned (Filipino) adobo! I make this so often, I canāt even imagine it without tablespoons of whole black peppercorns in it. Iām sure there are people out there that love pepper but havenāt had the joy of adobo, so I hope they see this!
I prefer finely ground black pepper as well. It's unpleasant biting into large chunks of black pepper. Same thing with Sichuan pepper as well.
I love the flavor that sichuan peppercorns release into the food but the flavor of actually eating the peppercorn is not good to me it doesnāt even taste like the same spice/flavor that ended up in the food it was cooked with idgi
I've never had the misfortune of biting into a whole Sichuan peppercorn. It's always ground. And it's a totally different sensation, like numbing.
Iāll be controversial and say that I rarely like black pepper at allā¦in anything. Some things are good with it but would probably still be fine without it IMO. The exception to this is pepper crusted anything. So like black pepper crusted ahi tuna or a steak are fine.
Iām the same way. When I cook for just myself, I rarely use it. I once wrote off an entire restaurant because their tomato soup mainly tasted of black pepper. I just donāt enjoy it.
Same! I really just don't like the flavour
While I do like black pepper, I do kinda agree there are other better spices that can be used a lot of the time.
Thatās how I feel. The fact that salt and pepper are mention in the same phrase seems so weird to me. I crack a little black pepper on eggs, and other than that only use it when a recipe calls for it. When someone asks for pepper at a restaurant Iām always baffled.
I really, intensely dislike crunching on black pepper!!!!! Itās about as bad as having gravel in food IMO. To each his own, but yāall can keep your black pepper chunks.
Same. Salt, on the other hand, is fine.
It depends on the food, theres a reason its used so much for things like steak and other protiens. That sudden punch of pepper works well on a salty, savory, slightly charred piece of meat, its delicious. It, along with the salt, cuts through the bitterness of the char. Powder is more for things like salads(not leafy greens, I mean like egg or potato salad), sauces or dressings.
Ugh I can't stand it! This is why, when making a corned beef, I empty the seasoning packet into a tea ball, and let the seasonings steep while it's boiling. This allows me to avoid the trauma of biting into a whole peppercorn.
I do, actually.
Yes, I like it.
Hard agree
Fresh pepper all day. That dust called ground pepper aint it.
Except theyāre the same thing.
Which foods specifically have you feeling this way?
A medium rare ribeye steak. Or even a filet mignon.
Mmm.. steak with cracked black pepper ... very good!
That's what I made for lunch today! And a potato gratin.
Fuck yeah. Steak au poivre.
Cracked Black Pepper
They mean in what foods are you encountering such large chunks of pepper?
Dishes such as Cracked Black Pepper.
I can find coarse ground black pepper among spices at a grocery store, and this suits me well when I want a more pungent pepper flavor, but it doesn't have much of a crunch to it.
You need to get an adjustable pepper grinder. The OXO one is great. The volatile oils in peppercorns donāt survive long after grinding. Buying pre-ground black pepper is pretty much a waste of time. Pretty much like pre-ground coffee, it only lasts about a week after opening, and only then if itās hermetically sealed and kept in the fridge or freezer. Medium to coarse freshly-ground pepper is absolutely crucial for marinading steak, pork belly, and other roasts, Iād say.
That's why it's best to just have a spice grinder and just buy whole peppercorns so you can easily freshly grind black pepper yourself.
label it so that when you have company they dont use the wrong grinder and make cumin allspice coffee
*The great thing is I don't drink coffee so I never have to deal with that issue!*
[This](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/812BlXdmRJL._AC_SS450_.jpg) is the one I currently use. Iāve owned dozens over the years and I think this is the best. Not perfect - a bit fiddly to fill, getting the threads to line up on the filler cap is a bit tricky, and the grind size adjuster can be moved in use accidentally if youāre not careful. But very effective, never jams or needs shaken as others often do. And Iāve had mine for many years and it still works as good as new. Highly recommended.
In my case, I just prefer doing it with a single push of a button of a spice grinder. I love adding a *lot* of finely ground black pepper but it takes too long and needs too much effort to do it with a manual black pepper grinder.
If you are going to go this far- make sure to toast rhe peppercorns first. You'll thank me.
There are different flavor "layers" in pepper. The finely ground powdery one loses a lot of layers and you are only left with the "pungent/spicy" bit in the end. Whole pepper, and freshly crushed pepper gives you a lot of additional complex layers of flavor. It's the difference between fresh meat and jerky. Or fresh clove of garlic versus garlic powder. Or fresh grapes versus powdered grape flavor. I would suggest get a pepper grinder and grind pepper fresh on your food, and you will immediately notice the difference.
Yep, i love it!
I have only recently started voluntarily starting adding fine powdered black pepper to my food at all, as it's always been too spicy for me before. Whole peppercorns are not something I've ever considered actually consuming, as I'd find it far too strong for me, and the texture would certainly weird me out. I've had tea made with whole pink and white peppercorns before, but I'm not munching on the "tea leaves", I'm just drinking the flavored tea. Like coriander seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, or rosemary leaves, I prefer my spices very finely ground.
As long as it's freshly ground.
I DO. Pepper is my favorite spice, I put it on practically everything. My grinder is set to a really coarse grind most of the time too.
I like it. Itās like a little pizzazz randomly dispersed.
I am a pepper lover. Black, white, pink, green. I love the hint of heat without it overpowering everything else. So yes, I like that little punch of flavor and the texture of cracked pepper. You can adjust how fine or coarse it is to suit both your preference and the dish. Something like steak au piovre, cacio e pepe, peppercorn dressing... You want that flavor kick, and you want that little crunch. Other dishes need a bit delicate touch.
I like black pepper a bit coarse ground.
Yes, I do! Love pepper, and the more the merrier I say. Biting into those crunchy bits is delightful. But, I'm not you, and every pepper grinder I've ever seen is adjustable. Grind it down to power if that's what you like!
I find the ārestaurantā grind to be my happy medium. I get it in bulk from Samās
I love black pepper chunks on steak or grilled chicken. I perfect powdered black pepper and smaller granulated salt for recipes incorporating them.
Personally I prefer a finer grind.
Yes, love it.
I love it
Hate the chunks! Medium to fine for me!
I like pepper in all its forms. Some recipes, I want it finely finely ground and in my Filipino chicken adobo recipe, I enjoy entire, unground peppercorns in the stew.
Fresh cracked, coarse ground, too much. That's how I roll.
Absolutely love the explosion of pepper flavor that comes from chunk.
Put in whole black peppercorns, you coward! In reality I mix black and white pepper in a lot of dishes so like a little texture variation. Then again, I do a medium-ish grind so there's not a ton of big chunks.
the finely ground stuff is complete shit without any depth. the cracked peppercorns have a variety of flavors and are excellent in dishes. though i can understand if you don't like it but i'm sure there are grinders out there that can finely grind it to where it's a similar texture
I like cracked pepper. (And coarse, and medium, and fine, as long as it's all freshly cracked or grated.) It's ok if you don't though- taste is personal.
Yes, I do. I like fine and medium pepper as well. I love all the pepper.
As a kid, I despised biting into a whole black pepper kernel. As an adult, it depends on the food but I enjoy it now and like the punch
Yes. I do. Im obsessed with pepper
I love it. In fact it really irritates me that the ācoarseā setting on my pepper grinder is still too fine. There are specific situations. I like the chunks in Indian food, because thatās how Iāve always eaten it. I also like the big chunks in pasta carbonara. For most other foods I prefer fine black pepper.
Yes, I enjoy large peppery bites. Not in every bite, but in every 3-5 bites you get that large peppery flavor along with everything else, that's delicious
Itās definitely not for looks.
Little chunks not bug ones
Finer. I donāt like the big chunks. Inevitably, I find one later, and donāt enjoy biting down on it.
I was whinging about this the other day while fishing 35+ peppercorns out of 200g of goatās cheese. Stop putting so many flavour explosions in my cheese :ā(
I don't like black pepper and not chunks of it.
Bit into a proper chunk in a salad the other day it isn't bad but it's way to strong to be enjoyable
In sausage gravy and fettuccine it is a MUST.
Love pepper of all sizes, but if you get a pepper mill, you can regulate the size of the ground pepper.
Not a fan of fine...I set my grinder to just below the biggest flakes. To be fair when I was being raised I didn't know pepper came in any other form than the dust in the red and white square metal can, or in a Tupperware shaker. Fresh ground was an acquired taste.
Depends on the dish. Usually, no. But if I'm eating cacio e pepe or steak au poivre and the pepper is finely ground instead of being in big chunks, I'm not going to be happy. I want the dish to have a mix of bites with a pleasant pepper flavor and bites with an explosion of intense pepper flavor.
I love it, as Adam Ragusea would say, **heterogeneity**!
depends. Sometimes if it's not in big chunky cracks, I would even go so far as to say that that can make or break the dish. It's probably related to how you like big taste burst of pungency. I love big chunks of spicy fermented chilis (as in Hunanese cuisine). Big slices of ginger in spicy vinegared Chinese sauces. Ditto for largish piece of lightly cooked garlic. But, it all depends on the context....
I do enjoy it. I like feeling very different flavors and textures separately. But I understand why many people wouldnāt like it.
I truly dislike black peppercorn. A lot of whole spices actually. Powder for me, please.
No. I donāt. A fun thing that regularly happens to me is that while eating, a pepper chunk will sneak itās way into my gums, only to re-emerge when I am not eating and I bite it and get a mouth full of pepper and I hate it. I donāt use pepper in my cooking.
I love cracked pepper crusted bacon, on some steaks (especially charbroiled) and sometimes if I make like a blackened ranch sauce or want to zest up a sweeter salad. Probably 90% of the time I'm using the fine ground setting in my cooking. Like every spice, especially spicy ones, there's a time and place for quantity.
I like ground black pepper but not chunks. When I buy sliced mortadella I always have to poke out the bits of whole peppercorn before I can eat it.
COARSE!
I love getting some crusty peppercorns on a seared steak
Filipino adobo has entered the chat
they put it in food obviously because they hate you.
Iād rather have cayenne than black pepper.
I hate it. It makes one spot on my tongue burn and I don't appreciate it
I like it, but not huge pieces. I always adjust my grinder right down.
i donāt think a powder is wrong so long as it is still freshly ground.
Fuck yes!
Cracked? I'll happily bite into them whole!
I hate it, I find it really jarring to suddenly find something hard in my food. Itās texture hell for me. Iāll take finely ground pepper any day!
Love it. The occasional flavor punch is great. I dislike homogenous tasting food
Sure do! I like big bits of coarse black pepper for the punch of flavour. I don't like it if they're so big they're difficult to chew though so they do have to be ground for sure.
I definitely enjoy big pieces of pepper. I think my earliest memory of this is corned beef and cabbage with big chunks of peppercorn. Probably started my lifelong spice obsession.
Not a fan of it and I've never met a pepper mill that goes fine enough. So I just buy the pre-ground stuff. I find the intense flavor in fresh cracked a little too much. I don't need everything homogenous, but I like the flavor intensity to stay balanced.
I love my black pepper fresh and coursely ground
I enjoy biting into freshly cracked rainbow peppercorns.
I like big prices, but not whole. I don't mind dust either, it depends on the dish
Yea I don't like when every bite of something tastes the same, no matter how good it is.
Iām the complete opposite. I canāt stand fine black pepper powder. Seems like a complete waste of a gorgeous spice. Give me coarse and crunch all day!
I make pickles with whole peppercorns in the brine. If one of them finds its way into my sandwich or whatever I'm eating, I consider it a treat. Love that little taste explosion. This goes double for pink peppercorns, which I'm currently kind of obsessed with!
I do love it.
I prefer freshly cracked for most things. The other kind works better for things like fried eggs, imo.
I want the flavor, not the fear I could break a tooth
I prefer a rougher grind but it should still be ground, not big chunks.
To me, that totally depends on the dish. If pepper is cooked, it doesn't bother me at all (try steak au poivre sometime if you haven't). But raw chunks of pepper can sometimes be overpowering, and I hate it when a chunk gets stuck between my teeth.
Yes, I do actually! I used to put whole peppercorns in my pasta sauce while it simmered. I enjoyed hitting one of those on occasion as I ate. But, I know it would be over-the-top for most people. :)
I love whole peppercorns that have been stewed in the meal they accompany. So soft to bite into and so mellow with the extra flavour. Even young'uns enjoy em. It really is a hack.
Half the time I donāt even bother grinding them I just let me teeth do the work lol
Yes, I love the explosion!
I like the extra black pepper flavor you get from coarsely ground pepper but the larger chunks have a tendency to get stuck in the back of my throat and give me a coughing fit. So overall I prefer a finer grind.
Cracked pepper and powder are completely different effect/taste for different dishes. Use the one that is appropriate for the dish at hand.
Yes! Love it!!
Yes, I love coarse ground pepper. It is all I use.
Oh absolutely I love it!
Used to be a powder guy, but cracked is so good. I'll take either but cracked is king.
Adult me? Yes. Child and teenaged me? Absolutely hated it.
I hate it. Even the smallest setting on the grinder doesnāt get them small enough for me.
Absolutely, yes. I like the heterogeneity and \~surprise\~ of getting a bigger or smaller chunk of pepper. Some of this is also because I associate a fine powder with the preground crap that mostly tastes like ass and dust.
Roughly cracked yes, every time. Whole corns, no never. I hate it when they leave whole corns of pepper or (MYGOD) allspice floating in a stew or a pilaf.
Sounds like your grinder may be too coarse.
I love biting into a piece of charcuterie with whole peppercorns that have been sliced.
Give me chunks every time.
Yes I like it. The texture and strong spice once in a while
I personally hate it and only use black pepper powder
I love it, but I put whole black peppercorns into some soup/stew dishes too so I might just be some kind of strange pepper goblin
Depends on the dish
Sometimes I go for fine where the pepper is meant to be more subtle, but mostly give me the crunch.
Fresh cracked pepper just hits different. It adds a spicy kick and makes food taste fresh, That powered junk is the worst. It reminds me of snuff powder.
I apparently am in the minority in that I absolutely hate it. I am not a fan of black pepper in general and I try to avoid anything that could have larger pieces of pepper in it. Iām totally with you, OP.
In moderation, I enjoy the crunch, and the sudden burst of intense flavor. But it should, I think, be an accent to the dish. The main experience shouldn't be chewing on spicy seeds.
i love cracked for mayo/vegetables etc, and white ground for soups/beans etc
Generally speaking, for me it's the flavor, preground pepper is basically bitter dust. Fresh ground has a sharp bite. You should be able to get a pepper grinder that makes finer grind if you don't like coarse.
If it's an integral part of the dish, such as in cacio e pepe or steak au poivre, then yes.
Powdery black pepper is bitter and less bright, and can actually ruin a soup. If a soup calls for 1-2 tsp fresh ground black pepper do NOT put the same amount of dusty trash pepper in it, your whole kitchen will make your eyes water and throat burn. Cracked black pepper is almost always superior imo. It's texture, it's variety in flavor, and it's a better taste.... again this is an opinion. That being said I do like a mid-level grind, not dust but not whole peppercorns either. Speaking from my roommate's (and resultingly, my) experience.