Which Salt and Pepper Grinder?
My old one has carked it. This one
www.amazon.co.uk/Bodum-Bistro-Salt-Pepper-Grinder/dp/B007FLZVE2/ref=sr_1_4?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1458825966
Always hated it its been ruddy useless.
So all you master chef's, whats the best replacement?
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Wouldn't bother with a salt grinder. Bog standard Saxo or supermarket equivalent does fine.
Various sorts of pepper (black/brown/5 berries etc) sold in grinders - black is Aldi, others are French.
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I doubt you'll go far wrong with these:
tinyurl.com/cys7dtd
Always pleased to help.
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>> I doubt you'll go far wrong with these:
>>
>> tinyurl.com/cys7dtd
>>
>> Always pleased to help.
hmmmm The short 10cm ones are on special in Lakeland. £16.99
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 24 Mar 16 at 13:58
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Lidl have some this week, I bought them a couple of months back. Rather large, stainless steel and take 6 x AAA batteries each but they seem to work OK. £6.99 each, two for £12.
You can get an idea of how they look from the greyed picture in this link www.hotukdeals.com/deals/electric-salt-pepper-mill-with-3-years-warranty-6-99-each-lidl-1137551
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>> Lidl have some this week, I bought them a couple of months back. Rather large,
>> stainless steel and take 6 x AAA batteries each but they seem to work OK.
>> £6.99 each, two for £12.
>>
>> You can get an idea of how they look from the greyed picture in this
>> link www.hotukdeals.com/deals/electric-salt-pepper-mill-with-3-years-warranty-6-99-each-lidl-1137551
Batteries? After the battery thread on here? are you mad?
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>> Batteries? After the battery thread on here? are you mad?
>>
We bought a battery operated salt & pepper mill a couple of years ago. Can't remember the make, but it didn't work at all well and was returned for a refund a week later.
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Battery powered pepper and salt grinders are a very silly idea, for gizmo freaks only.
We have acquired several ordinary, hand-powered grinders over the years, including a huge great long one suitable for a pretentious restaurant. They clutter up the kitchen surfaces and you can never find the one you're looking for.
Salt keeps for ever as long as it doesn't get wet, but whole peppercorns keep a lot longer than ground stuff. However even they fade eventually.
I am very keen on pepper of all sorts and have several bottles of liquid stuff in various colours, some of it very ferocious indeed.
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Funnily enough, I faced this a few weeks ago when the Marlux olivewood grinder we bought on our honeymoon ceased to respond to treatment. The complementary beechwood salt mill was, if I'm honest, never much use, so I was time for a change.
The solution, pro-tem anyway, is a T&G pair containing the CrushGrind mechanism. Ours are truncated green acrylic cones that kinda suit the mid-century vibe we're cultivating in our 1970s house but may not be to all tastes - which is probably why I got the pair for £15. More conventional housings are available.
But the mechanism is pretty good. A traditional mill has a central steel spindle with a nut on the top that is supposed to both secure the knob and adjust the grind. It never really does the latter and eventually strips its thread to the point where it won't do the former either. The new mills have no spindle - and so can hold a vast quantity of peppercorns - and are adjusted with a plastic wheel underneath.
And I reckon it works: I keep mine set pretty coarse but it will go very fine if required. And the salt grinder is a revelation, producing sparkling little flakes of salt that give food a real zing. Saxo will do if you're dissolving it but if you're sprinkling this is in a different class; it's more about texture than chemistry.
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>> sparkling little flakes of salt that give food a real zing. Saxo will do if you're dissolving it but if you're sprinkling this is in a different class; it's more about texture than chemistry.
Yes, I agree with that. It's not that important though. A small difference.
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Using salt after food has been served is an insult to the chef, implying that they have not seasoned the dish adequately. Pepper is best dispenced from a ceramic grinder in whatever style of grinder you prefer.
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Using salt after food has been served is an insult to the chef, implying that they have not seasoned the dish adequately.
True but irrelevant. Because salt dissolves quickly in any moisture, sometimes it's best to leave adding it to the last possible moment, so the diners get that pleasurable tingle on the tongue while the salt flakes are still large enough to produce it.
Similarly with pepper, the aromatic oil evaporates or denatures quickly with heat, so leave it as late as possible. T&G includes a nice explanation of this with the mill: coarse-ground pepper tastes more 'peppery' because the bigger fragments still contain their oil, which is then released directly on to the tongue when the teeth supply the final grind.
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If you have bought the food I guess you have the right to put whatever you like on it.
I went to a rather up market restaurant a while ago with some one who had little time for pretension. He ordered the lamb creation and asked for some mint source to accompany it. The waiter claimed the French chef would be affronted by the suggestion. My colleague said ""no sauce, no pay". He got his little bowl of home made mint sauce.
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>> Battery powered pepper and salt grinders are a very silly idea, for gizmo freaks only.
My mother bought me some at Christmas. I have dutifully pressed them in to service. Every time I pick one up I manage to depress the button on the top, thereby distributing salt/pepper across the work surface.
Sigh.
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Just catching up on some threads I missed while we were away and I cannot believe this one.
Battery operated pepper grinder?
Are we too posh now to grind our own pepper?
That's a whole new level of poshness I must aspire to:)
Pat
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>> Battery operated pepper grinder?
>> That's a whole new level of poshness I must aspire to:)
I'd give that aspiration a miss if I were you.
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Electric pepper grinders, like electric tin openers and Breville sandwich toasters are actually very downmarket Pat. Kitchen accessories are a dead giveaway when assessing status. You just have to know these things. ;-)
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>> Electric pepper grinders, like electric tin openers and Breville sandwich toasters are actually very downmarket
>> Pat. Kitchen accessories are a dead giveaway when assessing status. You just have to know
>> these things. ;-)
No, no, no. Surely no home can be without a Kenwood electric tin opener, as it must be the only one that will open any tin (and I mean any tin) without a struggle.
;)
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Keep the tin opener by all means but keep it hidden. It's knocking thousands off your house value. ;-)
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The wife keeps the tin opener well hidden, as it's a bit on the bulky side.
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>> Electric pepper grinders, like electric tin openers and Breville sandwich toasters are actually very downmarket Pat. Kitchen accessories are a dead giveaway when assessing status.
>> You just have to know these things. ;-)
>>
Does that mean also hiding the Chicago Pizza slice with its built in laser guide and sound effects ?
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Wow.........
off to hide my electric tin opener now.
Stick with me, I'll get there shortly!
Pat
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>> Wow.........
>>
>> off to hide my electric tin opener now.
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>> Stick with me, I'll get there shortly!
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>> Pat
Hide it behind the Soda Stream. "Get fizzy in a whizzy with soda stream"
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Save a space in the Forgotten Gadgets cupboard for the spiralizer.
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Go for WMF brand. German, expensive and very reliable. Had a model similar to this now for about 15 years now.
"Upside down" design means you don't get pepper on the table.
www.amazon.co.uk/WMF-Stainless-Steel-Pepper-Mill/dp/B000XG4R00/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1458830345&sr=8-10&keywords=wmf+mill
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LIDL and ALDI have both had disposable ones lately at a pound each. Seems expensive for a container of salt, but I bought them and they work fine. Upside-down styling means you don't get the residue on the damask and as we should all be using less salt, may well see me out.
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>> and as we should all be using less salt
Of course, not everyone agrees...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/
Scientific American has a pedigree greater, in my opinion, than the Daily Anything - but not perhaps to be taken as, well, Gospel.
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>> Go for WMF brand. German, expensive and very reliable.
Ah yes, Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik. A name much be-loved of antique dealers, who trot out the name and trademark in an attempt to sex up and up sell old crap that no-one wants.
Still as there is plenty of the old crap about, it must be well made at least.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 24 Mar 16 at 15:17
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I don't know about thier antique stuff. I can just vouch for their salt and pepper grinders. Beautifully put together and a joy to use.
Whatever brand you buy make sure the grinding wheel is ceramic.
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We have Lakeland ' upsidedowners ' they have put an end to ' peppery ring misery ' on the table.
Swm likes her ground pepper and sea salt. I couldn't give a tuppeny fart...I have one of those little glass ones with the white plastic top so beloved of cheap cafes. Suits me fine !
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>> I couldn't give a tuppeny fart...I have
>> one of those little glass ones with the white plastic top so beloved of cheap
>> cafes. Suits me fine !
The bakelite tops? We occasionally go to Bookers for catering stuff for local events, they have all those plastic squeezy sauce things too. I haven't been allowed to buy any.
I am minded to buy some new mills. The pepper mill fell apart a while back and we are using the disposable grinder jars like bt, but the plastic grinders, not surprisingly, usually lose their virtue about halfway down the jar. I guess we must have eaten a certain amount of plastic chips.
Those WMF ones look good. And I like the sensible upside down design.
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Got a really solid pepper grinder, should see me out. Only use the salt grinder when making fogattcia.
Jolly easy bread to make, basic pizza dough, omit almost all the salt and all of the oil. Prove once, add dimples, fill them with olive oil, and a bit in the baking tray. Then coarsely grind some salt over it, and sprinkle on some rosemary. Then prove a bit more and bake. Doesn't keep at all - you'll want to eat it as soon as it comes out of the oven. Very good with cheese, and doesn't need any butter.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 24 Mar 16 at 16:50
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>Jolly easy bread to make,
Someone posted a recipe or link for home made nan bread on here a while ago that looked quite good.
Can't find it by a forum search so I guess it must have been posted by AC and deleted.
Anyone remember it?
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Have just been given some. 5 yr warrantee. WAIT THERE. Will contact Dor ter.
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She's clearly doing important stuff and is not responding. Grandkids etc. So far they are good, The Mills, not the Grandkids. if I get any sense I'll post. Orf up the wooden hill now as is my choice.
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Check out Felicity Cloake's article on naan in her Perfect... series in the Guardian. I've tried her method and it works beautifully. Very wet and needs careful handling but gives ecstatically fluffy results.
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We've got these ones
www.johnlewis.com/cole-mason-acrylic-salt-and-pepper-set-13cm/p187117
Probably had them 10 years now and they still do the job
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Littlewoods apparently.. 5 yr guarantee..
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Zeddo, can you not just use the salt & pepper sachets you liberate from 'Spoons?
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>> Zeddo, can you not just use the salt & pepper sachets you liberate from 'Spoons?
'spoons have used proper pots for a little while now.
N.b. Z is barred from 'spoons - he lowers the tone, they said!
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Yes, it was TIC... I've never eaten in a 'Spoons and it's a few years since drinking in one.
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Fish and chips in 'Spoons is very good value. Tasty, too.
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>> I dispair.
>>
I'm thinking of trying their hotcakes next time I visit. Much enjoyed those way back while over the pond. Lashings of maple syrup and a couple of rashers of bacon on the side.
Made a change from eggs, over easy.
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>> I dispair.
You and Mrs Z are going separate ways?
The fish and chips in Morrisons caff can be very good for a fiver, including the petits pois mushy du jardin. Cooked to order. Leighton Buzzard's is only average, but Aylesbury's were spot on yesterday.
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>> >> I dispair.
>>
>> You and Mrs Z are going separate ways?
I wish
>> The fish and chips in Morrisons caff can be very good for a fiver,
Indeed, you do however have to chose your Morrisons. The food in the Weybridge branch is very good indeed. The food in the Nottingham one, tollerton to be exact, less so.
The clientele are far worse too.
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MORRISON'S Bideford. Engineering department (Cafe) must have some *wat with a thermic lance to 'cook' their breakfast sausages. It is the most disgusting place to eat on the planet.
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Is it me, or does 'takeaway' pepper always taste like 75% sawdust and 25% 'pepper-flavoured' additive?
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I always forget we have pepper on the table but I only use it on suitable foods like pasta. I like a little grind now and again.
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I use a lot of pepper, but have never thought to put it on pasta.
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Try a spoonful of peppercorns mixed in Cs.........nice when you crack one between your fangs !
Last edited by: Ted on Mon 28 Mar 16 at 16:37
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>> I use a lot of pepper, but have never thought to put it on pasta.
What? Single most tasteless thing known to man before he invented Tofu, and you never used pepper on it?
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>> What? Single most tasteless thing known to man before he invented Tofu, and you never
>> used pepper on it?
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Don't you have a sauce with your pasta?
Tonight I'm having home made pasta puttanesca (no adverse comments, please) and you wouldn't want to add pepper to that.
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>> Don't you have a sauce with your pasta?
yes?
>> Tonight I'm having home made pasta puttanesca (no adverse comments, please) and you wouldn't want
>> to add pepper to that.
You dont add freshly ground peppercorns to your chile sauce?
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 29 Mar 16 at 01:30
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I'll have to consult the chef, but I don't add anything to the prepared dish that will be put in front of me tonight.
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What no ketchup? Found one of those retro squeezy plastic tomatoes last year. Essential.
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I haven't seen one of those for years, although I prefer mint sauce myself.
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>> I haven't seen one of those for years, although I prefer mint sauce myself.
you put mint sauce on pasta, and you question the value of pepper on it?
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We use proper pasta, imported from Italia by our local deli. They have pasta with names that you just don't get in the supermarkets.
It's a world away from the rubbery everyday stuff
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I thought pasta was pasta was pasta, but then I am often a heathen where food is concerned. My fav easy meal is pasta with peppers, mushrooms & garlic in a spicy sauce.
If you can recommend a pasta which would enhance the meal I would appreciate it... I normally buy The cheapest wholemeal pasta I can find in a major supermarket.
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>> I thought pasta was pasta was pasta, but then I am often a heathen where
>> food is concerned. My fav easy meal is pasta with peppers, mushrooms & garlic in
>> a spicy sauce.
>> If you can recommend a pasta which would enhance the meal I would appreciate it...
>> I normally buy The cheapest wholemeal pasta I can find in a major supermarket.
Try non wholemeal FRESH egg pasta from the chiller cabinet.
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Thanks. Never heard of it. I always thought pasta was purchased dry in bags! Will have a look next time I'm in Asda or Aldi... Might be a deli thing, one of those kind of shops I never ever go inside but will now.
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>> >> I haven't seen one of those for years, although I prefer mint sauce myself.
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>> you put mint sauce on pasta, and you question the value of pepper on it?
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I'm a bit of an animal with mint sauce, but I resist the urge to add it to pasta.
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>>I'll have to consult the chef, but I don't add anything to the prepared dish that will be put in front of me tonight.
I've never lived in a world as an adult where anyone has put a prepared dish in front of me unless it was in a restaurant or visiting somewhere. I can't imagine how it might feel.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 29 Mar 16 at 08:58
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Pasta is really rather nasty, whatever sauce one serves with it. Bol sauce is better with a nice baked potatoe.
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>> I've never lived in a world as an adult where anyone has put a prepared
>> dish in front of me unless it was in a restaurant or visiting somewhere. I
>> can't imagine how it might feel.
I don't quite understand that. Are you saying that all the meals that you consume at home are prepared by you only?
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Yes indeed. Mrs doesn't cook, never has.
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Same 'ere Cc, I even make all the bread (in my Pana) AND make a cake once a week.
I do of course allow 'her' in the kitchen occasionally, in fact on Saturday she prepared a Thai curry thingy ... to my recipe.
:)
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Funnily enough I made some bread in our Panasonic this weekend, Dog.
It tasted dreadful, but that may be cos it was the tv. Rimshot.
No actually, it was ok. There was a special on some funky wholemeal flour in Waitrose so I thought I'd give it a go, but unfortunately I forgot yeast, and only had some old dried stuff months out of date from the Co-Op. Even with that disadvantage it was pleasant enough though, if a trifle under-risen.
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>>, but unfortunately I forgot yeast, and only had some old dried stuff months out of date from the Co-Op
I use Allinson 'easy bake' dried yeast in all my bread Cc. I bought some Doves Farm 'original' dry yeast about a year ago - it's still in the cupboard.
I would prefer to use fresh bakers yeast, but it's not readily obtainable down 'ere.
Um gonna give this flour a go when I run out of my present Gilchesters flour. I used to get my flour freshly ground at a German elf food shop (have you seen those German elves!) in Tenerife back in the day. Triffic stuff, made proper wholemeal bread and worked like psyllium husks on the gut - saved me having to resort to coffee enemas :)
www.shipton-mill.com/flour-direct/extra-coarse-organic-wholemeal-flour-216.htm
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Pat on the back from me, CC.
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>> Yes indeed. Mrs doesn't cook, never has.
>>
Genuine question, what does she do if you're not there to cook a meal?
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Ah, I see. She does her own food, we don't eat the same things generally, unless I'm doing something she will eat (not often that happens). So she will do her own two fishfingers and a slice of bread or perhaps or a steak pie from packet to oven in her own time and call it a deal, just as she always has.
I suppose I should have realised early on that she was brought up in a family where food was so low on the list of things to do with your life that I recall sitting down to a meal (five of us) and discovering there were two beefburgers cooked, with a few ancillary items, which were then divided between us all.
Nobody, of course, could possibly eat a whole beefburger, you understand.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 29 Mar 16 at 11:15
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Only a culinary illiterate would eat a 'beefburger' at all. (Even iOS wants to split it into two words.) The OED's American edition lists the word as 'British', presumably because only the Brits would be so gastronomically clueless as to need telling that a hamburger isn't made of ham.
I cook for the family when I'm at home, not so much so Mrs Beest doesn't have to, as to ensure she doesn't. She can be trusted - sort of - to do sausages, mash and gravy, and she makes a respectable, if stodgy, Thai-influenced veg curry. After that we're down to frozen breadcrumbed fish with oven chips. OK for midweek when we've both been at work, but not a meal to lift the spirits.
Could be worse. She might have learned to cook like her mother.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Tue 29 Mar 16 at 11:30
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>> Only a culinary illiterate would eat a 'beefburger' at all. (Even iOS wants to split it into two words.) The OED's American edition lists the word as 'British', presumably because only the Brits would be so gastronomically clueless as to need telling that a hamburger isn't made of ham.
Maybe we're looking for accuracy ;)
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>> Could be worse. She might have learned to cook like her mother.
>>
...unfortunately, the odds are she will grow to look like her mother......
(who, I'm sure was a fine-looking woman, and all.........but..........)
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I suppose I should have realised early on that she was brought up in a
>> family where food was so low on the list of things to do with your
>> life that I recall sitting down to a meal (five of us) and discovering there were two beefburgers cooked, with a few ancillary items, which were then divided between us all.
>>
>> Nobody, of course, could possibly eat a whole beefburger, you understand.
>>
Big fans of rationing were they?
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Ok to bring this to a conclusion, A pair of T&G TipTop CrushGrind® Mill's have been purchased. As described further up the thread, no central screw thing, the "upside down" format will not leave a ring of ground pepper or salt, and the grinding action is superb.
Having better taste than some on here, they have matt black tops with sparkling clear acrylic bodies.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 31 Mar 16 at 17:05
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And now for the really important sheet. - Bromptonaut
