TV chefs and black pepper
I watch a lot of Food Network shows. I am constantly amazed at how the chefs use black pepper. They'll be making a huge pot of something or other and then add a pinch of salt (okay) and a couple of grinds of fresh ground black pepper. I know they're rushed, but it's nowhere near enough! You just can't taste that tiny amount of pepper! When I try recipes, I always wind up putting a lot more pepper in than they use on the show. Does anybody else do this? Or is it that everyone else can taste that tiny amount of pepper and I just have a lousy palate?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
14 Comments:
No I do the same thing and have wondered about that as well. I always end up putting if not equal to salt then pretty close when I cook, but I also like pepper.
Sarahrm at 7:50PM on 04/21/08
Notable exceptions: Alton Brown, Good Eats who measures everything, and Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa. Her salt and pepper are in small bowls and she always measures. Often she'll use half the amount of pepper as she did salt, but sometimes they'll be equal amounts. I've never seen her do a couple of grinds. Her recipes are usually perfect, too. It makes a difference.
PerkyMac at 8:01PM on 04/21/08
I am always talking to the TV when I see them put a few grinds of the pepper in. I think "who's going to taste that?" We like pepper. I always add "to taste".
izatryt at 8:15PM on 04/21/08
I've read that the use of black pepper is actually overused in combination with salt most of the time. I think the saying went something like "just because a dish needs seasoning, doesn't mean it needs both salt AND pepper, usually just salt"... I don't know... I usually always do both, but I do follow the rule that only white pepper be used on fish, no black pepper.
jonfoxx at 9:31PM on 04/21/08
Have to agree, more pepper, but then again they may just be too lazy to stand there and grind away. Although I want Alton Brown to make me his pepper grinder ;) you know the one attached to the drill !!! ;)
huney_bumper at 9:37PM on 04/21/08
I'm always amused by the ones who will say something daft like "seven grinds of pepper." What kind of a measurement is that? Your peppermill and mine are going to give different amounts of pepper per "grind" whatever that means.
And the mills they use are sometimes just as silly. They might look impressive on a table, and fthey might be fine for adding a few grinds per person to a serving, but in the kitchen they're not as practical.
dbcurrie at 10:05PM on 04/21/08
I tend to use more pepper than tv chefs. I don't follow any particular rules on the use of black v white. I use whatever by taste buds tell me at the moment.
GumbeauxGal at 10:49PM on 04/21/08
I certainly add more pepper than TV chefs seem to when I cook. In fact, I have different black pepper grinders for cooking and "for the table". There is a reason for that - the one that I use for cooking is quite large, and each "grind" yields a rather generous amount of pepper. The one that I put on the dining table is this gadgety double-sided thingie - one side grinds coarse sea salt, another one - black pepper, but it produces very modest amounts of each per "grind". So indeed, "seven grinds" doesn't really mean much.
I agree with Perky - Ina and Alton always measure, and while I may never do it the same way myself, it gives you a significantly better idea of what they actually use as opposed to "x number of grinds".
brooke29 at 10:54PM on 04/21/08
I think there are far too many differences in culture and taste for there to be any one good answer. Being from Michigan I tend to use more salt and less pepper than folks I know from South Carolina or Virginia. "To Taste" seems to be just right.
At the same time, I question the skills of anyone who says they never season the food they cook based on diners adding salt and pepper before eating. This tells me the cook isn't tasting the food they're cooking and have no clue what the result will be.
LunaPierCook at 6:24AM on 04/22/08
I add a lot more pepper than do the TV chefs, but then again, I add more pepper than almost everyone I know. Re: the TV chefs, I think the point is just to season to taste, not to add any specific amount. Does the audience want to watch the chef stand there and twist the mill 27 times? It would probably be boring.
juliec at 8:16AM on 04/22/08
@LunaPierCook; What you said!
izatryt at 8:56AM on 04/22/08
I tend to add more pepper than the cooks on tv, but I also add less salt. I'm also weird in that I do not like food as salty as normal people, but I love peppery food. Give me a really peppery chicken noodle soup, and I am in heaven.
buffyholic at 1:23PM on 04/22/08
Another thing I've noticed happens sometimes when a chef is making a very spicy dish. I've seen Bobby Flay, for example, adding jalapenos and serrano chiles and various other chiles, all of them hot, then adding a large amount of cayenne pepper - all of this would be enough to set fire to my mouth - and THEN he adds a couple of grinds of black pepper. There is just no way I could taste the black pepper through the raging inferno of the other spices. Wow.
minstrel at 2:33PM on 04/22/08
I've never noticed it except when Ina Garten roasts a chicken or turkey and she uses what appears to be a pinch or two of pepper for the whole bird. (I sit there and think that surely you hae to use more than that. Or maybe I have small fingers and my pinches are not as big as everyone else's.)
I think it also depends on the output of your pepper grinder, some like the Magnum, give you a lot of pepper per grind.
http://nujoikitchendiary.blogspot.com/
NuJoi at 11:54AM on 04/24/08