What's wrong with using pepper out of a can?

"~~ Shelly ~~" <~~ Shelly [email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with pre-ground,
pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

Fresh ground has lots of flavor. The pre-ground gets very flat tasting in a
short time. Try it once and you'll be converted.

~~ Shelly ~~ said...

Quoted message said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

TIA

~~ Shelly ~~

Always use fresh where you can. Much more intense flavor than ground/stale
herbs and spices.

Good cooks will opt for:

Fresh ground nutmeg
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
etc., etc.

Andy

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

"~~ Shelly ~~" <~~ Shelly [email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

Fresh ground has lots of flavor. The pre-ground gets very flat tasting in
a short time. Try it once and you'll be converted.

What he said. I could see where it might be chalked up to
snobbery/whatever, but it really does make a difference.
You would not confuse the two in flavor or aroma. Freshly
grated ginger is another example where the ground stuff in a
jar bears no resemblence, flavorwise.

nancy

Andy wrote on Sun, 06 May 2007 06:45:05 -0500:

??>> OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but
??>> have had not had any advanced training. What am I
??>> missing? What is wrong with pre-ground, pre-packaged
??>> pepper? Please enlighten me.
??>>
??>> TIA
??>>
??>> ~~ Shelly ~~

A> Always use fresh where you can. Much more intense flavor
A> than ground/stale herbs and spices.

A> Good cooks will opt for:

A> Fresh ground nutmeg
A> Fresh ground pepper
A> Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
A> etc., etc.

The named items are particularly good examples as are the
flavorings for many Indian dishes but there are spices that seem
to keep reasonably well, like paprika for example. Nevertheless,
I find that the simple coffee grinder that I keep for spices is
a well used tool!

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

~~ Shelly ~~ said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

TIA

~~ Shelly ~~

Oh, I dunno.. it is kinda like pre-grated, pre-packaged cheese. You
never know what else is in there and all that pre-exposure to air
lessens the flavor.
We always had a pepper mill at home when I was a child. Didn't you?
No one had any advanced training at my house either.

"~~ Shelly ~~" <~~ Shelly [email hidden]> news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was reading the Salt & Pepper "pinch" bowls thread and found that
almost all of the posters made a point to say that they freshly ground
their pepper as needed for recipes. One poster noted that he/she only
used freshly ground because if using the alternative one never knew
'what or who' was in it.

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not
had any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

I always have both on hand. I generally use fresh ground and have black,
red and green peppercorns on hand all the time. All 3 have subtley
different flavors IMO. I use a pepper mill to grind the peppercorns. I
think the fresh ground imparts a better/fresher flavor to a dish. I find
the whole peppercorns more versatile. You can grind it as fine as you like
or leave it coarser. I also use canned pepper but generally use it in
soups and stews that will cook for long periods of time.

Michael

--
This is how it works in my house. Click the pic to enlarge it:
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In article <[email hidden]>,

Edwin Pawlowski said:

Fresh ground has lots of flavor. The pre-ground gets very flat
tasting in a short time. Try it once and you'll be converted.

Amen. I didn't use much black pepper until I got a grinder
and tried fresh-ground. Now, I'm amazed at how fast I go
through peppercorns.

--
Mike Van Pelt | Wikipedia. The roulette wheel of knowledge.
mvp at calweb.com | --Blair P. Houghton
KE6BVH

Andy said:

~~ Shelly ~~ said...

Quoted message said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

Always use fresh where you can. Much more intense flavor than ground/stale
herbs and spices.

Good cooks will opt for:

Fresh ground nutmeg
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
etc., etc.

I find fresh ground pepper to have a much nicer flavour than pre ground,
the latter missing most of the zip and having more of the funky taste to
it. I was never able to get nutmeg any way other than pre ground in a can
until a few years ago. Now that I have "fresh" nutmeg and a grater it is
like a whole different spice, much better than the canned stuff. I grew up
thinking of Parmesan as the stuff that comes in a can, even in Italian
restaurants. Since the real think was more readily available I always buy
a wedge of it and grate it as needed.

In article <[email hidden]>,

~~ Shelly ~~' ~~ Shelly said:

I was reading the Salt & Pepper "pinch" bowls thread and found that almost
all of the posters made a point to say that they freshly ground their pepper
as needed for recipes. One poster noted that he/she only used freshly
ground because if using the alternative one never knew 'what or who' was in
it.

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had any
advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with pre-ground,
pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

TIA

~~ Shelly ~~

Try it sometime hon'. You can taste (and smell) the difference!
Pepper that is pre-ground has a lot of the aromatics evaporate as it
dries out.

It just ain't the same. ;-)

I do, however, draw the line at salt grinders.
I see no benefit to using those.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

In article said:

~~ Shelly ~~ said...

Quoted message said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

TIA

~~ Shelly ~~

Always use fresh where you can. Much more intense flavor than ground/stale
herbs and spices.

Good cooks will opt for:

Fresh ground nutmeg
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
etc., etc.

Andy

Seconded! :-)

Fresh herbs too if you can get them. Basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary,
etc.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

Dave Smith said:

until a few years ago. Now that I have "fresh" nutmeg and a grater it is
like a whole different spice....

Agreed. The difference is startling. This is also true for many
other spices, especially seed spices like cumin, celery seed,
coriander, cardamom, etc. These can also be enhanced by toasting in a
hot skillet. An electric whirly-blade coffee grinder or a good mortar
and pestle is invaluable in making short work of whole spices. Whole
spices also keep much better than preground which lose flavor quickly.

These babies rock, literally:

http://importfood.com/mortarpestle.html

I recently discovered I was completely out of both table and kosher
salt. At the last minute, I remembered I had a whole unused bag of
ice cream rock salt. Bingo! With my Thai m/p, I should be good for
any coarseness of salt I desire for years to come. 😉

nb

~~ Shelly ~~ said:

I was reading the Salt & Pepper "pinch" bowls thread and found that
almost all of the posters made a point to say that they freshly ground
their pepper as needed for recipes. One poster noted that he/she only
used freshly ground because if using the alternative one never knew
'what or who' was in it.

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

TIA

~~ Shelly ~~

The 'taste' that makes pepper really go wow disapates real quick, once
you grate it. All that you have left in pre-ground pepper is that sharp,
sometimes bitter hot flavor. I want more flavor than that in my pepper
so we always grind our own unless we're doing something that takes alot
of pepper like quantities of meat products (sausage, pastrami and the like)

Melondy

In article <[email hidden]>, "~~ Shelly ~~" <~~ Shelly
[email hidden]> says...

Quoted message said:

I was reading the Salt & Pepper "pinch" bowls thread and found that almost
all of the posters made a point to say that they freshly ground their pepper
as needed for recipes. One poster noted that he/she only used freshly
ground because if using the alternative one never knew 'what or who' was in
it.

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had any
advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with pre-ground,
pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

TIA

~~ Shelly ~~

It loses flavor after grinding. Try freshly ground high quality
peppercorns and you'll see what I mean.

--
Peter Aitken

Andy q said:

~~ Shelly ~~ said...

Quoted message said:

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had
any advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with
pre-ground, pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

Quoted message said:

TIA

Quoted message said:

~~ Shelly ~~

Always use fresh where you can. Much more intense flavor than ground/stale
herbs and spices.

Good cooks will opt for:

Fresh ground nutmeg
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
etc., etc.

Andy

I grew up with the pre-ground, pre-grated version of all of these
items. Parmesan cheese came in a round green box, I was probably 20
the first time that I purchased real Parmesan, I was amazed to see the
shimmer of the grated threads, and more amazed to watch it melt on top
of pasta, and the flavor, oh the flavor, from that moment on I was
sold of freshly grated parm. Nutmeg was a later discovery, again,
hook-line and sinker. Pepper, my mother switched to using a grinder
when I was in my late teens, I've never purchased "powdered pepper"
myself, and doubt that she has done so again either.

Jessica

~~ Shelly ~~' ~~ Shelly said:

I was reading the Salt & Pepper "pinch" bowls thread and found that almost
all of the posters made a point to say that they freshly ground their pepper
as needed for recipes. One poster noted that he/she only used freshly
ground because if using the alternative one never knew 'what or who' was in
it.

OK, it's obvious now that I'm an *interested* cook, but have had not had any
advanced training. What am I missing? What is wrong with pre-ground,
pre-packaged pepper? Please enlighten me.

I'm going to be the lone voice in the wilderness.

Preground is fine as long as you stay away from the powdery kind of
grind (awful stuff)... you'll grind the coarser grinds of pepper with
your teeth when you chew and get a better burst of flavor that way.

So, buy it in a can or bottle but be careful about the grind. I do
and I don't care what the rest of the rfc pepper snobs think. There
is no way I'm going to stand there and grind forever with a pepper
grinder to get a quarter teaspoon of pepper when I can dip instead.

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On 06 May 2007 13:40:32 GMT, [email hidden] (Mike Van Pelt)

Quoted message said:

Amen. I didn't use much black pepper until I got a grinder
and tried fresh-ground. Now, I'm amazed at how fast I go
through peppercorns.

Grinding a little over your food is a lot different from grinding a
lot to cook with. Buy a bigger grind of preground and notice the
taste difference from the powdery stuff people here seem to buy.

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On Sun, 06 May 2007 09:08:06 -0500, Omelet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I do, however, draw the line at salt grinders.

I love my salt grinder. It sits on the table next to my pepper
grinder.

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sf wrote on Sun, 06 May 2007 10:31:22 -0700:

??>> I do, however, draw the line at salt grinders.

s> I love my salt grinder. It sits on the table next to my
s> pepper grinder.

That's something I've always wondered about. What is different
about freshly ground salt?

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

On Sun, 6 May 2007 13:43:50 -0400, "James Silverton"

not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not said:

sf wrote on Sun, 06 May 2007 10:31:22 -0700:

??>> I do, however, draw the line at salt grinders.

s> I love my salt grinder. It sits on the table next to my
s> pepper grinder.

That's something I've always wondered about. What is different
about freshly ground salt?

I didn't claim it tastes different. It's a bit coarser than what
comes out of a shaker and I have better contol over the amount.

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