So the Mrs has requested a new pepper mill for Christmas. Don’t worry, it won’t be the only thing I’ll get her.
We currently have a salt and pepper set of small Peugeot Bali mills, and whilst they look great, the pepper mill is just awful - too small to hold much pepper, and very stiff to use. It just doesn’t work well.
So I’m looking for a larger, elegant and easy to use manual pepper mill. I’m leaning towards a Le Creuset one like this, and haven’t discounted a different Peugeot one as they are the market leaders in this stuff, but honestly, I’m a bit put off my current experience.
Have you found one you love? I’m leaning towards manual, as I’m not really a gadget person and feel like a manual one would be more practical. Less moving parts!
If you just want a few twists to put on your meal, then any one that you like the look of is probably fine. We have one by William Bounds, Pepper Grinder and Pepper Mill the bottom one on this page, with a small crank that makes it much easier to use than the usual twist tops.
I have a Peugeot u’Select mill in aluminum, though it replaced a similar one in wood. I had to replace that one because it cracked. The u’Select mechanism allows you to pick one of five grinding levels from fine to very coarse.
And another idea; a co-worker was happy to receive as a gift an electric mill because the traditional design requires two hands and that may be a problem while one is busy cooking. There are also manual designs that can be used one-handed.
My Peugeot mill is about seven or nine inches tall so it holds quite a bit of pepper. Looking at the one mentioned in the OP, I can see why you’re not happy but most of the brand’s mills are larger than that.
I wish I could find a good one-handed one to use while I’m cooking. If I’ve just cup up a chicken, or made a hamburger patty, or something like that, one of my hands has raw meat juice all over it. I’d like to be able to sprinkle on some salt and pepper with my clean hand, and spread it around with the other. I don’t want to leave a trail of bacteria on everything I touch, particularly something like a wood pepper grinder that I can’t give a thorough cleaning to.
I have a thumb push one on the table. It ain’t no kinda fancy brand. I think it was $8.99 on Amazon. I love it. Works just like you’d expect.
The one by the stove is a twister. Again not fancy. Stainless and glass. It’s stiff. Takes a good bit of twisting to get a teaspoon. I keep hoping it gets dropped and broken so I can justify a new one. Dang, that thing is tough.
I went with practical when my mill fell apart after a decade. I actually got 2 and put Mrs Cad Organic Grass-Fed Gluten-Free Himalayan pink salt in one, mostly because she never used it because she didn’t buy a grinder and I was tired of finding my kosher salt pig empty or hunting for it in another room.
We have a stainless one that looks like the Le Creuset one (but a cheapo version) by the stove. It can be a little unhandy (heh) to have to use both hands, but things by my stove get greasy and food-spattered, and the steel one is easy to surface clean. The last wood one we had slowly acquired a layer of gunk that was difficult to clean off without damaging the surface.
I prefer the twist model to anything that has a separate grinding lever or crank because the part that sticks out always seems to get bent or broken.
Looks like we’re a little rougher on pepper mills than some.
It’s indestructible- we’ve had one that gets fairly consistent and heavy use (we’re serious home cooks), and it just chugs along. It grinds fast as well. It’s not the finest grinder, but we’re usually not looking for super finely ground pepper anyway.
For anyone with bad wrists and hands who wants a super-functional pepper grinder that isn’t much to look at, this OXO Good Grips Radial Grinder is a breeze to use. https://a.co/d/bZZsl0m
I’m very curious about the Milk Street grinder up above.
