They’re just more convenient next to the stove, particularly in a restaurant setting. Ain’t no cook got time for a salt shaker in that environment. Of course, that’s a much larger container than for a home cook. Good cooking (in my opinion, of course) requires an astonishing amount of salt, and a shaker just isn’t up to the task. I like to be able to just reach over and either grab a healthy pinch, or to just pick up the bowl and shovel some into a pot of pasta water.
Thank you.
Teak salt mill and pepper grinder, bought at Harrods.
Brabantia salt and pepper crushers, each of which can be operated one-handed. We were told only to put black peppercorns, even though the picture shows multi-colored peppercorns.
Stoneware salt and pepper shakers, which match our tableware.
Various salts (pink, black, sea, etc.) received as a gift.
Currently don’t have any Jacobson salt, but I’ll be closer to the source next month.
Special snowflake, dontcha know.
This is me.
Salt is invisible coming out of a shaker. I can’t understand how people judge how much salt is going on the food.
For cooking there’s an old gelato container full of kosher salt by the stove. I used to use shakers there, but they kept disappearing. No one has ever taken off with my gelato “cellar.” I very much prefer fresh ground pepper, so I have a pepper mill near the stove too. Sometime soon though, I’m going to have to give in and get an electric one. On the dining table there are mills for both, and a special shaker for my “fake” salt.
While there is a substantial difference between a food mill and a food grinder, pepper mill and pepper grinder CAN be used interchangeably. I had one once that was technically a shaver - it shaved the corns into incredibly thin slices. That thing was the bomb, but it finally died, and I’ve never been able to find another one.
Well, my wife found the old pepper grinder in the garage, and told me, “don’t give it away!”
Anyone have any suggestions of what I can put into it that isn’t pepper? The new pepper grinder delivers prodigious quantities of pepper that the old one doesn’t. Should I fill it with salt? Is that compatible with a pepper grinder? Or maybe, cardamom? Definitely not nutmeg or cassia.
Forgot about the margarita salt. Seems that many bars are trying to get away with using normal table salt on their margaritas. Homes standards are a bit higher.
Toasted coriander seeds, mustard seeds, allspice, maybe toasted cumin seeds, but they’re small.
I use salt and pepper mills. I have a few different sets. I would like a salt cellar for the counter near the stove but I haven’t found one I like yet.
Cumin! That’s the ticket. I’ll experiment with them; hopefully they won’t jam up the clockwork.
Freshly-ground pepper is just nicer than the preground stuff in a can, so a pepper grinder.
And I’ve actually gotten into the habit of using a salt grinder as well because it’s a finer grind.