A Black Pepper Tutorial

When and How to Use Black Pepper
by Erica De Mane

Place a few black peppercorns in a mortar and give them a good grind with the pestle. Take a smell. Black pepper has a sharp, deep aroma that is not right for every dish. It should not be used like salt, as a seasoning to bring out the flavors of almost anything. It is itself a flavor.

In Italy it is added as a main seasoning to specific dishes such as spaghetti alla carbonara and pasta alla gricia, two Roman pastas that also contain pancetta and pecorino cheese. Some foods, especially ones containing basil (pesto for instance) are never traditionally seasoned with black pepper. The rationale is that basil is innately peppery, and adding another peppery element would confuse the palate. Tomato salads are usually served with only salt and olive oil in Italy. In fact, most of the green salads I've eaten there contained no black pepper.

Waiters grinding black pepper (or for that matter grating Parmigiano cheese) in America are usually not very discriminating. Don't let them hover over you blanketing everything you order. Even a dish that ordinarily benefits from pepper won't be helped when it has already been seasoned in the kitchen, and some chefs are as indiscriminate as waiters, routinely adding black pepper to just about everything they send out. When you yourself cook, take the time to make a judgment. Think of black peppercorns as an exotic luxury spice the way you do saffron.

My use of black pepper in cooking is quirky. Sometimes I can explain why I add or omit it in a certain dish, but sometimes I just have the feeling it doesn't belong. Whatever my decision, my taste is my guide. If I'm adding a hot chili, either dried or fresh, I'll probably not add black pepper, for its taste may get drowned out in all the heat. I weigh the innate pepperiness of my ingredients. I find arugula very peppery and usually omit black pepper from a dish that includes it (although some cooks like to reinforce peppery ingredients with more pepper, and I can sometimes see the logic in that). If I'm adding a fresh herb, such as marjoram, and I want its flavor to stand out, I may feel that black pepper would compete with it.

Certain seasonal vegetables, I find, taste purer without it, especially fresh peas, zucchini, and sweet bell peppers, yet I love black pepper on winter squash dishes, and I always add it to eggplant and artichokes. I wouldn't think of eating a nice rare steak without freshly ground black pepper, but squid and many other mild seafoods have a delicacy that I don't want overshadowed by it (however, I love it on just about any crab dish).

Black pepper is excellent on a Sicilian-style orange salad dressed with olive oil and in some desserts, especially those containing chocolate, where a play of sweet and spice can be very appealing. Strawberries tossed with balsamic vinegar and a grinding of black pepper make a haunting and delicious dessert. I like a touch of black pepper added to a fruit sorbet, too, especially one made with berries, where the spice will highlight both the sweetness and the acidity of the fruit.

In short, don't grind black pepper haphazardly. I'm always a little insulted when my dinner guests grind away like one of those waiters over the food I've taken so much care in preparing (I'm not as sensitive to guests adding salt, which is much less disruptive, but it is nice when they taste the food first). If you're not sure when and when not to add pepper, make a dish both with and without it and do a taste test. Does the pepper enhance or mask the flavor? That is the only question you need ask.