Black Pepper

[nakji]

A friend just came back from Sarawak with a bottle of reasonably fresh peppercorns for me. The smell off of them is incredible: you can smell the oil almost like pine resin. I'd like to make a recipe that really shows off the flavour, but I'm interested in your opinions.

Salt and pepper squid/shrimp are out, since my husband doesn't eat any seafood. (*sigh)

I was thinking about a cacio & pepe, but I don't have any particularly good pasta right now.

Any other ideas?

[andiesenji]

I add black pepper to shortbread and make other cookies with it.

Look at these recipes

It's not an uncommon flavoring - it was very popular in medieval times and during the Elizabethan era in all kinds of sweets.

Boiled honey confections flavored with black pepper were common.

[rarerollingobject]

Yotam Ottolenghi's black pepper tofu makes incredible use of black pepper, 5 Tbsp worth (though I bump it up more, maybe 7 Tbsp).

The recipe is here, but I have to say the pic in his book and the actual result look nothing like the photo on that page, more like the photo on this one.

[Mjx]

I was thinking spice cookies, but if it smells so good fresh, I'm thinking that incorporating it into a dish right before serving it would really show it off.

I also add it to ginger tea, even when I don't have a cold.

[Pierogi]

OHHHHHHHH, Mjx just lit a brain cell or 2 for me.

Pfeffernusse ! They're a German spice cookie usually made around the holidays. Some recipes don't use black pepper, but most do. They're sort of hard & crunchy and rolled in powdered sugar. An aquired taste, but if you like spicy, and peppery, they're quite good.

I don't have a recipe, but just pulled up a bunch from our buddy Google.

[Blether]

It's a shame you'll miss carbonara, but egg dishes, in general, I'd say. Or strawberries, if you get them in winter as you'll remember having done in Japan.

Otherwise, one of =&chefs[]=&programmes[]="]these ?

[Doodad]

Our favorite local Chinese place has a menu item called Black Pepper {insert protein}.

I am not sure it is authentic in any way, but it sure is good. The meat is treated like General Tso's with the batter chock full of pepper. The sauce is less sticky sweet than Tso's and has pepper in it as well. It really is good.

Other than that, a good Steak Au Poivre makes me happy.

[Darienne]

Popcorn with olive oil and black pepper is one. Pepper ice cream is another. Both wonderful!

[Lisa Shock]

You can infuse vodka with it for a tasty drink.

[Tri2Cook]

One of my Thai books has a recipe in it for a black pepper pork dish. I don't remember which book and don't remember the name of the dish but I've done it. It's tasty if you like heavy on the pepper (which I do). I'll have to browse through my books and figure out where I saw it. It's a book I've had for at least 15 years so it's not new. For some reason I'm thinking it was really simple with cracked pepper and fish sauce featuring prominently but I could be wrong, it's been a while.

[nakji]

It's a shame you'll miss carbonara, but egg dishes, in general, I'd say. Or strawberries, if you get them in winter as you'll remember having done in Japan.

Otherwise, one of =&chefs[]=&programmes[]="]these ?

Yeah, we do get strawberries in February too - but they taste like February strawberries - tasteless. The pan-fried figs with black pepper and yogurt from the BBC site looks seriously delicious, however.

One of my Thai books has a recipe in it for a black pepper pork dish. I don't remember which book and don't remember the name of the dish but I've done it. It's tasty if you like heavy on the pepper (which I do). I'll have to browse through my books and figure out where I saw it. It's a book I've had for at least 15 years so it's not new. For some reason I'm thinking it was really simple with cracked pepper and fish sauce featuring prominently but I could be wrong, it's been a while.

Oh, that sounds excellent and quite up my alley. Was it minced pork or strips, maybe?

[Kerry Beal]

Roast those February strawberries with a bit of sugar and add the pepper. I made a roasted strawberry crumble (or crisp - can't recall which is which) while I was up north a few weeks back and added lots of pepper to it.

[Tri2Cook]

Oh, that sounds excellent and quite up my alley. Was it minced pork or strips, maybe?

I'll look for the book today, it's been a really long time since I made it. I think garlic figured pretty strongly in the dish as well but it will be easier just to dig out the book than to try to remember it all. I remember it being really simple in terms of number of ingredients, powerful in flavor and, if I remember correctly, it was used to illustrate a point about spicy Thai dishes before chile peppers were introduced... but I could be making that part up.

[Kim Shook]

I infuse honey with fresh cracked black pepper and then use the honey on cheese for a cheese board or cheese toast appetizers. This honey is also good drizzled on bleu cheese stuffed puff pastry pockets.

[Nayan Gowda]

You could also look to where pepper originated; India.

There are plenty of recipes from Southern India that use pepper as the major flavour (and heat) component; such as Rasam, Pepper rice, Black pepper chicken etc.

[DTBarton]

Simple, but rub a good steak with butter and/or olive oil and give it a healthy coating of a bit of salt and a heavy shot of fresh ground pepper. Pan sear in a hot pan.

[andiesenji]

Black pepper potato chips or crisps or fries.

Works great on fried sweet potatoes also.

My neighbor makes fried yuca "chips" with black pepper and ground dried lemon with sea salt.

[Blether]

Yes ! Mashed potatoes; clapshot; mashed rutabaga with a little butter.

[Dianabanana]

Mark Bittman has a very good and very simple Vietnamese stir-fry recipe in his Best Recipes in the World based primarily on fish sauce and a ton of freshly ground black pepper. I haven't made it in many months so I'm afraid I'd muck it up trying to tell it to you from memory, but for a while there I was making it all the time as an emergency dinner because it's so fast to put together. And delicious. It's at the end of the vegetable section.

[AAQuesada]

Biscuits and gravy I love my sawmill gravy with lots of fresh ground black peeper. mmmmmm and some soft scrambled eggs

[cbread]

Neither corn chowder nor spaghetti carbonara work right without a strong dose of black pepper.

[merstar]

Steak au Poivre.

[janeer]

Steak au Poivre.

Ditto. Also, I make a sweetish, black pepper biscotti that are great with cocktails. Maida Heatter has recipe for black pepper pound cake, as I recall.

[Darienne]

Done in by all the talk of black pepper. Had same for supper on my popcorn with olive accompanied by my own version of Orange Julep.

[djyee100]

The archvillain Cruella de Vil from The 101 Dalmatians (Dodie Smith's original story) loved black pepper. This was Cruella's dinner party menu:

The soup was dark purple. And what did it taste of? Pepper!

The fish was bright green. And what did it taste of? Pepper!

The meat was pale blue. And what did that taste of? Pepper!

Everything tasted of pepper, even the ice cream--which was black.

I was fascinated by this menu when I was a kid.

But maybe you wouldn't want to serve anything like that?

Since you have some great black pepper, I suggest making a flavored oil as your best chance to preserve its aromatic qualities. Crack some peppercorns, steep them in a jar with some good oil, and taste regularly until the flavor is as strong as you like it. Then strain the oil, pack it in a well-sealed jar, and use it as a drizzling oil or garnish for various dishes.

You could also look into some kind of Korean grilled beef with plenty of black peppercorns in it.

On the sweet side, you could put a healthy dose of black pepper into gingerbread (I recall David Tanis's new cookbook, Heart of the Artichoke, has a gingerbread recipe like that). Or you could make a spicy fruit compote with black pepper and other spices, like David Lebovitz's recipe for poached pears. Here:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/11/how-to-make-poached-pears/

Also, these Lemon Black Pepper Cornmeal Cookies (from Lori Longbotham) were a hit with people when I baked them:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Black-Pepper-Cornmeal-Cookies-105885

Years ago I made Alice Waters' recipe for lemon-pepper chicken wings from her Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook. This is the basic recipe: Make a marinade from 2 sliced lemons, 4 cloves crushed garlic, 2 tsp crushed black peppercorns, 1/3 cup olive oil. Marinate 12 chicken wings in this mixture at cool room temperature for 4-5 hours. Lightly salt the wings before you cook them. Then grill or roast the chicken wings. I roasted the chicken wings in a 400 degree oven for 40 mins, turning the wings halfway through cooking time.

The results were good, but not great. The recipe certainly shows off black pepper. If I were making this recipe today, I would add in something else to make the flavor profile more complex: some soy sauce, maybe a little dry ginger, and definitely something sweet, like brown sugar, to balance off the spiciness of the black pepper. Have fun if you decide to play with this one.