White Pepper
and the biggest fight of my marriage
I love white pepper, the depth it brings to an entrée or salad, for goodness sake, I put it in my pimento cheese! Always have, always will!
It’s the inner core of a peppercorn, with the rough texture of the black exterior ground off, leaving the smooth “white” interior that is just so smoky and delicious.
I’m gonna spill the beans here, just tell it like it was: Big Daddy and I had the worst argument EVER over white pepper. We were privileged to participate in a retreat for a board on which he served, and the retreat included a cooking class at a notable manufacturer. Well, the chef was somewhat a little hoity-toity, and when she made the comment, white pepper is just so incredibly hard to find, I blurted out, “No it isn’t, it’s at the Kroger down the road!”
My husband was furious, embarrassed, outdone with me, and although certain members of the audience had the best laugh in years, I hit a nerve! Whenever I run into some of the wonderful participants of said retreat, they still tell me it was one of the best laughs of their lives! My husband and I had separate journeys home, I’m not kidding!
So back to white pepper, use sparingly, use judiciously, whenever you taste your dish and can’t decide exactly what it needs, think white pepper. I know I keep saying, depth, but that is exactly what transpires. It’s a smokiness that takes over, and you think, white pepper where have you been????
About that pimento cheese, I use a one pound block of extra sharp cheddar cheese - grated by yours truly, the only way to go, because it maintains the moisture content - several jars of well drained pimentos - depends on the way you like the dish to look, personally, I prefer lots of pimentos - and only Hellman’s mayo - don’t waste your time with salad dressing mess, too sweet! Then, pinches of that beautiful white pepper all over the top, incorporate, and perhaps sprinkle again.
My sister in law recently commented on my pimento cheese sammies, “This kinda has a little “kick” to it, what’s going on??”
White pepper!
Even with the 4th of July passed us, my beautiful flags are still floating, flying, fluttering on my boat dock! I turned over in bed the other night to a spotlight coming into my living room! I got up and went to check it out — later informed that said boaters were probably frog gigging! And hopefully not stealing my beautiful flags! So, I just might have to find some frog legs, gosh, but I do love me some broiled, bacon wrapped frog legs with lemon pepper and a dash of Lea and Perrin and Italian dressing! Couldn’t Big Daddy do a deal on that with his grilling expertise! And a dash of white pepper wouldn’t hurt those legs a bit! And yes, they DO taste somewhat like chicken, but everyone needs a little adventure in eating!! Get over it!
Celebrate our country, celebrate yourselves, and God’s peace and tender mercies to you all!
I remain, with lots of humor, I hope,
Your Cooking Lady
XOXO
PS A few recipes I love that include white pepper:
