Delicious ground pepper recipes
July 22, 2016 12:41 AM   Subscribe

I just bought a new pepper grinder and am looking for some recipes that will let me use it as much as possible. I saw this thread about using whole peppercorns but I am specifically looking for recipes that use ground pepper. My pepper grinder has settings to grind from fine to coarse so any type of recipe that uses large amounts of ground pepper is welcome!
posted by newsomz to Food & Drink (22 answers total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
This recipe for cacio e pepe calls for both toasted pepper at the start and fresh pepper passed at the table. But of course you'll also want to makes loads of peppery tomato sandwiches, too...
posted by kmennie at 1:19 AM on July 22, 2016 [6 favorites]


This won't use a tonne of pepper, but: raspberries + black pepper. Indeed, most soft berries work well with pepper.
posted by scruss at 2:16 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I don't have a recipe for it, but a Lebanese friend make a delicious soup with good quality, well-seasoned chicken stock, rice, chopped vegetables (carrots, green beans), lots and lots of lemon juice, and vast quantities of ground black pepper. The pepper/rice combo admittedly gives the soup a grey, cloudy look, but that's punctuated by pops of colour from the vegies. Most importantly, it tastes extraordinarily delicious.
posted by brushtailedphascogale at 4:09 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


I personally love fresh pepper, I love the floral aroma and taste it gives. (you have GOOD peppercorns, right? Fresh ones? I like tellicherry.) I use a lot. In order to really taste the pepper and get that floral spicy aroma I find it is best on simple flavours so that the pepper doesn't get muddled or lost. This is just me, but simple pan fried haddock is absolute perfection with a tonne of fresh ground pepper on it. Yes, it drowns out the light fish, blah blah, but man it tastes good.

Similarly, fried eggs. Or boiled or poached. Basically, plain eggs, a bit of salt, and then go to town on the pepper.


My father makes beef where he gets a super thick cut of beef (tenderloin or striploin), absolutely coats it in fresh ground pepper, then sears on all sides it in a super hot pan. He finishes it in a 400 degree oven for ~8 minutes (really depends upon the size of your meat), lets it rest, and then cuts it into thin strips. For people who aren't as comfortable with the quite rare meat, he will sear the cut sides of each slice for maybe two seconds in a hot pan, just to make it look less rare for them. But really, that isn't necessary.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 5:15 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


This recipe does not have a lot of pepper in it but it was the one that convinced me that good ground pepper is amazing in shortbreads. A little googling can get you some great pepper shotbread recipes.
posted by jessamyn at 7:20 AM on July 22, 2016


Steak au poivre? Pfeffernüsse? Homemade pastrami? I use quite a bit more pepper in my mustard potato salad than most recipes I see. I've eaten a lot of leftover rice reheated with butter in the microwave and topped with ground pepper. I also use a generous amount on my coleslaw.
posted by Bruce H. at 7:29 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Cottage cheese is amazing (to me) with a ton of pepper in it and a little salt. I typically use about 1-1.5 tsp ground pepper per 6-oz cup of cottage cheese. Eat with cut veggies or crackers. Also, black pepper is fantastic on cubed watermelon sprinkled generously with feta cheese: I gleefully had that watermelon for a couple of days this week. Ground pepper also makes a lovely crust on top of a meatloaf instead of that gross old fashioned ketchup goo: Just mix up your favorite meatloaf recipe, put it in the loaf pan and coat the everlovin' bejeezus out of it with a thick layer of black pepper, sprinkle with salt & a couple pats of butter before baking; makes a fantastic savory meatloaf that's even good cold sliced in sandwiches.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 7:30 AM on July 22, 2016 [6 favorites]


Best answer: You could make a curry like this one.

Ooh, Bloody Marys!

Here's a delicious-looking list of peppery recipes from The Guardian.
posted by treachery, faith, and the great river at 7:37 AM on July 22, 2016


Best answer: Hello fellow pepper enthusiast! Came to specifically mention bloody marys and raw tomatoes. In summer (like now), my lunch is usually a whole, huge beefsteak tomato, perfectly ripe and at room temperature (never fridge cold, don't refrigerate your whole tomatoes!) and totally covered in fresh ground black pepper (with a bit of salt).

We make variations on the Chinese classic pepper/garlic tofu quite a lot. Here are a couple recipes we've used (I prefer the second one, surprisingly).

I'd also point out this very excellent vegan burger recipe. The burgers themselves are pretty good, but omg the sauce... make the sauce, put it in a jar in the fridge, slather it on everything.

Black Pepper Sauce
1 Tablespoon whole black Peppercorns (double it!)
1 cup Vegetable Stock
2 Tablespoons Rice Milk
1 Tablespoon Sugar
¼ teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Sweet Dark Soy Sauce
2 teaspoons Regular Dark Soy (we replace both of these soy sauces with a single good tamari)
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 Tablespoon Vegan Butter

Using a spice grinder, freshly grind your peppercorns and then transfer it to a bowl. Add Vegetable stock, rice milk, sugar, salt, sweet dark soy, regular dark soy and cornstarch into the bowl. Whisk to combine.

Transfer mixture to a small saucepan and add your knob of vegan butter. Whisk over low heat till butter has melted, and then bring to a boil so that the sauce thickens. Once thickened, pour into a bowl and set aside
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:26 AM on July 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Steak au poivre!
posted by xingcat at 8:33 AM on July 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


Are you getting good summer tomatoes where you are?

Good tomatoes and a cucumber or two chopped roughly with drained (rinsed if you want) cottage cheese, a good dose of black pepper and just a little salt.

I only recently found out that this isn't something everyone makes in the summer.
posted by cmoj at 9:53 AM on July 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Here's what I do. I cook the finest spaghettini I can find. I drain it, toss it with butter, then toss it with fresh ground parmesan cheese, then grind a FuckTon of fresh black pepper on it. This is my comfort food to end all comfort foods.

A million years ago, a waiter asked me if I wanted pepper on my pasta, and I said yes and my then-boyfriend said "Get ready. She'll never want you to stop grinding." Sometimes they just leave the grinder with me.
posted by janey47 at 10:25 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Chocolate-pepper cookies
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:42 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Fresh ground black pepper goes well with potato soup.

If you can find a potato salad recipe with lots of black pepper, that is also good. I have seen this called "Creole potato salad," but I am failing to find a recipe online.
posted by Michele in California at 11:21 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Chinese hot and sour soup uses a good amount of white pepper. I like this recipe (though I do switch out the hard-to-find mushrooms for basic oyster/shiitake/enoki mushrooms and omit the lily buds and it still tastes amazing).
posted by urbanlenny at 11:51 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


This isn't a ton of pepper recipe, but the pepper shines through and is delicious. I get extra excited about it when I have nice pepper. Also, seasonally relevant:

Zucchini Soup:
1 onion, diced (~1 cup)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2T Margarine (or butter)
2lbs Zucchini, cut into ~1/2 inch pieces
1t (or so) Salt
1/4 t (I like a bit more) Pepper
5.5 cups veggie broth or water (I prefer water)
1T flour (theoretically, you can leave this out and it becomes gf)

Everything gets pureed, so don't worry about chopping things nicely, and I've never actually measured anything for this recipe. Eyeballing always works.

In a soup pot:
Saute garlic and onion in the Margerine over medium-low heat til the onion is soft and getting clear.
Add Zucchini chunks and some salt and pepper (wait til the soup is cooked to season completely).
Cook covered until tender.
Sprinkle flour over veggies. Stir well.
Stir in Broth.
Bring to a boil.
Turn down to a heat and simmer for 5 minutes or so.
Puree. Check seasoning and add salt or pepper accordingly.
Garnish and serve. (PS This soup freezes really well AND is good cold.)

Slightly adjusted but basically from the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge Cookbook.
posted by beccasaurus at 1:30 PM on July 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


Make some dry rub. Paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, kosher salt, chili powder, cumin, cayenne and plenty of fresh ground black pepper (coarse). Rub some chicken or ribs.
posted by fixedgear at 4:34 PM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Another one:

Cut fresh sweet corn off the cob, put it in a wide saute pan with enough dry, acidic white wine to cover, and lots and lots of coarsely ground black pepper. Enough that it's like spicy with black pepper. Simmer that until any the wine is reduced enough to come together with the starch in the corn so as to coat the kernels. Salt if needed. It can be served hot or chilled.
posted by cmoj at 4:35 PM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ricotta cheese and black pepper is a banging combo. Get the good, ungodly expensive stuff or make your own - I use this recipe by Smitten Kitchen. (I've tried it with the varying ratios of cream to milk, and found that mostly milk is good enough for my purposes.)

Fresh bread + smear of ricotta + lots of coarse pepper = heaven. I also really like cucumber with a dollop of cucumber, lots of pepper, and a single caper. Sounds weird, but it's crispy/sweet/creamy/salty all at once.

Someone already suggested berries and I wanted to second that, specifically for strawberries. Macerate some strawberries, crank on a goodly amount of fine pepper, eat straight or with vanilla ice cream. Here's an article from Food Hacks about why it tastes so good.
posted by punchtothehead at 6:54 PM on July 22, 2016




Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far! They are all great. I marked the ones I'm likely to try first as "best answers" but really appreciate all the suggestions. Below are a few things I've tried so far:

1. Plum tarts with honey & black pepper. I forgot the honey but these turned out to be a great use of some pepper.

2. Potato salad w/ extra pepper... along the lines of what Michele in California suggested.

I'd love any additional suggestions so keep them coming!
posted by newsomz at 7:33 AM on July 23, 2016


My wife made this for us this very evening and it was really fantastic - it's got that wonderful warm heat you get from black pepper and is incredibly moreish: Chicken with Peppercorns and Shredded Ginger
posted by parm at 12:17 PM on July 25, 2016


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