Hi
Any food and cooking heads out there found a really good pepper mill, I've just broken about the 3rd one in 4 years. I do a lot of cooking and they don’t seem to stand up to it. Any pro type gadgets out there that will stand the test of time?
Martin

Bloody good question Martin.

The best ones to buy have the "T&G crushgrind" mech.

http://www.tg-woodware.com/sandp.html

These have ceramic grinding parts which don't touch, so they will never wear out or corrode. They are also adjustable. This mech allows the adjustment from the bottom and not relying on a stupid adjustment knob on the top, which loosens as you use it.

Brushed stainlees steel is the best practical finish for the outside. Chrome doesn't like the salt and wood is no good for the kitchen.

I've bought, tried, wasted money on lots of others and this mech works.

Whatever you do, don't buy the "William Bounds" pile of junk. They seem to sell in posh shops advertising that they're the best mills, but they're rubbish. I bought two and they don't grind well to start with, not very good at adjusting, rust inside, chrome flakes off the outside adjustment ring as the corrosion spreads. All this within a year and they were £35 each!

Any more advice needed on kitchen items, please don't hesitate to ask. I might start a thread to moan about my crap £800 Smeg fridge and the crap after sales service. I ended up writing to the MD of Smeg telling him what I thought about the design of inner freezer door, but that's another story.

[This message was edited by count.d on SATURDAY 08 November 2003 at 18:03.]

Many thanks count.d
I'm on to it
Martin

Don't talk to me about freezers Plastic drawers that go brittle and break with the cold (That's clever, eh?!)
My ceramic mech pepper mill broke last week too. The retaining bar on the bottom dropped off.

I used to frequent an Italian sandwich bar in London. One day, one of the staff had a fit about the new pepper mill he was using. The gist of the moan was that the new pepper mill mechanism wasn't made by Peugeot and was therefore a pile of <quickly spoken italian>.

With this in mind I bought a pepper mill with a Peugeot grinder and it has performed sterling service ever since.

I've just done some googling ..

http://www.cookware-online.co.uk/ishop/930/shopscr1435.html

A mate of mine has a Peugeot pepper mill and it is still going strong after about 5 years. His isn't ceramic though, but it does work well.

Peugeot are used in many pepper mills and very often used in the catering industry.

I have about a dozen in the loft.

They're junk.

Quote...I have about a dozen in the loft.

Why buy them if they are junk and more importanly why store them.

Dump them

Regards

Mick

Mick,

I've been given them in the past. My Dad was in the catering industry and I also buy them for photographic props (diff shapes, sizes & finishes, etc..)

But if you are not going to use them, donate them to the local charity shop or something. Do you really photgraph them that often.

My mother in law has stuff going back to the war which she never uses.....you are heading that way.

Regards

Mick....chucker outer supreme

Mick,

I think you're right.

My loft is full of rubbish. Many empty boxes. For example photographic boxes, hifi boxes, Disney collectable boxes, collectable teapot boxes, dvd boxes..... you never know when you might need them!

Perhaps we should start a thread about the daftest thing in your loft?

Junk - I doubt it, just good solid tried and trusted materials designed and manufactured properly. Much like a certain brand of hifi.

The fact that they are used widely in the catering industry should tell you all that you need to know, value and reliability wise, businesses don't like wasting money on grinders that will break easily.

Peugeot are a much better grinder than Cole and Mason (IMHO) for example and the pepper is ground just how I like it.

Richard,

Please believe me. Just think of me as a character from Wacky Races who finds out lots of strange useless facts. I never get involved in long posts, I don't have the time.

quote:

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The fact that they are used widely in the catering industry should tell you all that you need to know, value and reliability wise, businesses don't like wasting money on grinders that will break easily.

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The reason why they're used in the catering industry is that most pepper mills are stolen before they break.(another useless fact)

Not sure I could buy a 'Smeg' fridge even if it was good.

quote:

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Originally posted by Rasher:
Don't talk to me about freezers Plastic drawers that go brittle and break with the cold (That's clever, eh?!)
My ceramic mech pepper mill broke last week too. The retaining bar on the bottom dropped off.

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Ditto !

Mine also had a ceramic mill. The retaining bar sh@ itself last week and in the process deposited shards of plastic over my meal.

I think the brand was Cole and Mason.

What IS the king of the pepper mill ?

quote:

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Originally posted by Alex S.:
Not sure I could buy a 'Smeg' fridge even if it was good.

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There's a brand called Smeg?! I really have been away too long.

Davie

A classic "Cell" thread...

We have a wooden pepper mill from a german company called Monopol. It's a tradional coke bottle shaped mill, which uses a steel grinder, although they use ceramic grinders in their salt mills (against corrosion ?). It's distinctive due to the steel collars at the top and bottom.

We seen the same mill in the kind of resturants the guests don't steal from, and none of our guests have ever tried to leave with it, probably because it's 38cm tall. I suspect this is the reason it works so well- ie the grinder mechanism is large enough to be robust and rigid. Its been adjusted once and that's it ! Grind away !

Recommended !

http://www.monopol.de/

What's the best black pepper ?

Regards,

Brian OReilly

Bhoyo, without doubt SMEG make the best domestic appliences in the world, they are pricey but they are the best.

Pepper Mills? I try not to get snobby on these things, they are cheap and do a simple function. Even the cheapest one works on the same premise, the tighter the top is screwed on, the finer the pepper.

At work we usually have a 'footer' or a big one, but typically nower days we purchase rough ground pepper, because quite frankly seasoning a dish for 60 people or more takes many many many turns of the pepper mill.

Something Delia never promoted on her shows, always showing the custom half turn, or 'Why f**king bother' turn.

What's the best black pepper ?
Good point Brian, I use Bart Spices organic but wood love to find some specialist type stuff
Yours the food anorak
Martin