Pepper Mills

[WayneJ]

I'm a pepper lover and I like it fresh.
26 years ago, my in-laws bought my wife and I a small moulin a poivre (that's french for pepper mill) for our first anniversary. I didn't appreciate it right away, but I've come to love it more with each passing year. Made by the Brothers Peugeot and it produces a great grind, with loads of range from coarse to fine. Over the years, we bought two more. One dedicated to the dining room table, one to the stove top and one little favorite for special pepper.

The "family"


The working end you'll find on the Peugots today


My little fave


Little Fave's working end (best quality mill ever)


Peugeot made some nice bikes, but their mills are really nice. If you don't own one, treat yourself to one soon.


Take advantage of a relatively inexpensive way to increase your enjoyment of pepper and food. A warning ... you will put pepper on everything. I tried it on chilled peaches once and it was really interesting. Your results may vary.

Happy Holidays,
WayneJ

[jsmillerjr]

Almost bought a Peugeot yesterday....have gone through a series of cheap ones with mixed results. Had I read this before shopping yesterday I would have pulled the trigger.

[Too Tall]

A man after my own heart. A few yrs. back we gave mom a Peugot salt mill. Nearly the same thing really.
My daily grind:

[WayneJ]

Toots,

That salt mill looks a lot like my camping coffee mill, shown here:
Zassenhaus Turkish Mill: Bald Mountain Coffee

[Too Tall]

Apologies for the confusion. We bought mom a wood Peugot salt mill similar to your pepper mill, really it is the daughter product. That brass job is an Atlas pepper mill. I've heard they were orig. designed to grind coffee.

Pepper grinders and toasters, what the he!! You can spend forever finding the right thing.

[RIHans]

In the Stop and Shop, or Piggly Wiggly near you. I use it all the time, fresh cracked...

Small enough so the corns are fresh for 6 months or so.

[sonny]

In the Stop and Shop, or Piggly Wiggly near you. I use it all the time, fresh cracked...

Small enough so the corns are fresh for 6 months or so.

many will scoff
but i really like the trend of mini throwaway grinders on even cheap salt and pepper
so much better than "pre-ground"

[WayneJ]

many will scoff
but i really like the trend of mini throwaway grinders on even cheap salt and pepper
so much better than "pre-ground"

I don't think anyone would scoff. Fresh peper, regardless of how you crush, crack or grind it is always better than pre-ground. Those little plastic jobs are great for traveling or picnics, but I have had the working parts fail before all the peppercorns were used up.

Good tools are fun to use and for me, enhance the overall experience.

[rydesteel]

I've got a couple of the older style OXO pepper mils. Cheap, easy to adjust and a nice handle. I keep salt in one and I've got a couple others for different peppers.

[bking]

Some nice looking mills. I too am one who insists on fresh ground pepper, and i use a lot of it. I do a fair amount of cooking for large groups so a fast grind is important. To date the clear winner is the Magnum Plus:Unicorn® Peppermills by Tom David, Inc. - Magnum Plus ®.

I've got a Prefix Mill on the counter for looks, and it does a decent job, but the tall, black, plastic Magnum is the one that gets put to work.

[Dorman]

I've got a nice Bounds stainless mill that I love, but have always wanted one of these:

Vic Firth Gourmet | Made in Maine, USA

[WayneJ]

I've got a nice Bounds stainless mill that I love, but have always wanted one of these:

Vic Firth Gourmet | Made in Maine, USA

Nice - may have to add one to the family.

[jitahs]

I dunno, on the West Coast you are born and given a mill.

This story is is disgusting so armchair grinders be forewarned.

Thirty some years ago I was invited to a friend's parent's house. First time with a mill. I had heard about these franco-voodoo devices but had never inspected one. The business end is a grinding mechanism...

Fucking maggots.

Twenty-five years later it was gifted to me by the host's daughter. Larva-free.

Anyway, the moral is beware of what you grind for it may just puree.

[jwb96]

I've got a nice Bounds stainless mill that I love, but have always wanted one of these:

Vic Firth Gourmet | Made in Maine, USA

Are the Vic Firth good quality, the mill especially? As a Mainer I've always been interested in these but wasn't sure.

[Too Tall]

Bking, you are an enabler. I found one of those Unicorn mills for sale and said "why not?". That is a great mechanism, you are right about adjust-ability and the best feature is that it holds one entire cup of peppercorns.
Now I'm curious about the Peugeot pepper mill, if it is as good as mom's salt mill that that might be the perfect dinner table mill.

[zalmen_mlotek]

I love a good pepper mill and nothing beats freshly cracked pepper. I ended up buying a Perfex pepper mill.
2011_03_11-Perfex.jpg

[Too Tall]

zalmen_mlotek - Those are good mills. Nice job.

FWIIW That Unicorn Peppermill really is darn nice but hand mortar grinding is over the top. If you've got the time and space for a heavy stone mortar and pestle do it. That will never take the place of a good mill but man it's nice to have that texture.

[Hardlyrob]

The Vic Firth mills are great. As a musician, I know Vic Firth for their world class drum sticks - Vic was the tympanist of the Boston Symphony for many years. It never made sense to me why they started marketing pepper mills, salt mills and rolling pins. At last year's National Restaurant Association Show (NRA - food, not guns) I asked Vic how this happened (they also had give away drum sticks in their booth). It turns out that the Maine factory that did all the wood sourcing and turning for the drum sticks was in deep financial trouble - so Vic Firth bought them, and started marketing all the other stuff they made under the Vic Firth brand - strange but true.

[pdxharth]

Hey TT and other Atlas users: how adjustable is the grind on those things? I know it can go fine, but is it capable of a fairly course grind?

[jitahs]

Hey TT and other Atlas users: how adjustable is the grind on those things? I know it can go fine, but is it capable of a fairly course grind?

Infinite variability. You can get chunks big enough to gag on.