salty dog

[topaz]

[Poll #1303350]

Why?

Comments

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Pepper, because you want greater amounts of pepper than salt.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

The best piece I've read on this subject is here (http://overstated.net/2003/06/04/salt-n-peppa-debate).

[prosicated.livejournal.com]

because pepper oughta come out of a grinder, which doesn't require any shaker holes at all!

[beah.livejournal.com]

Because salt is generally applied in greater volumes than pepper.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Because my mom didn't like pepper. And now I am conditioned. ;-)

However, I ultimately prefer clear shakers (whether glass or plastic) so that the question of holes is obviated altogether. Plus, now I own a pepper grinder too.

[blk]

Holes? The un-ground versions of both go in sides of the multi-function grinder that I was gifted with a few years ago. :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yes! Pepper shakers are still just weird to me. My parents clearly warped me by making me grow up with pepper grinders (and a nutmeg grater, for that matter).

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

My parents' everyday set (which I grew up with, and which they still use) has the same number of holes on each, but the salt shaker's holes are bigger. That's what I think of as "correct"... but of course, I don't think I even own a pepper shaker nowadays. If I do, it's probably full of salt...

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Huh! Salt, because you want greater amounts of salt than pepper.

Grinders!

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

I have clear grinders for both my sea salt and my pepper blends.
No shaking needed.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

What? But it's so much easier to add too much salt than too much pepper! (i.e., food with a little more salt than you wanted is more likely to be much less edible than food with a little too much pepper)

Re: Grinders!

[inahandbasket]

^-- this.
But if I had to choose, one needs more salt than pepper, so I assume thusly.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

Salt, because a pepper shaker is an abomination. Pepper should be ground immediately before serving, never pre-ground and shaken.

Re: Grinders!

[dbang.livejournal.com]

I've never understand the benefit of a salt grinder. A pepper grinder is necessary because whole peppercorns keep for a long time, whereas ground pepper quickly loses its flavor. Salt doesn't change whether it's in large crystals or small, and the flavor is identical. So why a salt grinder rather than pre-ground salt?

[dbang.livejournal.com]

Food with too much pepper is WAY less likely to be edible than food with too much salt.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[maebeth.livejournal.com]

Pepper is light and flakey and takes force to get it out the holes, so it needs more holes to get any onto your food.

Salt is hard and relatively heavy, so a single shake gets plenty out, so less holes needed.

OR
Salt gets wet very easily and won't come out, so more holes are needed.

Pepper isn't as hydroscopic and so doesnt need as many holes.

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

What is this "too much salt" of which you speak?

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

Empirically true.

[coraline]

what she said!

[dot_fennel]

Because pepper is conceptually subsequent to salt, so it has a higher number!

[blk]

Disagreed! Or rather, it's much easier for me to get food too salty than too peppery.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I feel like it's more often the case in a restaurant, if I'm guessing which is which, that pepper will be in a one-hole or few-hole shaker, which is why I answered how I did. In my own kitchen, I use a pepper mill like everyone else ;), which makes the question irrelevant!

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

I was once told, by one of those Frencher-than-thou cooks I went to school with, that the "classical" ratio of salt to pepper is 8:1.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Trick question: there is no such thing as a "pepper shaker."

[keyne.livejournal.com]

What she said.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Never eaten at a family restaurant, have you?

Re: Grinders!

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Trick question: there is no such thing as a "family restaurant"

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I have a couple set of salt and pepper shakers in my kitchen. On one they have the same number of holes. On the others there are more holes in the (obvious) salt shakers than the (obvious) pepper ones. I would suspect that people tend to prefer more salt rather than more pepper. Personally I rarely use salt to start with and prefer to have lots of good black pepper.

[fengshui.livejournal.com]

Salt shaker has more holes, but the pepper shaker has bigger holes.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Salt gets wet very easily and won't come out, so more holes are needed.

If you add a few grains of plain white rice to the shaker it wont get all clumpy and stick to the shaker.

Re: Grinders!

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

That whole market kinda shut down ever since it got so hard to find organic free-range families.

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

Yes, both, sideways!

I've seen pepper shakers with a ton of small holes and a couple of big ones, in a set with a salt shaker with a single hole; grinders for both; many small holes in salt shakers with a pepper shaker with a small ring of large holes; and the usual S/P hole configurations.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Salt, because you want greater amounts of salt than pepper.

That's basically where I am. Or, rather, most people use more salt than pepper on their food, so salt goes in the shaker with more holes.

I was compelled to poll the LJspace when I learned that there was not something like total universal agreement on this point.

[creidylad.livejournal.com]

Yep. Also ground pepper is still usually ground *bigger* than ground salt, so you need fewer holes for the same mass to come out.

Re: Grinders!

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I'm the same as lj user="gothtique" -- I have both a salt and pepper grinder. Why a salt grinder?

It's easier to find sea salt w/out iodine added in rock form.

I like to have a coarse grind of salt for flavoring things, and a fine grind of salt for baking.

Humidity doesn't destroy salt in larger crystallized form like it does in the already-ground form.

And salt does change, it can take on the smell/taste of the air (I guess because it absorbs water from the air?), so that's a reason too.

Re: Grinders!

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

It's cuz of the salt we buy...
we don't get the ground up iodized stuff to eat with meals(Although it is what I use to bake).
The salt we get is still "raw", the theory being that less processed= tasty!
... and you really can taste the difference in the flavor.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I'm in sort of the inverse position to yours. We never went out to restaurants when I was a kid, and all we had was a pepper mill, so I really and truly am still a bit confused by pepper shakers. So, although it is actually quite true that I personally want more salt than pepper (and more than most other people), I always have to think of the rule that someone else taught me about number-of-holes. It almost always surprises me that there is, actually, fairly general agreement on this topic, at least in the restaurants I seem to, er, use salt at.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

It's not quantity; it's quality. Salt shaker holes are smaller than pepper shaker holes because salt grains are finer than pepper flakes.

[d3l1r1um.livejournal.com]

What he said.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I don't have anything to say to this except that I just love the phrase "Frencher-than-thou".

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

I like to think of this as the exception that in fact proves the rule.

[agaran.livejournal.com]

Pepper, because pepper is harder to get out, lighter, and doesn't poor as well. Salt will drop right out of any old hole big enough to admit the diagram of the biggest grains.

[gosling.livejournal.com]

Because salty food is gross and I really like pepper. :-)

[harimad.livejournal.com]

No, no, no, you're all wrong. The fact that pepper shakers have fewer holes is a historical remnant. Pepper used to be extremely expensive (think Middle Ages). As a result a big fuss was made over it and efforts were often made to make it seem as if one were distributing more of it than one really was. This is the origin of a number of pepper-related traditions:
1) the big, fancy grinder, to make the pepper seem greater and grander;
2) a waiter grinding pepper for you, which restricts your access to it; and
3) having fewer holes in pepper shakers, so you'll probably use less.

That said, amongst foodies pre-ground pepper is generally known as "black dirt" for the (lack of) flavor. FYI, powdered garlic is known as "light dirt" for the same reason. (With an exception for powdered garlic from Penzey's or The Spice House, which manage to taste like garlic, somehow.)

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

I know lots of foodies, I suspect I qualify as one myself, and I've never heard either of those terms.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe it was particularly common amongst foodies who frequented the late and lamented Gail's Recipe Swap.