Black pepper blooms with small white flowers collected in hanging ears. The fruits of black pepper are spherical drupes with a hard shell, having a burning taste.
The birthplace of black pepper is the southwest coast of India, the current state of Kerala. Previously, these lands were called the land of pepper, and pepper itself was called the Malabar berry.
How to Choose Black Pepper?
When choosing ground black pepper, you should pay attention to the taste and color of the grinding. Fresh seasoning is always sharp and has a strong aroma, as it contains a large amount of piperine and essential oils. The color of high-quality ground pepper is heterogeneous, it consists of particles of light brown, greenish and gray shades. A uniform yellow, gray or black color indicates a large amount of impurities that manufacturers sometimes add to reduce the cost of goods. The black color of ground pepper may also indicate the use of unripe or rotten peas.
How to Store Black Pepper?
Ground pepper is recommended to be stored in a dry and dark place, away from strongly smelling products. Essential oils evaporate especially quickly from the finely ground seasoning, therefore, so that it does not lose its taste qualities, it should be kept in a hermetically sealed container. The room temperature should not exceed +25 °C.
When to Use Black Pepper?
Black pepper is one of the most effective digestive stimulants. This versatile seasoning is able to decorate any dish, starting from ordinary scrambled eggs and ending with masterpieces of haute cuisine. Food manufacturers add this spice to meat and sausage products, cheeses, canned food and marinades.
Spice is a mandatory component of most recipes of meat and fish dishes. It is added to soups and second courses of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and also used in the preparation of homemade sausage, ham and pates. Seasoning perfectly complements dishes of mushrooms and vegetables, no brine or marinade can do without it. Somewhat less often, black pepper is added to drinks and desserts.
How Much Black Pepper Should I Use?
A standard-sized teaspoon holds about 4 grams of ground black pepper.
When preparing soups and broths, ground pepper is added 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking. When cooking fried dishes, pieces of meat or fish are sprinkled with pepper and salt before roasting. Seasoning is added to the raw minced meat during the stirring process.
The amount of spice depends on the intended volume of the dish and personal preferences.
It is usually customary to use from ¼ to 1 teaspoon per 1 kg of meat. The maximum dose of ground black pepper per day per person should not exceed 5 grams.
What Spices are Combined with Black Pepper?
Despite the fact that in the mind of any person, the phrase “salt and pepper” evokes an image of perfect harmony, a truly wonderful combination is obtained by mixing ground black pepper with turmeric. Curcumin, which is part of it, is similar in its action to piperine — it is also an antiseptic, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent.
Black pepper is perfectly combined with most spices, and is part of all popular mixes. It harmonizes well with cumin, garlic, coriander, as well as with its closest “relatives” — white, green and pink pepper.
Alternatives to Black Pepper
With individual intolerance to ground black pepper, it can be replaced with spices that have a similar bitter taste — cumin, mustard, coriander seeds, nutmeg. To make the dishes spicy, in the absence of allergies, you can use chili — paprika, cayenne, jalapeno.
Tips for Using Black Pepper
In combination with cinnamon and ginger, ground black pepper is added to desserts to give them a spicy taste. It is especially appropriate for the preparation of gingerbread and cupcakes, chocolate desserts, pies with apple and citrus filling, cookies.
This spice will give a peculiar taste to well—known drinks – it is added to milk tea, compotes, mulled wine and alcoholic cocktails.
To create a light, spicy salad dressing, ground pepper is mixed in various combinations with natural yogurt, honey, mustard, vinegar or lemon juice.
Fried pork – already from these words treacherously rumbles in the stomach… And what will happen to it if you fry pork according to this recipe – in a spicy soy marinade with coriander and ginger, and even with unusual slicing. I will not torment you, help yourself, dear lovers of spicy Asian cuisine. P.S.: the recipe specifies the amount of spices for the average sharpness of the finished meat, if desired, you can increase or decrease to your liking.
This recipe contains several ideas from different traditional dishes (cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, meatballs). Such a fantasy on the theme of traditions with creativity. It turned out very tasty. The recipe, at first glance, is complicated. In fact, everything is much simpler than it seems. Try to prepare. I’m sure you’ll like it.
Well, we continue to get acquainted with snacks. Today we have a salad. This salad can act as a snack, but it will become a very self-sufficient dinner for us, for girls.
I offer a couple more options of Korean pies for a steam bath. The same products in the filling, but different in preparation, respectively, and the taste is different. Prepare a steam bath of spicy Korean salads in advance, the pie turns out much tastier with them. To heal.
Cutlets, in my opinion, are liked by everyone. There are many recipes for cooking cutlets. I offer you, dear cooks, my recipe for this simple dish. I hope you like it.
Those who cook the “right” sauce for Caesar salad at home often have a jar of anchovies standing idle after that. I once had the same thing, until I was puzzled by the question of what else I could cook with them, until I found this recipe for Italian cuisine in one of the cookbooks. Today I want to share this with you. Maybe you will like it as much as I do, and you will already be buying anchovies not only for salad.
The composition of the minced meat of this dish is borrowed from Armenian cuisine. Omelet filling is an integral part of Russian cuisine, or rather, cutlets with omelet. But the folding technology came from overseas grill masters and allows you to make a layer of minced meat thinner, and due to the filling it remains juicy after cooking.