Best black peppercorns so far

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Logan

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The peppercorns used by famed chef and owner of The French Laundry, Thomas Keller. These are the Sarawak from Le Sanctuaire. Very nice. Next to try will probably be the restaurant variety Tellicherry from Reluctant Trading at which point I may stop. Of interest but I probably won't get to them soon or ever are the very expensive Tellicherry used by famed chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and the very well and extensively reviewed Black Imperial peppercorns sold by Yupanqui. The ones Waters uses are the Tellichery from Oaktown Spice Shop. I have found that smelling and directly tasting peppercorns has no utility in deciding what is to be preferred used with food.

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Lots of quality peppercorns out there, 'best' is an impossible judgment to make—different peppercorns appeal to me. Lately I've been using Tellicherry, Vietnamese,.
 
I'm team Kampot from Cambodia. Tellicherry are much easier to source.

I heard you want big p-corns. bigger means more of the flavorful level. Tcherry have to be a certain size to begin with. 4mm?
 
There are huge differences amongst peppercorns, IMO it's a lot like a harvest of EVO...every year is different. Fresh, well sorted and from a good source makes a big difference.
I have a few favorites, Bucay pepper, Kampot, Tasmanian, all very nice.
 
I have Kampots (Single Origin Cambodia) from Oaktown Spice Shop. I have not tried that many peppers so take all this as a grain of... pepper. I used to just go to cost-co for spices but the upgrade to Diamond kosher salt and quality pepper was noticeable. The pepper makes things warmer, with a deeper spice/heat, and a more neutral flavor than I had experienced using more generic varieties. I can get things to taste seasoned without food tasting like black pepper if that makes sense. I am also a BIG fan of Oaktowns Aleppo red pepper. I stopped using standard red pepper flakes and cayenne entirely. Again, I think it helps give depth and heat without creating "spiciness."
 
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I just started using the Thai black pepper corns I brought back from Thailand last August. Good, strong pepper aroma so I'm happy. They are probably better than the Malaysian ones I brought back on per-pandemic trip and right up there with the Cambodian ones I've had in the past. Need to hunt down some of those Viet ones mentioned here.
 
I lied, it's one from Cameroun, I had one from Sarawak that I liked a lot...problem is...it's a generic pepper corn from the looks of it, so anything they tell you goes. Which is exactly why I am quite happy to have found an enthusiast hobbyist selling only the pepper HE likes.

Guess what my overall favorite pepper is;-)


20230121_215916.jpg
 
mockit said:
I have Kampots (Single Origin Cambodia) from Oaktown Spice Shop. I have not tried that many peppers so take all this as a grain of... pepper. I used to just go to cost-co for spices but the upgrade to Diamond kosher salt and quality pepper was noticeable. The pepper makes things warmer, with a deeper spice/heat, and a more neutral flavor than I had experienced using more generic varieties. I can get things to taste seasoned without food tasting like black pepper if that makes sense. I am also a BIG fan of Oaktowns Aleppo red pepper. I stopped using standard red pepper flakes and cayenne entirely. Again, I think it helps give depth and heat without creating "spiciness."
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Oaktowns prices are a bit harsh but that is where Chez Panisse gets their Tellicherry peppercorns from.
 
Logan said:
The peppercorns used by famed chef and owner of The French Laundry, Thomas Keller. These are the Sarawak from Le Sanctuaire. Very nice. Next to try will probably be the restaurant variety Tellicherry from Reluctant Trading at which point I may stop. Of interest but I probably won't get to them soon or ever are the very expensive Tellicherry used by famed chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and the very well and extensively reviewed Black Imperial peppercorns sold by Yupanqui. The ones Waters uses are the Tellichery from Oaktown Spice Shop. I have found that smelling and directly tasting peppercorns has no utility in deciding what is to be preferred used with food.

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After trying The Reluctant restaurant variety Tellicherry I have concluded that so far, in my opinion the Serawak used by Thomas Keller is still the winner. Best shall we say so far in my experience. I have yet to taste a Tellicherry that has come close to all the hype and hype is what Reluctant Trading is all about. It's good pepper but not the magic one is led to believe. Le Sanctuaire sarawak is still the one to beat. Just my opinion of course. The Tellicherrys I have tasted have been all over the place. No heat and little flavor. All heat and little flavor. Very hot with some flavor or decent heat and decent flavor but nothing that special. The only thing that speaks for the flavor of pepper is tasting it. Generalities seem to be of no use to me so far. Elaborate flavor descriptions also seem to be of no use so far.
 
i ordered some Sarawak from Le Sanctuaire. guess i'll see how it goes.
if the pepper is good, i think it's reasonably priced. $16/lb. that's only about double the price of telicherry from costco (~$8/lb), which is my current go-to.

here's what i got



1674697644275.png



i also got some of the rather expensive piment d'espelette
i got 60g for $38. 500g is a better deal at $115, but i couldn't bring myself to get so much of it without trying it first.

https://le-sanctuaire.mybigcommerce.com/piment-despelette/
 
i too tried piment d'espelette but I must be missing the point of it...I suspect it's fae is derived from being a 'rarity' being grown in France combined with some chauvinism.
 
From Home Good Marshall’s. Freshly cracked pepper is 🔥🔥🔥
 

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