[Mag]

The best way to ruin a Culinary Dish is to spice it with pepper.

If you like the spice use it in your own cooking, don't season everything in the buffet with it.

Chili in a can, why does it have to have pepper? It just ruins it for me, can't they make chili in a can without pepper?

The only thing I use pepper on would be sliced tomatoes and then only lightly.

There I said it. I feel better now.

[srb]

I guess you're talking about black pepper?  While most cooks and recipes call for seasoning with "salt and pepper", white pepper is a good flavor enhancer like salt, but has a less strong flavor than black pepper.

Black pepper and white pepper are from the same berries of the pepper plant, but the white pepper has the outer skin removed, usually with water.  Try some white peppercorns in a grinder and see if you don't think it's a better, less potentially offensive flavor enhancer.

I use fresh ground white peppercorns as a general seasoning, but I'm a pepper plant lover, so I prepare my own chili pepper flakes (jalapeno and habanero).  It's a bit of a chore, but I de-seed and de-pulp them which allows them to give full rich flavor without the heat from the seeds and pulp, which is basically flavorless heat.  They're also lightly pan toasted which further tames them a bit.  If I want more heat I can just use more flakes = more flavor.

 

Steve

[S Clark]

Chili in a can, why does it have to have pepper? It just ruins it for me, can't they make chili in a can without pepper?

Because they're in business to make money, and you might just be the only one that would buy a can of chile... with no chiles in it.  You do understand that the word "chili" means pepper???
That said, I like to make my own.  Cubed beef browned in a skillet with onion, a sack of dried peppers boiled and scraped, a tomato, a healthy dose of cumin, bit of garlic, dash of oregano.  But the key is taking scraping the meat off a couple of dozen chili peppers.  Chili without peppers????
I can tell you ain't from Texas. 

[gregfisk]

Well, I do a fair amount of cooking and I have to disagree with Steve on this one, sorry Steve.

White pepper corns in my opinion are a fair amount hotter than black and are typically used in Chinese and Taiwanese dishes. Mostly soup but in some other dishes as well.

Green and pink peppercorns are the most mild with pink being more mild that green.

In my experience using a blend of them, which you can buy just about anywhere, will yield a much milder flavor than just black peppercorns alone. I like black pepper so I'm not a huge fan of the blends but they have their purpose.

This is just from my experience, hope it helps...

Greg

[djbnh]

Agree that white peppercorns run hotter than black, and I like it various items. For example, I have to have white pepper in my Chinese pork and shrimp dumplings. I prefer using white pepper on chicken and pork,  just use less than I would the black to get the same amount of heat as the black pepper would provide. I like to grind my white pepper up fresh each time, seems it loses its potency quickly otherwise.

And the Sichuan peppercorn is something else, love that spicy and numbing mala-ness! For me, more is better. If  you have never used Sichuan peppercorns, you're in for a treat.