salt and pepper parity

[nibot]

[Poll #1498239]I thought there was an agreed-upon global standard, but apparently I am mistaken.

Also: why?

Comments

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

OOps. I voted contrary to way way I meant to. My real vote is one hole: salt, multiple holes: pepper.

However, that is not the way I was brought up. It's sort of like my parents changing from being life-ling Republicans to born again Democrats.

[feralbirdgirl.livejournal.com]

I understood it to be a matter of flow - salt is a dense material that can easily be overused. Pepper is generally a fine powder (unless in a coarse grinder), hence has multiple holes for increased flow because proportionally little comes out in comparison to the salt...

[util.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Now that I see the other commenters, I wonder if I have it backwards. I thought the pepper shaker had one hole and the logic was that you usually want less pepper. (Also, ground pepper is finer than salt so you want to do more to control the flow.)

[nibot.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the logic is standard, but the assumptions aren't.

In my world:

- I want more pepper than salt. (Oversalting will ruin a dish, but overpeppering is pretty unlikely.)
- Salt is finer than pepper.

ergo: Salt gets one hole, pepper gets many.

[roxymartini.livejournal.com]

salt is not finer than pepper! unless you're using those pepper balls you have to grind a dispenser to get anyway.

oversalting with a shaker is unlikely i think. unless the top falls off. or unless you're giving it 25 shakes...

[roxymartini.livejournal.com]

see, i thought this too.

[pielology.livejournal.com]

Multiple big holes = pepper, multiple small holes = salt. Shakers with just one hole are creepy and wrong.

[jlam.livejournal.com]

Use a grinder for pepper. Stale pepper loses aromatics and makes food insipid. Shakers for pepper are wrong.

[pielology.livejournal.com]

I grew up in the Midwest. Insipidness is the foundation of my native cuisine; grinders run the risk of delivering too much flavor.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think in my house all the shakers have the same number of holes. It's up to the diner to decide how many times to shake the apparatus.

[shamster.livejournal.com]

hilarious :)

[tomtomtomtomtom.livejournal.com]

Multiple holes shaped like an S = pepper, and vice versa.

[likeabikemike.livejournal.com]

My guess is that there isn't an ISO standard. There is a tendency in the U.S. for the 1 holer to be the pepper and in the rest of the English speaking world (the 4 countries that I've been in anyway), it's more commonly the other way around. So, depends largely on which country you're in.

I voted for the 1 hole salt simply because it's my preference. My logic is that the denser salt generally *flows* faster. Pepper is more variable in consistency (with good reason) and the choice of shaker should match the pepper grind.

Finally, as a far-sighted and/or older person, the multiple holes on the salt always forces me to pour it out into a hand first so I can see how much of the blasted stuff is actually coming out!

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

It's all in how you place your head. Get the light shining on the salt.....

O does the hand trick too. Except I don't think he actually looks at the salt.