The Peppermills of Jens Quistgaard

Every time I find myself stocking another kitchen I'm reminded how 99% of what's sold in American stores now is trash, esp. when it comes to the can opener and pepper mill. Just finding a mill that doesn't litter microplastics on everything is an endless treasure hunt, before even considering aesthetics and capacity.

I was looking for someone else here who appreciated the design and quality of the content. Lots of sites of this type are not as nice as this.

https://a.co/d/609d3IX

Mechanism is solid. More aggressive than your typical grinder, but maybe not as to the same degree as a Pepper Cannon.

I would just call them to order though.

(If you're curious about the name: Yes, it was originally the same company as the Peugeot car/motorcycle company. It was spun out into a separate company at some point, but still owned by the descendants of the original Peugeot family.)

https://mannkitchen.eu/products/the-original-pepper-cannon-p...

https://www.surlatable.com/product/sur-la-table-ratchet-mill...

  does anyone want to recommend a decent commercial, easily available option?

I went looking for a mill for white pepper recently. I've a 50 year old Danish mill I'd love to repair, but that's a project for another day. Serious Eats seems to like the Kuhn Rikon ones but none of the long term reviews on the KR site are positive. Peugeot naysayers seem to be popping up more frequently, and for that price I'd expect better. Each seems to attract a few specific types of complaints which to me seems to lend a bit of credibility.

In any case, my new Fletcher's Mill grinder just showed up today and superficially it looks like they've only made small changes. The adjustment mechanism is the same and similar to the classic Peugeot mechanism. I've not taken it apart, but I believe the grinding mechanism is the same two stage unit as my old one.

If you want to grind a ton of pepper with fine grind control, you could also use one of the modern generations of manual coffee grinders, like the MHW-3Bomber Blade R3 or the cheaper TIMEMORE knockoff. They have excellent and fast and precise grind mechanisms. I'm not sure about the MHW but the timemore will stand alone with the bottom of so you can use it like you'd use a coffee grinder, or attach the grinds cup if you want to crank out a lot.

(I'm using an older, cheaper manual coffee grinder as my sichuan peppercorn grinder and it's solid for that but I do prefer the greek mill from an aesthetic perspective -- and it's so dang solid.)

Zassenhaus and Zwilling are both German options of the same quality or better.

I was given the large set: https://hexclad.com/products/hexmill-salt-and-pepper-grinder...

Seems to be pretty similar to the other one posted, but about half the price ($129 for just the pepper grinder, $200 for the pair - they go on sale down to ~$85 on amazon every now and then as well).

Having the built in cap is actually pretty damn useful, too - you can just grind into the cap and measure tsp out of it directly without needing another container.

Easily the best grinders I have ever used, going strong 2 years in now. I use them just about daily.

(The mill happens to be from Normann Copenhagen but Crushgrind supplies mechanisms to a number of pepper mill manufacturers as well as selling their own.)

...to the author, who is now trying to make "table seasoner" happen by implying that everyone who is anyone is saying it.

Breaking it down, in case you're curious:

"Seasoning" (you're doubtless aware) refers to salt and pepper, and the act of adding them to food. But I've never heard the word "seasoner" to refer to a salt or pepper dispenser.

The "table" part is fairly commonly used as in "table salt" i.e. salt in a dispenser on the dining table. It's also occasionally used in phrases like "water for the table" when asking a waiter to bring enough water for everyone at the table.

But "table seasoners" is a bit over-laboured for me.