Salt 'N Pepper

[PhoenixRising]

Simple question: When filling the salt and pepper shakers, do you put the pepper in the one with three holes, or the one with one whole? I was always taught, pepper goes in the one with the most holes, and salt was the one with least amount of holes.

Now I am told I have it backwards. Do I?

[lojasmo]

Pepper goes in the one with the most holes. We grind our pepper, though.

[warren]

hmmmm. i grew up doing it the opposite way. three holes for salt, one for pepper.

really never thought about it either way, since my condiment of choice is Kikkoman.

[FineExampl]

TJ...get with the times man. Nobody uses shakers.
Pepper belongs in a pepper mill.
Salt belongs either in a dish or other container to be sprinkled by hand. I use a sugar thing like at a diner partly so i can laugh when company adds salt to their coffee, but mostly cuz it's convenient. Oh and i use kosher salt. It tastes better.

[CrazyJames]

There are such things as shakers??? :P

I use a grinder for both my pepper, and my kosher salt.


I think it boils down to personal preference, if you like more salt to come out per shake, put it in the 3 holer, if you dont want to die from too much salt... 1 holer

[yellowherbie]

According to the International Guild of Professional Butlers, the salt goes in the shaker with fewer holes, and the pepper in the shaker with more holes. Presumably this is because you want to get about the same amount of salt and pepper in a single shake, and salt shakes out easier than pepper.....

[dnyed]

No need to agonize here. Black for pepper, white for salt. And, in case you still can't fugure it out, the license plates are "Pepper" on the black, and "Salt" on the white.

[DannyRandomState]

3 fer pepper

1 fer salts

that's the way I see it.

[PhoenixRising]

Man, I feel vindicated. I knew it was more holes for pepper.

And yeah, we use the grinders all the time; but on the table in the Pub, and out back on the Patio, we have Coke Cola shakers, which are filled with salt and pepper, and we use the ones with the most holes for pepper, and the ones with less, for salt. And this was discussed during Thanksgiving; my brother and I were on the side of more for pepper, while his wife and his sister in law, (both Polish and raised in Milwaukee), believed it was the other way around.

[FineExampl]

polish midwesterners?? i'm so sorry dude. that should have been the answer right there.

salt is always used sparingly. pepper rarely

[bugsy98nb]

I thought you were talking about the music Group

[lojasmo]

Originally Posted by FineExampl

polish midwesterners?? i'm so sorry dude. that should have been the answer right there.

salt is always used sparingly. pepper rarely

Pepper always, and in abundance. Salt, sparingly.

[CrazyJames]

Originally Posted by lojasmo

Pepper always, and in abundance. Salt, sparingly.

Someone needs to learn to cook with more spices

[FineExampl]

Originally Posted by lojasmo

Pepper always, and in abundance. Salt, sparingly.

Doh! that's what i meant.

[FineExampl]

Originally Posted by CrazyJames

Someone needs to learn to cook with more spices

This is also true. So many spices, so little time. Kinda like hos.

/me gets banned for saying ho

[Alan From NYC]

Originally Posted by FineExampl

This is also true. So many spices, so little time. Kinda like hos.

/me gets banned for saying ho

As in, "Ho, ho, ho?"

[Ms Deeve]

Push it, push it good! I too thought you meant the best female rap group to ever grace the stage.

[PhoenixRising]

Originally Posted by lojasmo

Pepper goes in the one with the most holes. We grind our pepper, though.

Wait wait wait...we agree on this???

Oh man, now how will the political peeps read this? They will think we is in cahots!

[warren]

more than one take on the discussion, though...

http://ask.yahoo.com/20040126.html

Monday January 26, 2004
Dear Yahoo!:
Which goes in the shaker with more holes -- salt or pepper?
Shaken With Doubt
Hamden, Connecticut

Dear Shaken:
Until quite recently, when we started receiving this question from a number of readers, we were blissfully unaware this was the source of much controversy and debate. We had always been taught that salt went in the shaker with more holes and never thought to question this piece of wisdom.

However, our confidence was strongly shaken when we started researching the matter and learned that this question of dining etiquette is far from set in stone. We found many sources that completely disagreed with each other with complete authority. For example, About.com states that traditionally, pepper was more expensive than its easier-to-come-by companion salt, and so pepper was placed in the shaker with fewer holes to reduce usage. On the other hand, the International Guild of Professional Butlers asserts that salt shakers generally have larger and fewer holes to accommodate the larger, heavier grains that flow faster than pepper, although they do admit there is no manufacturing standard.

One web site indicated there seem to be two distinct camps in this matter -- the "Flow" camp and the "Flavor" camp. The Flow camp preaches that pepper grains are larger than salt grains and hence need more holes to equalize the flow between the two condiments. Interestingly enough, we found this same argument reversed on several sites, which claimed that salt is coarser than pepper and thus goes in the shaker with more holes. Guess it depends on the types of salt and pepper you are using.

The Flavor camp dictates that since people tend to use more salt than pepper, the salt should go in the shaker with more holes. Of course, if you are one of many people on a salt-restricted diet, this solution may not make sense for you.

Sadly, Miss Manners and Emily Post did not seem to have any say on the matter, and even our favorite food reference site, epicurious.com, was of no help.

Our conclusion? Unless you have the kind of cutesy shakers where the holes spell out an "S" or a "P," feel free to go with the flow and do whatever suits you. Now that that's settled, pass the salt, please!

[Fowvay]

Salt except in rare cases is for people that are afraid to use spices.