Slate argues that pepper is overrated - and I have to agree
Dear pepper, what have you done for me LATELY? That's pretty much the idea behind this thought-provoking article at Slate. We take the combination of salt and pepper for granted. It's so ingrained in our minds and our culture that you would never say "pepper and salt." It's always, every single time, regardless of context, forever, "salt and pepper."
But should it be?
Salt certainly deserves its place. Salt is so delicious and so valuable to cooking that it is valuable as a commodity. Salt has even been used as a currency in some cultures. Salt makes food taste better (until you use too much, at which point it just tastes salty. And you can never undo that, I don't care how many people tell you to "put in a slice of raw potato," because it just doesn't work.)
I have found myself using pepper a lot less in recent years. Instead, I fall back on my increasingly fearsome collection of actual condiments. When I want to give a dish a little more "zazz," 9 times out of 10 I will add a shot of sriracha (a.k.a. Rooster Sauce). 1 out of 10 times, I add either mustard or horseradish sauce.
Depending on the food, I may deploy steak sauce, Worcestershire, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, a squeeze of lemon, tartar sauce, or that best and brightest of all condiments: butter.
Pepper is like the bare minimum for me. I almost use it as a benediction rather than an actual flavor. I sprinkle some in my mashed potatoes, and add a generous portion atop a steak before flipping it in the pan.
But as a rule, I have to agree with Slate - pepper is overrated. My pepper grinder has gradually migrated to the back of the cupboard. It hangs out there with the cumin and the bay leaves. The sriracha bottle gets pride of place in my kitchen, whether it's adding a dash to a batch of mac and cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich, steamed vegetables, or a bowl of soup.
I remember in the mid 1980s when my mother brought home a bottle of "fresh cracked pepper." We were blown away by the astounding amount of flavor that it provided, compared to the sad gray dust that we had been using. And then in the early 1990s when I bought an actual pepper grinder, it too was a revelation. That's how I felt about sriracha, the first time I tried it: "This changes EVERYTHING." And I have to tell you, I never looked back!