Salt & Pepper Mills

The crunching sound of the pepper mill over the fried egg on Sunday morning. The brief twist of the salt mill over the tomato before the first bite. Once you've cooked with freshly ground pepper and coarse sea salt, you won't want to go back to pre-ground pepper in a metal tin – the taste is simply distinctly different.

A grinder is one of the tools that stays in a household the longest. If it's good, it needs neither battery nor maintenance, no grindstone replacement and no oil. It fits in your hand, it twists, it works.

Le Creuset grinders with ceramic grinding mechanism

Le Creuset grinders come in the familiar color palette of Cocottes — Cerise, Ocean, Meringue, Ebony — and are internally equipped with a ceramic grinding mechanism. Ceramic is harder than peppercorns, does not wear out, and also works with sea salt, which would corrode other steel grinding mechanisms. Plus: a lifetime warranty. This is not an advertisement; this is an actual usage horizon of decades.

The shapes

• Salt mill with ceramic grinding mechanism — essential for sea salt, which corrodes steel.
• Pepper mill — with ceramic or hardened steel grinding mechanism, for all types of pepper.
• Spice mill — for nutmeg, coriander, fennel — whole spices that give more aroma when freshly ground.
• Salt and pepper mill set — often in two colors, so they can be distinguished blindly.

What to look for: A good grinder has an adjustment wheel at the top or bottom, with which the grind size can be set — from fine for soups to coarse for hash browns or steaks. Cheap grinders always grind the same, which is a long-term limitation in the kitchen. With a good grinder, you turn the adjustment screw once, and the pepper comes out of the grinder in exactly the coarseness the dish needs.

See also: Storage & Containers, Kitchen Utensils.