We need a good quality pepper mill/grinder and quality pepper corns

Penzeys (online) has some very good pepper.

I like Atlas mills.  They're expensive but they have a good range of extra coarse to fairly fine, efficient, and they're metal.  Metal means they won't get terminally gooky in six months from being used by hands with food stuck to them.  They also look great.  The mills, not the food covered hands.

Most mills, if they're not too cheap, have pretty good movements.  It's more likely  yours are getting clogged than actually wearing down.  Atlas mills have larger movements which don't clog as easily as say Peugeots, another advantage.

You can get Atlas mills online at Amazon and a number of other places as well.  There's a lot of price variation, so it pays to shop.

BDL

The Magic Eight Ball says "Zut Alors! Muy Bueno!"

Go easy when you first try the "Tellicherry," it's probably hotter than what you're used to.

I would suggest two pepper mills.

I have both of these:

(1) Oliver Hemming Spice Boy (the taller one)

(2) Unicorn Magnum Plus

I personally like the Oliver Hemming better, but most foodies love the Unicorn. Again, I have them both and they are both very very good. If you are buying it for your wife, I think she would like the Oliver Hemming better. It comes in a lot of colors and makes less mess with grind 'drippings'. Also, the ceramic mechanism can be used on salt and other spices. The Unicorn is faster but I think the grind setting 'slips' more and is harder to fill than the Hemming.

The Oliver Hemming is pretty hard to find, but you can get it out of the UK or look on eBay where I found mine for $15. Below is one site that offers it. I am not affiliated with that site at all. I just love this grinder.

http://www.dreamicons.com/spice-boy-by-oliver-hemming-salt-pepper-spice-mill-p-297.html

The Unicorn is sold on many sites in the US, including cooking.com.

Good luck.

Here is a review I did of both if you are interested.

http://specialmagickitchen.com/archives/2840

Good luck and happy grinding.

k.

+1 for the Unicorn Magnum Plus. My favourite piece of equipment!

I love my Vic Firth's.  Great mechanisms with a wide range of grinds.  Not prone to losing your grind settings when you reload, either.  If you're a percussionist, Vic also makes some nice drumsticks.

I stumbled across a nice deal on a Perfex.  The reviews I read were all great and so would be mine if I were to write one...

I buy my equipment a piece at a time and only when I find a great deal! 

Ummm...

It ain't very glamorous, but our best luck has been the disposable mills from Costco.

I have at least five sets of mills, including one or two Peugeots, and none of them work as well as the recently-introduced disposable plastic ones fron Costco.  . They both grind like crazy, and are adjustible. The pepper mill has 6.3 ounces of Tellicherry  pepper, and the salt contains 13 ounces of Mediterranean sea salt, according to the labels. Each is a little under four bucks.

I'm going to stay with them for the forseeable future unless I get one of the Greek jobs with a crank like the Froogle Google had.

Mike

Mike,

You said,

Those "Greek jobs" are the very same Atlas mills I recommended to JWK (the OP), one of which he bought.  Available at Amazon and lot of places.  Not cheap, but well worth it.  Lily, my daughter, gave me mine for my fortieth birthday twenty years ago, and it's still going strong.

BDL

I agree with the "Greek Job".  Lots of production, good capacity and not slippery at all when your hands are not as dry as they shoule be.  I like the Unicorn, but the twisting, and twisting of the cap finally made me bite the  bullet and go Atlas.  Highly recommend.  Both great units, they just come at it from different angles.

I'm resuscitating this thread because I want to ask for a pepper grinder for xmas but I want one that is going to be affordable (Atlas were about 50 euros), preferably european (no import tax) and that can grind coarsely.  If it;s adjustable all the better. 

I'm not really attracted to the one with the little handle thingy on top (the atlas seems to all be like that) because it's tiny and seems harder to use. 

I currently use what i still have left of the disposable ones, the only brand worth buying being Durcos, which is McCormack in italy, but durcos seems to have gone out of business.  I can't find them even on line.  They cracked the pepper very coarsely, and worked really easily.  They also had a mixed pepper one with pink, white, black and green peppercorns and coriander seeds, a combination that is particularly appetising to me.  I don't care for the white pepper or the green, but the pink, the black and the coriander are special - on meat i don't need anything else.  

So can anyone recommend me a cheaper, preferably european pepper grinder that will easily and effectively grind pepper coarsely.  I can't ask for a 50 euro pepper grinder, but maybe a 20- maybe 25 euro one. 

thanks

It's Ducros, not Durcos: http://www.ducros.fr/nos-produits/index.html

Siduri

I have 3 Peugeot mills.  The best! (and it pains me to recommend a French product!)

Ishbel, I agree on the Peugeots. Probably the best around, but also a little pricey.

Always check the grinding mechanism. It has to be all metal. Plastic is junk.

I have a Stoha too, a large glass one, German made, much cheaper and also quite good.

http://www.stoha.de/index.php?lang=D&mid=22

Siduri, any peppermill can grind coarsely by just loosening the screw on top of it. The tighter you screw it, the finer the it grinds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by French Fries 

Quote:

Originally Posted by siduri 

 

I currently use what i still have left of the disposable ones, the only brand worth buying being Durcos, which is McCormack in italy, but durcos seems to have gone out of business.  I can't find them even on line. 

It's Ducros, not Durcos: http://www.ducros.fr/nos-produits/index.html

 

 

 

Oops, but do you also know where to find them in rome????

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisBelgium 

Ishbel, I agree on the Peugeots. Probably the best around, but also a little pricey.

Always check the grinding mechanism. It has to be all metal. Plastic is junk.

I have a Stoha too, a large glass one, German made, much cheaper and also quite good.

 

http://www.stoha.de/index.php?lang=D&mid=22

 

Siduri, any peppermill can grind coarsely by just loosening the screw on top of it. The tighter you screw it, the finer the it grinds.

Ah, there's the rub, Chris.  I've had various pepper grinders and not one of them REALLY worked with the tightening or loosening of the screw.  If you loosened it, which is what i wanted, to get a coarse grind, it would tighten up as i ground it.  I'd like one that has a way of actually setting it to different grinds. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ishbel 

Siduri

I have 3 Peugeot mills.  The best! (and it pains me to recommend a French product!)

Ishbel, thanks.  Can they be adjusted to grind coarsely?  and stay that way as you grind?  

as for the french product ... I remember reading at the time the euro was introduced, that there was one of those april fool's day newspaper headlines in a british paper that announced "France will go with the Pound!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by siduri 

Oops, but do you also know where to find them in rome????

I have no idea. I've never been south of Torino.

Siduri

My peugeot mills - one for 'posh', one for everday and one for cooking - allow me to grind exactly the size I want - and are consistent.  I have only one complaint...  I bought a painted black set with a top like castle battlements - both salt and pepper cost be about 70 GPB....   and I dropped one on the kitchen floor (slate) and it was pretty bashed - I expected it to be a little more robust.

ChrisBelgium

Yes,mine are all metal grinders.  I learned the hard way....    We have a couple of British companies who make reasonable grinders, but nowadays, their mechanisms use plastic grinding plates.  They have been a real disappointment to me!

Interestingly, most Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK where I've eaten have ALL had Peugeot on the table!

ok, that sounds good Ishbel