We've been limping along for a while now with one of those pepper balls with the black squeeze handles. When we realized we'd rather cook with poor quality pre-ground pepper than face reloading the dreaded pepper ball again, we knew it was time for a change.
We're now the proud owners of a Magnum Plus pepper mill ($43.95, CutleryandMore.com) by Unicorn. Cook's Illustrated calls the Magnum Plus their favorite and we agree that it is among the best.
Filling this pepper mill is so easy -- just twist the neck and pour the pepper into the grinder. No little funnel, no cursing required. The grinding mechanism, made in Italy, gives the cook a wide range of grinds -- from cracked to fine.
They don't call it Magnum for nothing. This professional-strength pepper mill is 9 inches tall, so it doesn't fit into the cabinet. We thought the shiny black plastic grinder looked strange (kinda 80's?) on our kitchen counter, but we're getting used to it. The 6 inch model would be easier to store.
By the way, we'll let the old pepper ball retire gracefully. We'll use it for the white pepper we occasionally grind on to seafood and macaroni and cheese.
From Our Archive
Perfex Pepper Mill
Wooden Salt Box
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
We've had one for about 2 years now. Love it! We've actually gifted these to couples when they get married.
view wesaturtle's profile
How could you ever use one of those balls? Old-fashioned pepper mills look so much nicer than those plastic squeezee monstrosities.
view verily's profile
I know no one will see this but I have a funny story about that stupid pepper ball.
I was at my mother's house and she had one, and of course she thought it was the GREATEST THING EVER.
I was cooking up a stew at her stove and I HATED the damn thing, (so did my dad) and had to reach for it. I have really tiny hands, and they were slippery with pork grease (green chile pork stew with hominy). Well as I was struggling to "squeeze" some STUPID pepper into my STUPID stew, the f**king thing slips out of my grip and GLUB, drops right into my stew.
Well, I heard her coming and I quick as a flash plucked it out of the pot, so fast I didn't even burn myself. I set it down on the trivet so it looked like I just used it. She tasted the stew and didn't notice the pepper ball sitting there dripping.
As soon as she was gone I frantically rinsed it, toweled it off, looked around to see if anyone was watching, and set it back on the shelf.
Two months later I was back. I'd forgotten all about it and was poking around in the kitchen for pepper and yelled "Ma, where's your pepper?" She came in and said "oh, here's my new pepper mill. That stupid pepper ball suddenly broke, it just got jammed a weeks ago and stopped working. I had to throw it away." My dad was smiling out of the corner of his mouth and I KNEW he'd seen what happened.
Hah haa!
view Bx's profile
We have the pepper ball because my spouse likes a really coarse grind and we can't find anything else that will grind as coarsely.
How coarse can the Magnum Plus grind? Any recommendations on a grinder that does that well?
view RMkoske's profile