Salt "n" Pepper

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I don't know if it is just me, but in all my travels and visits to restaurants, cafe's, hotels, private homes, and anywhere else that you might find a salt and pepper grinder set for your use, I have noticed that in nearly every case they are unusable because they have not been assembled correctly after filling! You rotate the top of the grinder only to cover your food in lumps of partially crushed salt or pepper corns!?
Why is it so hard for people to get this right? I mean it's not complicated is it!
Unscrew the top fill with salt/ pepper, screw the top back on and then.....here comes the technical bit;
turn the grinder "upside down" and turn the top whilst observing the grinding wheel in the base to ensure no lumps of salt or hole pepper corns are preventing the mechanism to close properly. Adjust accordingly with the screw holding the top on, (this time the right way up,) and not over your food. Tighten screw to make a finer grind and un tighten for a courser grind.

I knew someone who was actually going to buy a new set of salt and pepper grinders because "they were not working"!? Until I "fixed them" !
Duh!
 
Here's one for you. In many places around here you have salt and pepper shakers (now don't start). The saly has one hole and the pepper has multiple. Do you think they ever get it right? No sir, you get a ****load of salt on your meal and you take 10 minutes trying to shake enough pepper out that one little hole.

Or same scenario: The large hole shaker is for the pepper and the one with the smaller holes is for salt. Again, think they get it right?

On the billiard table, why does everyone rack the balls with the flat part (lip) on the table? It's supposed to be up to allow an unimpeded removal from the table and to see close to the spot.
 
Over the years I bought quite a few pepper mills but the only one the works consistently and predictably is the one whose grinding gears are made by Peugeot.

All other ones either blocked up, suddenly ground too coarse or too fine at times.


I use the pool triangle with the lip down so as not to prematurely wear down the felt when adjusting it's position.
The 8 ball goes on the spot so using the triangle upside down doesn't help at all.
I don't use a triangle on a billiard table, it's kinda pointless as a billiard table has no pockets and you only use 3 balls anyway.
 
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Just another Moderator
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Haha I have so much trouble explaining that to my wife DF96!! she complains that the heater has stopped working because it's fan (and heat output) has slowed down, when it is just that the room has reached the set temperature. It doesn't matter how many time I explain it :headbash:

My favorite salt and pepper grinders are actually Ikea ones. They are upside down ones and work a treat!

Tony.
 
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Haha I have so much trouble explaining that to my wife DF96!! she complains that the heater has stopped working because it's fan (and heat output) has slowed down, when it is just that the room has reached the set temperature. It doesn't matter how many time I explain it :headbash:
Tony.

oh god me too!

we have one in our car for both sides.
she gets cold then hot then cold then hot allot!
i try to help her but she gets mad. but ive learned to say F it!
i now say nothing unless she makes a grab for my side.
then its a bugger off, make yourself uncomfortable cause you wont listen.
 
Never seen that.

You are adjusting too roughly, like they do in pubs. Shaking it all around does what exactly?

Yes, thank you my mistake, Pool Table.

Never seen it any other way, probably continental differences.
Never watched a professional tournament. When people get good enough at pool in Europe they move on to either billiards or snooker.

Who said anything about shaking things around?
I have no idea to what end people might do that.
 
sakellog said:
we have one in our car for both sides.
Interesting. In every car I have owned there is just one heat knob which appears to set the exit temperature of the air, or possibly not even that but the amount of heat put into it. Except on the very coldest days it needs turning down once the car interior has warmed up.

Perhaps some people just think that all temperature setting knobs must work in the same way? I once had to explain to my sister that setting an oven to 200C would not make it heat up any faster to 160C than setting it at 160C. I'm not sure she was convinced.
 
My issue with salt n pepper grinders is the fact that so few people seem to have the ability of comprehending why it is not working. When you take the top off the grinder the shaft drops down a little way allowing whole pepper corns or salt crystals to gather between the grinding mechanism parts so when you try to re-assemble the grinder the pepper corns/salt prevent the gap from closing sufficiently for a fine grind. Invert, turn top, and tighten. Duh!

Plunging type coffee pots offer a taxing problem to some folk as well; how many times have I watched someone trying to force the plunger down when the coffee granules have not settled to the bottom. Coffee granules will sink when they are ready or maybe after a quick stir and then the plunger will swiftly go down with little effort at all. If they have not sunk, the coffee is not ready and they will quite readily block the gauze plunger preventing it from being plunged! Duh! Yeah, go ahead and force it down and spray yourself with hot coffee...why not.
Don't get me started on vacuum cleaners. "it's not sucking very well"
 
My issue with salt n pepper grinders is the fact that so few people seem to have the ability of comprehending why it is not working. When you take the top off the grinder the shaft drops down a little way allowing whole pepper corns or salt crystals to gather between the grinding mechanism parts so when you try to re-assemble the grinder the pepper corns/salt prevent the gap from closing sufficiently for a fine grind. Invert, turn top, and tighten. Duh!

The shaft on my pepper mill does not drop when I unscrew the top.
No need to invert, turn top and tighten, all it needs is filling and reassembly.
It always grinds medium fine.
 
Interesting. In every car I have owned there is just one heat knob which appears to set the exit temperature of the air, or possibly not even that but the amount of heat put into it. Except on the very coldest days it needs turning down once the car interior has warmed up.

Perhaps some people just think that all temperature setting knobs must work in the same way? I once had to explain to my sister that setting an oven to 200C would not make it heat up any faster to 160C than setting it at 160C. I'm not sure she was convinced.


Yah, same thing just, one for left and right. You set the temp you want per side and it blows or not cools or heats etc.

Bingo on the oven! Now pretend she's in it, sets it to 200deg it gets there, then gets mad cause its hot, then sets it at 3deg ..... Then gets mad cause its cold!!!!!

And its my fault cause I wanted complacated hvac in our car.
All the time this is going on I'm snugg as a bug you see.

Now! I must say, my wife is one of the smartest persons I've ever known.
I think thermostats are her kriptonite!
 
Unscrew the top fill with salt/ pepper, screw the top back on and then.....here comes the technical bit;
turn the grinder "upside down" and turn the top whilst observing the grinding wheel in the base to ensure no lumps of salt or hole pepper corns are preventing the mechanism to close properly. Adjust accordingly with the screw holding the top on, (this time the right way up,) and not over your food. Tighten screw to make a finer grind and un tighten for a courser grind.

Crikey, that's really complicated and difficult coming so soon after the trauma of filling, when the peppercorns bounced off the spindle and shot all over the kitchen.

I'd recommend my grinder if I could identify it. It's a simple cylinder with a rotating base. Filling is at the top just like a jar...there's no spindle to get in the way or need re-adjusting. The adjuster is at the bottom, so you naturally turn it upside down to adjust. I've never needed to in about 15yrs.

All beautiful plastic and ceramic...no metal in sight.

I assumed when I bought it that it would be the future, but apparently not. Maybe no-one could figure out how to use them?

Anyway, it's an example of the difference between a designer and an engineer, perhaps. The engineer blames the user for being stupid, whereas the designer blames the engineer.
 
I wouldn't buy anything other than a Peugeot mill.

I've had mine in daily use for over 10 years, it never let me down, never clogged and never needed adjustment.

Can't go wrong with Peugeot pepper mills and Dualit toasters. I will eventually leave them to my children.



I never got the point of a salt mill. It's not as if salt loses flavour in smaller crystals.
A few grains of rice keep it from forming clumps when you put it in a shaker.
 
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I much prefer salt from a grinder. I don't know if it is because the rock salt used is different to the salt that goes into your normal "table salt" packet, or because it is ground (and generally finer) than the crystals in table salt. But I definitely prefer it from the grinder!

Tony.
 
I once had to explain to my sister that setting an oven to 200C would not make it heat up any faster to 160C than setting it at 160C. I'm not sure she was convinced.

Your sister might not be a dummy. When an oven reaches it's intended temperature and shuts off for the first time, it hasn't really pre heated. You need to leave it at that temperature for a good 10 or 20 minutes after it has indicated it is ready or the whole of the oven is not warm enough to compensate for when you open the door. It will cycle again for longer if you don't pre heat it for a decent amount of time. If you are in a hurry, you simply turn it up a little higher than you want. The preheating portion is therefore faster.

Cheers.
 
Never seen it any other way, probably continental differences.
Interesting, I was looking for that configuration but couldn't find it. Can you show me?
I have no idea to what end people might do that.
You referred to prematurely wearing the felt. I have no idea how that would happen unless you are racking the balls incorrectly.
 
According to wiki the centre of the apex ball goes on the foot spot.

Never watched a pool tournament but in the UK and in Germany everybody I watched playing and every time I played it was the centre of the 8 ball.


They are very touchy about their felt here, during a snooker tournament the tables are recovered and shaved regularly. I'd guess it is of equal if not greater importance for three-cushion billiards but that game is well beyond my own limited abilities and pocket-less tables are even rarer in the UK than snooker tables in Europe.
 
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