As I noted in my previous post, in this week's New York Times column I wrote about the recent discovery of the molecule that contributes the distinctive peppery aroma to black and white pepper--and to Syrah wines. Along the way, I also described some of the strange and not very pleasant aromas that white pepper can have, which range from barnyardy to plastic to medicinal. It was the plastic-medicinal quality that gave away the problem with some really bad pommes purées at a Midtown restaurant: they had been white-peppered to death.
In the printed version of the column, the third-to-last paragraph suggests that all white pepper carries these unpleasant notes. This is not true.
HOW far wrong can you go with mashed potatoes? I had no idea until last month, when I tasted the worst of my life in a new Midtown restaurant whose French pedigree had led me to expect some of the best. They were smooth and buttery, but the flavor was strangely harsh, with a chemical aftertaste. “Like Band-Aids,” my companion said.
Later, we were able to diagnose the problem: way too much white pepper. This week I feel a little more sympathetic toward the cook who checked the seasoning on those potatoes, assuming someone did check. There’s a chance that he or she couldn’t taste the pepper’s harshness.
This is one intriguing conclusion from a recent paper in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The researchers studied the peppery aroma of shiraz wines. In the process, they discovered the aromatic essence of pepper itself.
In this month's Curious Cook, I write about some really bad pommes pureés, the sometimes strange flavors of white pepper, and new research on Shiraz wines that revealed the key to pepperiness.
There's an error that crept into the printed column during the editing, and a number of interesting facts that didn't make the cut. More on these in my next post.
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Wood, C. et al. From wine to pepper: rotundone, an obscure sesquiterpene, is a potent spicy aroma compound. J. Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008, 56: 3738-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf800183k
