04 Feb 2026
Elena Hogg, founder of local culinary company FOOD by Elena, grabs the pepper for some winter warmers..
What could be better for warming the belly and the soul at this chilly and damp time of year than pepper? Fiery but aromatic, punchy but fragrant – it provides a really tasty way to keep the cold at bay. Eating the right dishes means that feeling snug can happen from within, without needing to rely on wearing fourteen layers and strapping a hot water bottle to your person at all times.
I’m not talking about a shy smattering of pre-ground pepper on your spag bol or scrambled eggs. I’m more interested in pepper as a primary ingredient, a heady and sinus-clearing great whack of the stuff. The kind of quantity that gives you an RSI from twisting the grinder so many times – so much so you wish you’d used your pestle and mortar or your mini food processor.
One of my earliest recollections of eating serious doses of pepper is at our good friends’ wedding back in January 2009, in glorious Singapore (where the bride is from).
It was hot and humid, so we certainly needed no further warming, but we all gladly sweated our way through the traditional local dish ‘black pepper crab’, it was so delicious.
We were eating at a fabulous riverside restaurant called Red House Seafood and I remember being surprised at how fruity and sweet a taste the pepper gave the crab – I’d never associated pepper with those flavour profiles before. So while we celebrated our friends’ love (mainly by eating for three days straight), I was kindling a brand new love for the humble peppercorn.
Another successful union is that of potatoes and black pepper.
I would add celeriac and parsnip to the guest list here, too. Creamy, starchy vegetables provide the perfect backdrop for this fiery spice. Last week I made a gratin dauphinoise comprising all three of these delicious roots, and the fourth ingredient was some small, brownish seeds called ‘grains of paradise’, gifted to me by my husband for Christmas.
Grown in West Africa, they are from a plant in the ginger family and are a milder alternative to pepper.
This meant the children would get through a whole serving without clutching their throats and telling me I’m trying to kill them.
As well as the grains of paradise, my gift box proffered other exciting peppery iterations which I’ve spent the last few weeks experimenting with.
There was a bag of ‘cubeb’ peppercorns – a cross between black pepper and allspice which gives them a real botanical vibe. Some of them therefore found their way into my weekend gin and tonic.
There was also a packet of ‘long pepper’, so named because the kernels themselves are elongated. These are a more fragrant and delicate version of regular black pepper, with cardamom and cinnamon notes.
I’m looking forward to grinding an awful lot of them into my next chicken curry.
The black variety, of course, is but one of pepper’s rainbow of spicy goodness.
Other colours include green, white, red and pink. Other than pink (which is derived from a separate plant), the green, black and white peppercorns are all fruits of the same species (piper nigrum), but treated differently.
Green and black peppercorns are both picked unripe from the plant. Some of these little fruits are then sun-dried to produce black peppercorns; those that
aren’t retain their colour and become green peppercorns. Red peppercorns are allowed to ripen fully on the plant before picking, while white peppercorns are left to mature beyond ripeness and then soaked to remove their outer skin.
The green ones are ideal for a delicious peppercorn sauce for steak. It’s surprisingly easy to make and can stand being made in advance if you just add a drop more cream when you warm it back up. It’s one of those classic sauces that deserves to remain unadulterated and it’s so moreish that I often provide a little pot of extra sauce for dipping the fries into.
White pepper is often used in pale, potato-based dishes and cream sauces, not just because the earthy notes sing out beautifully against the mildness of starch and dairy, but also because black pepper would stand out too starkly against the white.
For me, though, hiding the presence of pepper is entirely counter-intuitive. I want to celebrate it.
This brings me to peppercorns in sweet recipes. Anyone unconvinced can feel reassured by the classic strawberry-and-black-pepper combo, but that’s too summery for our current needs. Instead, I’ve been making pink peppercorn shortbread, which at first lulls you into a sumptuous, buttery calm, but then sends a shot of piquancy dancing down your tongue, waking you and warming you all in the same mouthful.
This weekend I plan to try a Tom Hunt recipe I came across online for black peppercorn syrup on stewed blackberries. You could stew pears or plums instead if you wanted; the peppercorn syrup would still do its job of infusing the fruit with a perfumed and persistent heat. Just perfect for keeping us toasty and treated at this time of year.
