#72644 - Salt and Pepper

[Yarjka]

Question #72644

I've always been under the impression that pepper is supposed to go in the shaker with more holes, since it doesn't flow out as fast as salt, so it requires more holes to get a decent amount. I guess this would all depend on the relative coarseness/fineness of the salt and pepper - although in the US it seems to me that table salt is generally very fine and pepper tends to be a bit more coarse.

According to this article, the issue is quite controversial in the world of etiquette. Not something I'll worry myself over anymore - to each his own.

In many restaurants I've been to in Europe, there is no shaker at all, but rather an open bowl of rather coarse salt that you take a pinch out of as needed, and pepper is freshly ground as needed. That's the method we use in my house as well.

I'm pretty sure what I saw at a restaurant recently would be against anyone's standards, though: salt in the container with a p-shaped hole pattern, and pepper in the container with an s-shaped hole pattern.

[The Happy Medium]

Salt and pepper shakers should be clear or clearly labeled. That's all I have to say.

[Random]

One time I was at somebody's house and they had sugar shaker... I was very confused.

[Laser Jock]

One time I was at somebody's house and they had sugar shaker... I was very confused.

I'm not sure what I'd use a sugar shaker for, but a cinnamon-sugar shaker would be the bomb.

[Yarjka]

One time I was at somebody's house and they had sugar shaker... I was very confused.

Was it April Fool's?
I pulled the switcheroo one year as a kid - I can't remember what got ruined, I just know my dad was very upset.

[C is for]

I went to a chowder place in Seattle where they had a sugar shaker (you can tell what it is because it's much bigger than a salt shaker). One girl thought it was salt, though, and kept adding more and more because her chowder kept tasting sweet.

If you make a lot of bowls of strawberries or oatmeal it may be useful to just shake sugar on instead of having to spoon it out.

[Portia]

Coffeehouses have sugar shakers. If you'd all go to Seattle like C, then you'd know this.

[Digit]

I went to a chowder place in Seattle where they had a sugar shaker (you can tell what it is because it's much bigger than a salt shaker). One girl thought it was salt, though, and kept adding more and more because her chowder kept tasting sweet.

I once went to Ivar's Salmon House on Lake Union. I don't remember anything about the tableware, but the food was very good.

[bobtheenchantedone]

One time I was at somebody's house and they had sugar shaker... I was very confused.

I'm not sure what I'd use a sugar shaker for, but a cinnamon-sugar shaker would be the bomb.

Tried this recently. Maybe it would work better with a different shaker, but I got mostly the cinnamon and it took forever to evenly coat my toast.

[Violet]

One time I was at somebody's house and they had sugar shaker... I was very confused.

I'm not sure what I'd use a sugar shaker for, but a cinnamon-sugar shaker would be the bomb.

Tried this recently. Maybe it would work better with a different shaker, but I got mostly the cinnamon and it took forever to evenly coat my toast.

Wait, people don't usually have cinnamon sugar shakers? My childhood just got a whole lot stranger. That was the way we always did it.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Nope! Just a bowl with a tiny spoon in it. And in fact I didn't even think of doing a shaker - Marduk's mom took my leftover cinnamon sugar from baking something and put it away in one.

[Katya]

Wait, people don't usually have cinnamon sugar shakers? My childhood just got a whole lot stranger. That was the way we always did it.

We had one, because my little brother loved cinnamon sugar toast.

[Whistler]

we had one too, although I think we only used it on bread