Event

Peppercorn Dinner

Pepper is so common in American cooking that we hardly even think about it. Perhaps we've heard that freshly-ground pepper loses a lot of its flavor in the first 30-60 minutes after grinding, so we buy a pepper mill rather than pre-ground pepper. We might hear that white pepper, or Tellicherry peppercorns, are worth checking out, so maybe we do that. But for the most part, pepper just gets taken for granted.

What if I were to tell you that the pepper that you know is just the tip of the iceberg? That there are peppercorns like Voatsiperifery, from Madagascar -- a tiny-tailed grain that must be hand foraged from a very small and precise region of the island and is considered one of the most sought-after peppercorns in the world? Or the delicate and slightly smoky Muntok pepper from Indonesia, the white pepper against which others are judged? Or that flavor notes in peppercorns can range from anise to tobacco to flowers to citrus?

And what if we told you that we'd asked star chef Avishar Barua, formerly of Veritas in Delaware, to build a nine-course dinner around exactly those peppercorns?

I hope you'd be as excited as we are.

Please join us in the party room at Miranova 1 for a dinner unlike anything Columbus has seen or is likely to see again. There are only 40 seats available in this venue, so we'd recommend getting your tickets soon if you want to come. Because the venue does not have a liquor license, we encourage you to bring your own wine.

(Note: Current members of Slow Food USA should already have received a member discount password via email.)

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Menu

Snacks: a surprise or two

Egg Yolk, Asparagus, Surryano, Toast
Lampong

Tomato, Tomato, Pepper
Phu-Quoc and Voatsiperifery

Hong Kong Style Black Pepper Fish, Pan Fried Rice, Charred Onion
Kampot (black)

Pork Belly, Pastrami, Cacio e Pepe
Sarawak and Penja

CFT (Country Fried Tongue), Sawmill Gravy, Peppered Potato Puree
Tellicherry and Muntok

Intermezzo: Pepper, Fruit, Parfait
Cubèbe and Phu Quoc

Salt, Pepper, Budino
Kampot (red), Malabar

Mignardise