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The Unicorn Pepper Mill is good. Really good. But part of what makes it shine so brightly is how bad the competition is. Pepper mills (aka pepper grinders) rank just behind knives as primary causes of horrific kitchen accidents, according to an unofficial study that occurred in my life experience. I have lost the top screws to other pepper mills in the middle of restaurant service and watched them roll to a stop several feet behind 500 degree ovens. I have had them fall apart in my hands and dump hundreds of peppercorns into a cauldron of soup and then had to fish every single one out. I have also seen some genuine crimes against design out there that wouldn’t belong at the bottom of a kitchen drawer, let alone out in plain sight on a countertop.
Like meeting someone nice and sane after dating a series of crazies, the Unicorn, made by Tom David, Inc on Nantucket Island of all places (but using Italian-built grinding mechanisms), earns its name by actually being as special as you hope it will be. It is sleek, black or white, and understated, with an oversized opening for adding peppercorns that twists closed seamlessly. The only screw is on the bottom, used for adjusting the grind size, and is easy to twist by hand and yet never seems to loosen, the way some grinders start out making pepper dust but after a day’s grind are dropping out whole peppercorns onto your salad.
It is that rare pepper mill that does what it is supposed to do. It a) holds a lot of peppercorns without looking like a prop from a kitschy Italian restaurant b) allows easy and precise grind-size adjustments c) allows easy access to the peppercorn reservoir without the need for unscrewing anything so you can have access to whole peppercorns in seconds without needing to rummage around in the spice cabinet. That means you might actually find yourself using whole peppercorns when you should, like intentionally sprinkling some into a stock destined for soup duty, or cracking some on a cutting board to finish off a grilled steak. With the right grinder you will d) look like a badass and e) your food will be all the more delicious.