In my meat universe, a great piece of beef is just that: A Great Piece of Meat. It needs a heavy char, a rare, warm-to-the-touch inside, and little else. One over-condiments a product that is not of high quality. A superior piece of beef, Black Angus, dry-aged, or Certified Prime, needs no doctoring, just an attentive grillmaster. Why are so many consumers now saying, “hold the pepper”? Why did pepper become such a major flavor profiler whether it is with top-quality meats or sushi-grade tuna?

Both those fine foods need little outside interference. It goes back to purchasing quality, preparing it simply, and not ruining it by fussing with unnecessary seasonings.

Just yesterday attention was on the salt crisis: How we are oversalting everything and our health is paying for using too much of this seasoning. Black pepper has been making the research rounds as a positive, but encrusting a steak with pepper (unless you ordered steak au poivre) is a negative in my book. It can overpower a food and make the taste get lost under its weight. Plenty of people like salted and peppered food. I am a believer in top quality products that need little extra attention. If the quality is good, you have nothing to hide. Inferior cuts of beef will take more than salt and pepper to solve.

Hold the pepper, bring on the 12 oz beauty. I can handle it.

OK, I promise to take  some home for lunch tomorrow.

Who made pepper King, anyway?