Dry-Roasted Salt and Pepper Blend

Last week I made the Dry-Roasted Salt and Pepper Blend recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook in preparation for the Cantonese Pepper and Salty Shrimp recipe.

On its own the blend is exactly as described: salty and peppery. I think it will be good on popcorn.

Last week I made the Dry-Roasted Salt and Pepper Blend recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook in preparation for the Cantonese Pepper and Salty Shrimp recipe.

The recipe is straightforward. White peppercorn, Sichuan peppercorn, and salt are toasted in a dry wok for seven to ten minutes. The toasted spices are allowed to cool and then ground into a powder in a mortar and pestle.

A photo of the toasted whole spices on a plate. — The spices cooling on a plate

The recipe makes a good amount of spice blend. I ended up grinding in batches to get the mixture fine enough.

On its own the blend is exactly as described: salty and peppery. I think it will be good on popcorn (in addition to the recipe in which Kenji calls for it).

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.