Salt & Pepper. Has it became cliche?

SGH

Being a person that loves to cook and eat, I do a tremendous amount of reading and study on the subject. With that said and aside, I have noticed a trend as of late that the answer to almost every question related to cooking is answered with "salt & pepper". There is no question as to where this stems from. It's the influence of brother Franklin. 
I frequent at least 4 different cooking forums pretty much everyday and it's the same ole doldrums over and over like a broken record. Salt & pepper, salt & pepper, salt & pepper, salt & pepper. 
Now im not trying to debate the merits or dismiss salt and pepper as a great rub. Quite the contrary. Salt and pepper happens to be 2 of my favorite spices. However my question is, is this really the answer to everything now?  
I have read this forum for quite some time now and I can look back and remember when this rub or that rub was in vogue. Heated arguments and debates over rub are right up there with lump and political debates. 
What I find so ironic about this is a well known individual who use to cook with AF at AF's establiment openly admitted that he never cooked a brisket with just S&P. Never, not even once. Personally I don't think that the man is being dishonest. But that's open to farther debate for sure. 
With all of the above said, has everyone really forsaken all of their high dollar, magical, voodoo rubs in favor of just plain ole salt and pepper? Or has it just become the cool thing to say now? 
I may be off by miles, but in my mind 99% of the people reverberating salt and pepper ain't really using just salt and pepper. What even made me pose the question is a rare visit to McDonalds coming home from work the other night. After I placed my order, I was asked would I like salt and pepper with my meal. It got me to thinking a little. Use enough salt and pepper and even McDonalds is edible. Maybe there really is something to the salt and pepper thing after all. 
So, are you S&P only? Or is it just a cool thing to say now? 

Sardonicus

S, P, and G, here.

SGH

Sardonicus said:

S, P, & G, here.

I like garlic myself my friend. Thanks for sharing. 

FarmerTom

Salt and pepper, that's all that' s on this damn brisket I'm throwing on at 10 tonight. Not drinking yet are you?  Or else your prose is much better than mine after several. 

lousubcap

Truth be told I am in the S&P with garlic and bourbon smoked paprika.  Never measure but go quite light with the salt, and take fresh peppercorns and massage them with a 1 lb rubber mallet til I like the consistency.  Use the finger wave taste test to dial it in...and that's for beef cooks.  
Totally different set-up for pork and poultry and audibles beyond that.
I know how the seasonings taste and the flavor profile so "no worries here".  But I'm not from Texas or the "Style of Dixie"  

hondabbq

I like using the " in vogue" rubs and some other obscure ones as well. 
I love just being simple and using s&p. 
Chicken, steaks, everything. 

Botch

Just about any recipe (except chocolate pudding) ends with "Salt and pepper to taste", even virtually all non-barbeque recipes.  I think pepper is built into the Anglo-Saxon genes, it was coveted throughout Europe as trade routes were established to the Far East and came over to America with the Pilgrims et al.  
 
Salt is neither an herb nor a spice, it is basically the only "rock" that we put on our food, but it is virtually essential to get the saliva glands flowing (okay, besides the aroma of foods) so I'll leave that part out.  
 
Spices beyond pepper are fine, depending on what the food calls for, and highly-spiced foods without black pepper are legion (American southwest comes to mind).   

SGH

lousubcap said:
  But I'm not from Texas or the "Style of Dixie"  

Brother Cap, you are a honorary member of Team Dixie my friend  
On a serious note, thanks for sharing your thoughts. 

Lit

It's gotta be a good piece of meat for me to use just salt and pepper. When I get the prime ribeye caps from Costco I will use just S&P on them. There's too many good spices out there to keep it simple unless the meat is really the star. 

theyolksonyou

S&P, commercial rubs, made up rubs. I like the all. 

SGH

Botch said:

Just about any recipe (except chocolate pudding) ends with "Salt and pepper to taste", even virtually all non-barbeque recipes.  

The above is true. However it plays right to my point. All recipes pretty much say salt and pepper to taste on top of all other herbs and spices. With that said, before the Franklin videos, you would be hard pressed to find any recipe in any book or video that called for S&P only. I agree that S&P is a great foundation. I'm just curious if folks have really fell into the proverbial S&P trap that has been set.
As far as salt, I agree. It's a chemical compound. I used the nomenclature that is best known by most folks. They usually find it on the spice isle. Not the chemical compound isle. As such, I so called it. 

 

SGH

Lit said:

There's too many good spices out there to keep it simple unless the meat is really the star. 

I'm forced to concur. 

Dobie

Darby_Crenshaw

Nope. 
No other seasoning does what salt does. It's the only chemical reaction among seasonings. All others are added flavors. But salt is actually doing work

pepper?  It may not be salt, but it is chief among the others

Ozzie_Isaac

Salt and pepper have their place, especially with beef.

I don't like either on pork.  Chicken it works, but I use more garlic.

I like heat so use a variety of different spices for heat.

Chilli I use more cummin than anything.

When I make key lime pie I don't use salt or pepper.

Sardonicus

Good one, Oz.

admiral21

It all depends on what you are looking for.  I think we are going through a culinary age where people are all focused on making something as simple as possible with the best technique.  If you are using just S&P there is no hiding anything.  

At least with me I've spent so many years not knowing what is going into a lot of my food or eating things with ingredients I can't pronounce that I take a lot of pride in making food as simply as possible.  It's a great feeling to make an amazing burger, steak or Brisket and have someone ask "Oh my god, this is amazing, what did you do to them?" and you get to respond "Just Salt and Pepper"

I think another reason you see it so often is the expanded education of technique with the internet and other resources.  Before the internet or forums like this, the only technique you knew for cooking came from your parents and it's pretty safe to say that you weren't learning the correct way for most things and not letting the ingredients speak for themselves. Who knew about wrapping briskets in butcher paper, smashing a burger or reverse searing a steak?
With poor technique you are able to mask poorly cooked food with a load of spices that you could put on shoe leather to make it taste pretty good.

You can over cook the hell out of ribs but if you have a rub with a lot of sugar and other crap then you are going to have something that tastes good to a lot of people.  If you cooked those same ribs with Salt, pepper, garlic, onion, paprika, you would cook out all the fat, they would be dry and just not taste great.

Dyal_SC

Depends on the cut IMHO.  If it's a cut of meat like steak or brisket, I want to taste the beef and not a bunch of other flavors... so I keep it simple with S&P. Chicken can be boring, but it is very versatile with different spices.  

SGH

Ozzie_Isaac said:

When I make key lime pie I don't use salt or pepper.

You are in the minority then
On a serious note, I don't think that it really matters if you use salt and pepper or not. The important thing is to say that you do. Salt and pepper has become the Omaha Omaha of cooking

SGH

As I test, the last brisket I did on the BGE, I used and you guessed it, Omaha Omaha only

SciAggie

For beef - I like lots of fresh cracked pepper and a little salt. I don't enjoy salty ribs or brisket. When it suits me I add garlic powder. I like the beef flavor to come through - in the style of Texas
On pork and chicken I have become a huge fan of Dizzy Pig rubs. 

lousubcap

@SGH- as you well know, the S&P (heavy on the P for me) rub guarantees the meteorite bark every time, even with a light cut of some other seasonings.  Gotta love that bark when you finally peer into whatever cooking chamber you are running.

JRWhitee

Sardonicus said:

S, P, and G, here.

As I was reading the post I was thinking exactly the same thing!

cajunrph

SGH said:

As I test, the last brisket I did on the BGE, I used and you guessed it, Omaha Omaha only

What's the sliced pics look like?

onedbguru

Sometimes the type pepper can make all the difference. I acquired a pepper blend recipe that is really good.  I have since discovered another peppercorn that adds another dimension to the flavor profile.  

Pink, White, Green, Black with a touch of mustard seed. We have a dedicated coffee grinder used solely for spices.  Hotter - use more black. 

I have since started adding some szechuan peppercorns - really good.  

Experiment with the proportions to get something that works for you. 

Sometimes, I think the food is too salty, but I do like on my burger just S&P. 

SGH

cajunrph said:

What's the sliced pics look like?

johnnyp

@SGH your pontification certainly is thought provoking.  I rarely use S&P alone (expect on steak).  Tell us more about your opinions on the Omaha Omaha brisket.  What did you like, what would you change?

Lit

SGH said:

cajunrph said:

What's the sliced pics look like?

That looks dirty 

SGH

johnnyp said:

@SGH your pontification certainly is thought provoking.  I rarely use S&P alone (expect on steak).  Tell us more about your opinions on the Omaha Omaha brisket.  What did you like, what would you change?

The Omaha Omaha brisket was a test in every sense of the word. First, I honestly used salt & pepper only. Secondly, I heavily injected it with equal parts of simmered pickle juice and water. Third, I wrapped it very late in the ballgame just to go against the norm. Fourth, when I trimmed, I trimmed the the back side only. Fifth, I cooked it on the BGE. I usually do not do this. However it was a test so I thought why not. All in all it was fantastic. My wife was especially fond of the pickle juice injection. The one I'm cooking tomorrow will be done the same way. The only difference being is it will be spritzed with pickle juice instead of injected with it. Just want to have a base line comparison. After that, the next one will be both injected and spritzed with pickle juice. I honestly give the Omaha brisket a 9 on a scale of 1-10. The only thing that it was lacking was the depth that only a wood fire can provide.  

blind99

No way can I do equal salt and pepper, or anywhere close.  I can't tolerate that much salt.  Good tasting meat, with the right amount of fat and salt, are the foundation.  All the other stuff (smoke, pepper, paprika, garlic, onion, whatever) is for building bark and adjusting the flavor.

FarmerTom

I think it's a matter of personal preference.  I like the taste of properly cooked meat.  Don't care for a lot of additional flavoring.  I have eaten ribeyes at some higher end steak houses where a lot of spices were put on and blackened.  Thought it detracted from the natural flavor of the ribeye.  But I realize some folks like those flavors.  
   When I first got an egg, I though I needed to put rubs on about everything.  Still use some occasionally, but a little salt and pepper goes a long way for my taste.