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Black Sarawak peppercorns have a soft, woody smell, like a forest floor mixed with lemon zest. Those things come through in the taste, too, along with a fruity sweetness. But then peppercorns, the tiny black balls I take for granted (and often forget about), are berries, which is something I didn’t know until I did a pepper tasting at my local spice shop, Emporio delle Spezie.
I also learned that the spice I have always considered one thing, black pepper, is in fact a species, Piper nigrum, a flowering vine in the vast Piperaceae family. Native to south-west India and Sri Lanka, Piper nigrum spread, taking on different characteristics according to wherever it took root: Sarawak pepper, Penja pepper, Lampong pepper, Kampot pepper, Malabar pepper, Madagascar pepper …
The writer and academic Dr Anna Sulan Masing, whose family grew pepper in Borneo, has written extensively about pepper, the way it is grown and by whom, its colonial past and present. It is from her that I learned Sarawak is a state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo, and that Sarawak peppercorns grow in tropical landscapes such as Kapit, a riverside town deep in the interior and where Sulan’s family are from. At the pepper talk, we learned that peppercorns grow in clusters, like grapes, and turn from green to blazing orange-red when ripe. Fresh peppercorns are laid on mats to dry for three or four days, during which time they turn black, but with a bright fruitiness that can be maintained if they are stored carefully and used wisely. It is suggested that, for maximum warmth and flavour, we bash the peppercorns in a mortar. The booklet we came home with suggests pairing the wood-lemon of Sarawak with mussels steamed open over heat and wine, which is a dish that demands well-salted chips.
The following method is pretty much that of food scientist and recipe developer J Kenji López-Alt from Serious Eats. While I am a keen consumer of his work, I rarely attempt to follow in his rigorous footsteps, but, on this occasion, I also wanted a method for thin, crisp chips with the characteristics of both a global hamburger chain and a Belgian food truck. López-Alt’s method does involve precision cutting and three stages, though – a boil, fry one and fry two – but you can pause between steps two and three, and the results are fantastic. (And, of course, there are always oven chips, if need be.)
Peppered mussels and salty chips
Serves 4
1½kg mussels
900g russet potatoes, or similar
2 tbsp white-wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1½ litres peanut oil
2 tsp black peppercorns
3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled
200ml white wine
Working under running water, scrub the mussels, pulling away their hairy beards and discarding any that are broken or cracked. Cover the clean mussels with cold water and leave to sit until you are ready to cook.
Peel and cut the potatoes into 5mm x 5mm fries, and drop the raw fries in a bowl of cold water straight after cutting. Drain the potatoes, put them in a large pan and cover with fresh cold water. Add the white-wine vinegar and salt, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, or until tender but not falling apart. Drain, spread out on a clean tea towel and leave to dry for five minutes.
In a wok, heat 1½ litres of peanut oil to 200C, then, working in batches, fry the potatoes for 50 seconds. Lift them out on to a tray lined with kitchen towel and, once they are all fried, leave the chips to cool for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, crush the peppercorns in a mortar (or put them in a small plastic bag and smash with a rolling pin). In another big wide pan for which you have a lid, heat the olive oil and peeled garlic. Add the mussels, turn up the heat, then add the wine, cover the pan, and cook for five minutes, shaking the pan and listening for the mussels to open. Once they are all open, sprinkle over the black pepper and take to the table as well as some bread.
Working quickly now, return the oil to 200C and, again working in batches, fry the chips for three minutes. Blot briefly to get rid of any excess oil, sprinkle with salt and take to the table batch by batch.
