Green Peppercorns substitute

Substitutes for Green Peppercorns with ratios

1. 2Dried or freeze-dried green peppercorns, rehydrated

   Close match

   Use the same amount by volume

   The same peppercorns preserved by drying instead of brining.

   What changes

   Best for

   pan sauces, steak, pate, poultry

   Soak them for fifteen minutes in warm water, stock or a splash of brandy and they plump up close to the brined version. They stay slightly firmer and are not salty at all, so the sauce will need more salt than the recipe expects. Flavour is the same fresh, grassy pepper note, just a shade less bright.

2. 3Coarsely cracked black peppercorns

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 tsp for every 1 tablespoon brined green peppercorns

   The same berry, left to ripen and dried, which concentrates the heat enormously.

   What changes

   Best for

   steak au poivre, cream sauces, pork

   Use only about a third of the volume or the dish becomes genuinely spicy. You lose the soft texture completely and the sauce reads sharper, hotter and more resinous, closer to a classic steak au poivre than a poivre vert. Crack the corns coarsely in a mortar rather than grinding them fine, so at least the specks are visible.

3. 4Cracked white peppercorns

   Taste and texture differ

   Use 1 tsp for every 1 tablespoon brined green peppercorns

   Fully ripe peppercorns with the outer skin removed, common in French cooking.

   What changes

   Best for

   cream sauces, poached chicken, veloute-based sauces

   Roughly the same heat as black pepper but earthier and faintly barnyard-musty, with none of the fresh green brightness. It disappears visually into a pale cream sauce, which some cooks prefer. Use a third of the volume, as with black pepper.

4. 5Pink peppercorns

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by volume, plus cracked black pepper to taste

   Dried berries from the Brazilian pepper tree, similar in size and softness but not true pepper.

   What changes

   Best for

   garnish, cream sauces, fish

   Visually and texturally a good match, and they give the same scattered-berry look on a plated steak. They are fruity and resinous with barely any heat, so on their own the sauce tastes sweet and perfumed rather than peppery. Add cracked black pepper to compensate. Note that pink peppercorns come from a tree in the cashew family, so anyone with a tree nut allergy should skip them.

5. 6Pickled mustard seeds or brined nasturtium seeds

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by volume

   Small brined seeds that pop in the same way.

   What changes

   Best for

   charcuterie, cold sauces, pate

   Excellent for the burst-of-brine texture, and nasturtium seeds in particular have a genuine peppery bite. Mustard seeds bring an obvious mustard tang that suits pork and pate but can fight a delicate cream sauce. Neither is a flavour match, but both keep the eating experience intact.