I've only ever made thicker hot sauces, but I'm currently fermenting one that I need to strain out once it's done. I'm wondering what methods are best. I've never had much luck with cheesecloth, but maybe it's because I've only bought the cheap roles that shred when you cut them. Should I be buying cheesecloth bags? Should I use a metal strainer? What works best for you?
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Best Straining Methods?
- Thread starter SibbysSauces
- Start date
Definitely mill! Cheese cloth or mesh will simply remove too much that is supposed to be in there and leave you with juice.
SibbysSauces said:
I have this food mill. With the different plates you can dictate how much pulp gets through. Well worth the investment and pulls multi duty for jams/baby food/mole/etc.
Cheesecloth will work if you're after just the 'essence' of what you've fermented, akin to a Tobasco or what have you. Some added pulp from the ferment will bulk up your sauce and give it a better mouth feel imo.
I had never even considered a food mill. Can it potentially be a messy process to use?
Thank you, everyone. I've never had an issue with any OXO product, so that one might be my go-to for a first time milling.
Gonna try making some sauce this year. Has anyone used a Squeezo like thing to strain your sauce? I call it a squeeze but now they are sold as a Sauce Master. A hand crank thing like a meat grinder that seperates the peelings and so on from the good stuff. I use mine to process my tomatoes for salsa, but with a finer screen it might do good to run peppers thru after cooking them.
I found an old heavy duty one of these things at a 2nd hand store for a couple bucks:
Works pretty well for a thick sauce. I've tried putting it through a mesh strainer afterwards and didn't like the result at all.
Works pretty well for a thick sauce. I've tried putting it through a mesh strainer afterwards and didn't like the result at all.
This is what I'm talking about. I am not opposed to trying a food mill, but was wondering if anyone had used on of these. If you've never used one, they work great for tomatoes. I use a different screen than in the picture, its called a salsa screen and the holes are about 1/4". You wash your tomatoes and cut them into chunks ( I usually quarter my salsa tomatoes) then put them in the hopper and turn the crank while stuffing them in the chute. Nice tomato meat comes down the chute and the skins come out the end and drop into a bowl for trash.
Looks handy for large batches maybe. How's the cleanup? The cone style strainer I have can do a blender full of sauce pretty easily, since it's already been processed well. A few minutes with the wooden pestle gets most of the liquid out, but I haven't compared it to a food mill.
Large batches are super easy. That's the beauty of it for me. No peeling. The only thing I would change is I can only fit a fairly small bowl under the chute. Cleanup isn't bad, mostly just rinse it in hot soapy water. The screen takes a little brushing but not bad. Much less work cleaning it versus peeling.
Cheesecloth is brave if it is a spicy one!
I had previously used a fine strainer on a handle and a large spoon to force the sauce through and that does a good job, but the food mill is a bit faster and better for larger quantities. Just used mine for the 2nd time today, Pujadas brand.
Using the strainer and spoon method.
I had previously used a fine strainer on a handle and a large spoon to force the sauce through and that does a good job, but the food mill is a bit faster and better for larger quantities. Just used mine for the 2nd time today, Pujadas brand.
Using the strainer and spoon method.
