Food mill question

[Torch]

I never used a food mill. I'm buying one this weekend. Here is the way I process my sauce without a food mill. My question to anyone that uses one, where would the food mill step be placed in my current process for best results?

1. All ingredients together for 15 min boil
2. Simmer 45 mins
3. Blender
4. Simmer for desired thickness
5. Blender
6. Heat above 195 F
7. Bottle
8. Invert 30 mins

Reason I want a food mill is for that silky smooth sauce.

Thanks

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

I have no idea so I look forward to the pro folks chiming in, if it was me I would be using it between 4 and 5.

 

[Torch]

That's what I was thinking too JHP. But I figured I'd rather get conformation on it before having a hot sauce day.

 

[stickman]

I'd simmer the ingredients first to soften them, then run them through the food mill to separate out the skins and seeds. Cheers

 

[PIC 1]

Steps 3 and 5 are the same....I'm sure what kind of blender you have but I would eliminate step 5 and mill your sauce after step 3, once its cools down. A silky sauce can also be achieved by using Xanthan Gum. I've been using a Pre-Hydrated Ticaxan, it works great especially if your bottling a few cases at a time. With any stabilizer I'd recommend using a blender with water creating a vortex and pouring the powder through the lid while running. 5 minutes usually does the trick, add the solution to the sauce prior to the final simmer before bottling. You can end up with a silky smooth sauce with suspended ingredients............good luck with the food mill

 

[OhioHeat]

I would use between #5 and #6 (I don't use a blender as the mill does that for me)... as your running it through the mill your sauce cools down and will be below recommended temps for the next part of the process.

 

[Torch]

Ok cool. So run it through the mill after the blender. I just realized one thing though. I like keeping the chile seeds in the sauce for the heat.

Will the mill take the seeds out or will the blender that's used first get the seeds to a liquid first? Basically I wanted the mill for the fruits or other veggies. Not sure if using the mill will be worth it if it will take the heat out of the sauce due to removing the seeds. Any comments on this will be much appreciated.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Seeds do not add to the heat, it is the placenta that you want. The mill will remove seeds.

 

[OhioHeat]

Depending on the actual size of the seeds and what type/brand of food mill you have you may be able to allow some seeds to make it through the process. The one i use has different sized strainers for it and it may accommodate some smaller seeds.

I agree with seeds not making it any hotter in the sauce but what those seeds will do is pass through your body(still retaining their heat) and burn you a new one where the sun don't shine. simply because your body doesn't break them down.

Good luck with your sauce(s) !

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Seeds = ring sting, animals do not process seeds in order to keep plants producing.

 

[Torch]

You learn something new everyday. Thanks for educating me on that. So the placenta I want to keep then!!!!

The mill won't remove the placenta?

 

[salsalady]

Skip blender #5, insert food mill after blender #3, before simmering #4.

Placenta is like the rest of the flesh, it will break down when cooked and keep the heat in. Depending on your blender (and how fine it gets the pulp), the food mill may remove some bits of skin also. A good first simmer will help breakdown the skins so they will work through the food mill.


BTW, since you've never used a food mill, and I don't know if it comes with directions, but what you want to do is-

turn, turn, turn, reverse (repeat-repeat-repeat-repeat....) Keep a rubber spatual handy to get the stuff off the sides.

Have Fun! Post pics~