Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Any thoughts on this?

This evening, I made what I think will be a very good yellow tomato gazpacho for tomorrow but when I tried straining it using an Oxo strainer, it rendered a very thin but brilliant yellow "broth". In addition, it left quite a lot of yellow pulp in the strainer. Obviously, the mesh was too "tight". In the past, I've used a wired-mesh colander - where the mesh is not as fine as it is in the strainer and I guess I can continue to use this but I'm wondering what others use when recipes call for straining.

FWIW, the same thing happened when I was straining the raspberry/sugar/water mixture when making CI's raspberry "sherbet". In that recipe, they specified using a "fine mesh" strainer. Doing so, resulted in thin "raspberry broth" in a bowl and lots of raspberry pulp in the strainer.

Any recommendations for a good strainer?

Gerard

I have a lot of strainers, and I find them to be very good at some tasks and less so at others. For what you're doing I think a food mill is more in order.

Why are you straining tomatoes for gazpacho? If it's to seed them, I just give them a good squeeze after I skin them.

Amy

Thanks Amy!

I agree - straining in this case is not necessary. The texture is perfect just the way it is. On the other hand, I think I'll take your advice and pick up a strainer where the mesh is not as tight as the one that I have.

On another note, thanks for posting on sous vide ribs. I've made them twice now and they are amazing (much more tender/tasty than the ones that I mentioned in another post that were cooked on high heat).

Gerard

Gerard,

I use a small-hole (but not mesh) chinois for tomatoes. It lets all the juice through while straining out the seeds, large pieces of pulp and skins.

Mind you, I don't strain anything for gazpacho. Just puree and serve.

1 minute on 'turbo' in a Vita Mix would have solved all your problems. This tool has saved me countless hours from straining and clean-up, amongst all of the other things it does. Very happy camper

I love my Vitamix, but love other tools for other purposes as well. Sometimes I like the chunky texture only a food mill can provide. To each his/her own.

Amy