Food mill?

I use a large sieve and a spatula to take out all the seeds and skin.

dcarch

Chinoise - aka China cap.

It's still too chunky for a chinoise for sure and I don't have a large sieve or food mill.

I'm thinking of getting a food mill though. What else can you use it for?

If you are doing enough to justify the cost of a tomato strainer/food strainer, by all means get one. Tomatoes go in the hopper. Seeds and skins come out one place. Pulp and juice come out another place.

For small amounts various strainers can work.

A food mill gets clogged with skins which have to be constantly removed. It's a real pain. A food mill is good only for soft, pulpy things which have been peeled prior to cooking.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Strainer

I know this is rediculous, but just for fun information only. Don't mean to distract your thread.

Some modern chefs use lab centrifuge. They can separate seeds, skin, paste and a crystal clear tomato juice that's amazing in taste.

A large sieve is very inexpensive that you can get in most supermarkets.

dcarch

I don't have any of those ... so my gadget is a pot of hot water and a sharp knife ....BEFORE I start the sauce
k

k, yes usually that works well but I have about 2000000 cherry tomatoes and can't see myself peeling them all LOL

jjimster, very interesting concept. Other than the obvious difference in design, is there anything you can do with one that can't be done with the other?

A spider, like you'd use for deep frying. The holes are large - especially on a real cheap one - so the rest of the sauce should be able to go through. Might cost $4.

Here is a link that might be useful: Like this

Potato ricer does the job easily.

The way that I've dealt w/ cherry tomatoes in the past is to just whiz them up in the blender. Raw. Then put them thru the food mill and then cook them down for either tomato juice or sauce.

In the many tomato forums I visit, the one shown by Jim is the one people recommend.

dcarch

I have my mother's old Squeezo, the all metal version of today's Victorio tomato mill.

I really like it, it's great for tomatoes and works like a charm for applesauce, and the smallest berry screen gets nearly all the raspberry seeds out of raspberries if I want to make a seedless jam.

Annie

Hmmmm I like nandina's suggestion. I have a food mill like jimster posted and its a PITA to clean. Doesn't save me much time when all is said and done.

Actually lately we've been using our fruit strainer attachment on our kitchenaid mixer, it has done a great job with all our garden grape tomatoes.

Stick blender?

Di

For a gadzillion cherry tomatoes, I would use one of those things that is shaped like a chinoise but with larger holes....stands on legs and comes with a wooden "pusher".
I call it an applesauce maker or a cranberry sauce maker...but it works with little tomatoes too.
Linda C

lots of ideas. I think I will try find something similar to Annie's. I like the idea that you don't have to constantly clean it.

Jim, and others, I'm surprised you don't like a food mill. I have the same kind my mother used and now I have hers too. We always used it for sauce and I don't find it a problem. You do need to do the reverse thing often to clear it but then you just keep going. I can do a lot of tomatoes or apples before I need to dump the skins and seeds out. A good whack on the side of the sink and they fall out and I keep going. We always have used it for applesauce too. I have the very Roma veg/food strainer Jim linked to and find it a lot more work to clean than the simple food mill. Plus the Roma leaks juice and makes a bigger mess. To Me... smiles.. Maybe it's what you get used to using.. or how you get used to using them.

Since the sauce is already done, you could give it a good whiz in the FP. And just tell them it is a chuncky sauce.

Actually, the tomato strainer I have is an old Victorio and it works flawlessly. I posted a picture of the Roma because I thought that photo got the idea across better. If you want to buy one, read the user reviews to see what flaws a given model may have, such as leakage.

Tomato strainers are not for making one dinner's worth of sauce. That would be overkill. They are large pieces of equipment which are suited for processing the season's harvest. You get them out maybe a couple of times a year. For a couple of cups of sauce a Foley food mill may be OK but I consider it too clunky for that. When making sauce for a single dish from fresh tomatoes I just chop the tomatoes. I leave the sauce rough. I don't strain it.

Jim

I like the food mill. I agree, when the skins build up, you simply reverse the handle and they rise in a solid mass. Easy to remove.

Jo

I'm with diinohio....I use my stick blender in my tomato soups and sauces all the time...does the skins, seeds and all.

L2C46,

I don't understand your question. Please try again.

Jim

L2C46,
Years ago, I received this amazing gift from a CF/KF friend, Yvette. I use it so often and it's been the best thing for removing tomato skins and seeds, but not overdoing it. And it's so easy to use.

But don't believe the picture... it's kind of messy!

Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: Williams Sonoma Italian Tomato Press