Straining Sauces and Sieves/Strainers

robert.c.brown15

Hi All,

So I know places like Per Se and other high end restaurants go about straining their sauces multiple times to completely remove any impurities. I was curious, do any of you home cooks strain a sauce more than once or twice? After going through the process of making a sauce, straining it once, maybe twice, is about all I do. I also find that finding things to strain the sauce into can be a problem as eventually it needs to end up back in a clean saucepan.

This is in the tools sections because I was also curious what you guys could recommend for strainers/sieves. I am NOT talking about the lab sieves that I and many of you use for stocks and purees. I'm also sure a large chinois is great for stocks, but that is a large volume of liquid. I'm talking hand-held strainers for a few cups of sauce that you transfer from one saucepan to the other and so on.

I'm thinking the tapered shape of a chinois may suit me best and was curious if anyone could recommend some in various sizes. Is there a fantastic set of chinois ('s? plural...) that are HIGHLY recommended? Thank you so much!

tshewman

Personally I skim more in the beginning and strain frequently if the sauce is a major component. I sometimes take more than a day to make it so straining is not as much of an issue. As I get closer to the desired amount I have two small sauce pans that I strain into (going back and forth while cleaning in between). I have one conical Chinois for my stocks and 3 other large medium and small that are used for sauces etc etc. I bought these at a local kitchen supply store (SLT or W&S etc. When i'm down really close to the texture and flavor I want I keep it in the water bath either in a ziploc, piping bag or a measuring cup (which obviously makes i easy to pull out and pour).