The blog of cooking-ez.com
In Praise of the Vegetable Mill
When a recipe or preparation calls for something solid to be pureed, as in a soup for example, the natural reflex is to take out the blender and plunge it into the saucepan.
This works very well in most cases, but there are times when you'd like to puree something and at the same time remove the hard parts or skins from the preparation.
Another reflex in this case is to pass the whole preparation through a sieve or a very fine strainer, which also works well, but can be a bit tedious.
But there's a very old utensil, still in use today, which allows you to do both operations at once: it purées and retains the hard parts.
This works very well in most cases, but there are times when you'd like to puree something and at the same time remove the hard parts or skins from the preparation.
Another reflex in this case is to pass the whole preparation through a sieve or a very fine strainer, which also works well, but can be a bit tedious.
But there's a very old utensil, still in use today, which allows you to do both operations at once: it purées and retains the hard parts.
5,338 4 5
Last modified on: July 12th 2023
Keywords for this post:MillVegetablesUtensilUseClassicMaterialPuréeCoulisIn Praise of the Vegetable Mill
The food mill is an entirely manual utensil that is simple, highly efficient and inexpensive.
It's a flared metal or plastic container, with a grid of more or less fine holes lining the bottom.
A plate, which turns with a simple crank, forces the poured preparation through the grid.
Place the mill on a container (saucepan, salad bowl, etc.) - it has 3 feet for this purpose - pour the preparation into it and turn the crank, "grinding" until all the preparation has passed through the grid, turning the crank in the other direction from time to time to clear the grid.
It's called a vegetable mill, because that's its original use, but it can be used with any fairly tender, often cooked, preparation that needs to be turned into a kind of purée (some even call it a "potato masher") or coulis, vegetables and soups of course, but also fruit, fruit purée or any other food tender enough for that.
It's ideal for this job, because it works without forcing or pulverizing like a blender would. As a result, mashed potatoes made in a blender quickly become sticky, which is never the case with a food mill.
And above all, of course, it separates.
Making fruit jelly, blackcurrant jelly for example, becomes much easier if you put the fruit through the food mill before cooking it.
My grandmother and mother had one, as did I, and I've converted my sons to them.
Over time, though, the principle hasn't changed one iota, the material is a little different: tin-plated iron in the olden days, stainless steel or plastic nowadays, but there's still no need to connect it to a power source, apart from elbow grease of course.
To sum up: the food mill is the essential manual tool for pureeing and separating the hard parts of cooked or fairly soft foods.
How does it work?
It's a flared metal or plastic container, with a grid of more or less fine holes lining the bottom.
A plate, which turns with a simple crank, forces the poured preparation through the grid.
Place the mill on a container (saucepan, salad bowl, etc.) - it has 3 feet for this purpose - pour the preparation into it and turn the crank, "grinding" until all the preparation has passed through the grid, turning the crank in the other direction from time to time to clear the grid.
At the end, all that's left to do is to discard (in the composter if possible) the hard parts remaining on the grid, and start again.
It's super-simple and highly effective.
Vegetables only?
It's called a vegetable mill, because that's its original use, but it can be used with any fairly tender, often cooked, preparation that needs to be turned into a kind of purée (some even call it a "potato masher") or coulis, vegetables and soups of course, but also fruit, fruit purée or any other food tender enough for that.
It's ideal for this job, because it works without forcing or pulverizing like a blender would. As a result, mashed potatoes made in a blender quickly become sticky, which is never the case with a food mill.
And above all, of course, it separates.
Making fruit jelly, blackcurrant jelly for example, becomes much easier if you put the fruit through the food mill before cooking it.
An old-fashioned utensil
My grandmother and mother had one, as did I, and I've converted my sons to them.
Over time, though, the principle hasn't changed one iota, the material is a little different: tin-plated iron in the olden days, stainless steel or plastic nowadays, but there's still no need to connect it to a power source, apart from elbow grease of course.
To sum up: the food mill is the essential manual tool for pureeing and separating the hard parts of cooked or fairly soft foods.
Lasts posts
Wipe meats and fish before cooking
When you want to cook meat or fish, there's a very simple yet very important step to take before you even start: It's to dry, or wipe, each side of the meat or fish, sometimes called "dabbing" or "sponging". But why? And how? Let me explain.1,5125 April 14th 2024
Toss the salad
When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss. It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix. Is it easy? Not so easy...2,8515 March 8th 2024
Half milk, half cream
In a multitude of recipes, savoury or sweet, milk is used as the main ingredient, or at least as the main liquid ingredient. Milk is used instead of water, for example, because milk contains a proportion of fat, which adds roundness and softness to the recipe. This mellowness is very pleasant on...2,691 February 27th 2024
Cutting soft cheeses
As you may have already noticed, when you have to use a "soft" cheese in a recipe - their exact name is "soft cheese" - such as Camembert, Munster or Mont d'or, it's not easy to make anything other than thick slices.2,8105 February 20th 2024
It's spinning too fast!
When you need to grate or slice vegetables, you generally use an electric machine that does all the work: a food processor, a mixer with a "slicer" extension or similar. Are these machines really suitable? Generally speaking, yes of course, but there's one criterion that often poses a problem,...5,7765 November 12th 2023
Other pages you may also like
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.53K 24.2 June 21th 2017
In praise of the whetstone
Have you ever seen a butcher or a chef sharpen his knife before using it? Usually he uses a special tool, a long thin cylinder made of very hard metal. And in a smooth and elegant gesture, he very quickly passes the edge of the knife against the rifle, which makes a very characteristic noise,...5,8484.8 June 5th 2021
The return of the "Norman hole"
You maybe know the "trou normand", this old gastronomic custom typically French which consists in taking a (small) glass of calvados, generally between the last course and the dessert? It's something that seems a bit anachronistic nowadays, having a glass of an alcohol of more than 60° in the...8,2264.8 December 18th 2021
In praise of slow cooking
You will no doubt have noticed that in cookery, it's often the actual cooking process that gets neglected. This is understandable; it comes at the end of the recipe and getting the dish in the oven is something of a relief (ah, that's done!), which frees us to cope with what's left: tidying the...36K4.2 February 9th 2011
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.266K 23.7 June 23th 2021
Post your comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.