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.
9,572 5/5 (4 reviews)
Keywords for this post:MillVegetablesUtensilUseClassicMaterialPuréeCoulisLast modified on: July 12th 2023
In 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
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20253,6625
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20254,4105
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20252,6235
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...July 31th 20252,7255
Parsley stems
Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?July 28th 20252,940 13
Other pages you may also like
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20253,6625
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.June 23th 2021280 K 23.7
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...November 26th 201854 K4.6
How to properly roll out a pie crust?
Very often in pastry making, you have to roll out a pastry before using it for a pie or another dessert. At home, of course, you get out your rolling pin and simply roll it out. Is there a way to get an evenly rolled out dough? That's what we will see in this article.May 10th 20238,6824.9
The art of the charlotte
In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...February 27th 201344 K4.3
Post a 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.