# How can I use this item?



## skylightsky (May 26, 2006)

Hi.

Recently purchased this off ebay by accident. For what can I use it?

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1...Item%20Won.jpg


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

That is whats known as a seive. Shaped like a dunce cap. Used the same way you would use a regular mesh strainer which is also called the same thing in some circles...

Best Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Is this a Chinois? You can also use it to puree fruits and vegetables, but leave behind fibrous parts of the food- like the stringy fibers in butternut squash.


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## cakerookie (Sep 10, 2005)

Mezzaluna, don't remember the exact name of this thing I know its used for straining things. Started to buy one but they are so big and gawdy I passed it up and got a nice French Wooden Rolling Pin which I love...

Rgds Cakerookie...aka Rook


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

It's meant more for stiff purees and the like, maybe straining out the seeds from raspberry jam. For my money, you'd be better off with a vegetable mill...


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## skylightsky (May 26, 2006)

The Ad on ebay had it as a potato masher. I purchased it because it was antique... ie really used an only a few cents.

I thought I would use it to puree, or strain items with seeds. I don't like my food mill. But then again, I only paid 15.00 for it. I have only used it every once in a while. 

Pumpkins soup mostly. But for my money, I like my mini-handheld blender. Like Emeril says, it is a tiny motorboat. 

Not going to mash potato with it. I use a potato ricer for that.


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## diane (Mar 24, 2006)

I think it is a chinoise. I have a spanish hair one, but only use it for things like the initial straining for fruit jelly, or consumme. The appertures in the photograph seem quite large. Hang it on the wall, but use it too. I love a litter of antique things on the kitchen wall. Or off a pot rack.


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

I believe it's also called a China cap. It works like a food mill or potato ricer, maybe less easy to operate. I have an antique one similar to yours- I've never tried to use it but it makes an attractive decorative item- proves to my friends that I'm a food nut. (They see it and say "what the **** is that thing!)

Got several wooden planes, a ancient carver's maul, and a couple of antique scribers laying around to prove I'm a woodworking nut, too.

Mike :crazy:


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## skylightsky (May 26, 2006)

Wow, you're right.

I google Chinoise and come up with nothing. Googled an image search, interesting. Then I googled Chinoise Kitchen Utensil and found this website..
http://www.ochef.com/390.htm 

A Chinoise is a conical strainer used for making perfectly smooth soups and sauces.

Of course, Wikipedia said the same thing.
A Chinoise (sometimes "Chinois") is an extremely fine meshed conical sieve used for straining soups and sauces to produce a very smooth texture. It can also be used to dust pastries with a fine layer of powdered sugar. The term is sometimes confused with a piece of equipment called a "China Cap" which is a conical strainer made of perforated metal the mesh of which is much less fine. It is often accompanied by a conical wooden dowel used to press soft materials through the strainer and performs a similar function to that of a food mill.

Glad to have an alternative to my food mill. I think I'll use this after soaking my figs in port. Although the mesh is a bit large, that might be good. In between the size of my two strainers. Hmm..

Thanks.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Chinoise as was discovered is french for "China cap". It is simply an older style ricer. My parents used to use it for making apple sauce. Try it, it makes a nicely textured apple sauce.


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

If, indeed, a "Chinoise" is a conical sieve, and a "China cap" is a cone of perforated metal, then I've got the latter. From your posted picture, looks like you do, too.

Mike


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## amazingrace (Jul 28, 2006)

Some chinois are antique, but not all. They are still being produced. I have one I purchased at a garage sale for 50 cents...a real bargain. It appears to be practially new. Great for making tomato puree, cream soups, applesauce (as mentioned), any kind of puree actually, and once you get the hang out of using the wooden "pusher", its every bit as easy to use as the food mill. I have a small capacity food mill, but like the chinois for processing larger batches.


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## mannlicher (Jan 8, 2006)

looks like an old fashioned china cap strainer to me. Use it for making applesauce like Grandma did. Now you need the wire stand for it. Bet you can find it on eBay also, or at your nearest antique shop.


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## felixe the dog (Jul 16, 2006)

If it is a chinois, you could..............................make a lamp from it. Why not, the local deli down the road uses (cheese) graters for their lamps!


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