Time to join the chinoisie
A sieve is just a sieve, right? Mais non, the more refined chinois is in a class of its own
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Budding cooks keen to banish bumps and lumps from stock, purees, soups, or even custard, should look no further than the conical chinois. These fine-mesh strainers are a bit on the pricey side, however, so in our road test of the best we throw in a sieve for good measure – no ordinary one, though. Then you can take the strainer of your choice to this month’s kitchen masterclass.
Lakeland chinois lakeland.com £26
The 20cm-diameter Lakeland, pictured top, is professional grade – we used it to make veloute, one of the the five “mother” sauces of French cuisine, which with a bit of prodding with a wooden spatula turned out nice and silky. It can rest on top of bowls and pots and is a perfect tool for pureed fruits and vegetables.
Genware stainless steel fine mesh chinois nobleeexpress.co.uk £34
This is the George Clooney of strainers – it’s that smooth. At 22cm in diameter, there’s ample straining surface area on the Genware. The mesh is protected by a steel strip – it’s a sturdy piece of equipment, built to last. It’s billed as good for purees and sauces, and soups too, although I prefer a hand blender for those. This chinois does take up room and would not look out of place in a professional kitchen – and it delivers very smooth results.
Joseph Joseph Shake-It self-tapping sieve josephjoseph.com £15
The mesh here is not as fine as the chinois’. What this Joseph Joseph sieve does is free up a hand – locked into a casing with wiggle room, its handle slides side-to side and extends to emulate the control of shaking using two hands.
Designed mainly for flour, it’s also a perfectly good option for soups and sauces even if the resulting texture won’t be quite as flawless.
Conclusion: If you’re short on space, a chinois probably isn’t top of your kitchen wish list but they’re great if you’re going to make a lot of stocks, sauces and soups from scratch. For practical and cheap, the Joseph Joseph is, erm, fine.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments