Chinois

A chinois is a cone-shaped strainer with a long handle and a very fine metal mesh. The cone points down, so liquid runs out through a small area at the tip, and solids collect where you can press them. It is the tool restaurant kitchens use to make sauces, soups and custards silky. The name is French for "Chinese", after the shape of a traditional hat.

How to use it

1. Set the chinois over a deep pot or tall container. Many come with a stand, or you can hook the handle and the lip over the rim.
2. Pour in the sauce, soup or stock a ladle at a time.
3. Push the liquid through with the back of a ladle using an up-and-down plunging motion, or tap the side of the cone. Do not stir hard, which pushes solids through.
4. Scrape the outside of the tip with a spatula to collect the smooth part that clings there.

Good jobs for it include straining custard bases and crème pâtissière, stock, pureed soups, fruit coulis, and hollandaise that has a few cooked bits of egg.

Substitutes

A round fine-mesh sieve does the same job, only a little slower. For a clearer liquid, line any sieve with damp cheesecloth. A china cap looks similar but has larger holes in a solid metal cone. It is for coarse straining and is often used first, before a chinois.

How to store it

Rinse it right after use, before starches and proteins dry in the mesh. Wash from the outside in with a brush, then dry it. Hang it up or store it in its stand. The fine mesh dents easily if other pots are stacked on it.

Common mistakes

• Waiting to wash it. Dried food is very hard to get out of the fine mesh.
• Pressing with a hard metal spoon. It can tear the mesh.
• Pouring a large amount in at once. The liquid backs up and overflows the rim.

In recipes

"Strain through a chinois" or "pass through a fine sieve" both mean straining for a smooth result. See also pass through a sieve.