SC - Cream

[Lenny Zimmermann]

Par Leijonhufvud wrote:

> > Sometimes at various folk festivals and Amish shops these hair strainers can
> > still be found. If you come across one, get it! They are extremely fine
> > hatched and when used as described by Master Adamantius produce a very
> > exceptable 'whipped' product.
> 
> Anyone who has a source to (or description of) how these were made? I
> would presume some sort of knitting/naalbindning/weaving, and placed in a
> "frame", but that is only conjecture.
> 
> They certainly sound healthier than the bronze one supposedly found in
> Oseberg. Not to mention easier to make.

In their simplest form, they appear to have been like a drum with a mesh
head, used inverted. You can still buy flour sieves in this form. For
that matter, you can also still buy bolting cloth. Hair sieves (which
are occasionaly specified as such, or as herseyves, in some medieval
English recipes) might have taken that form, or more likely, kind of
like a modern jelly bag. This is a gizmo that is more or less a
fine-mesh bag supported with a ring to keep its mouth open, often
mounted on a sort of tripod, so there is room for a pot or bowl
underneath. A support like that would be a good idea in cases where food
is forced through them, rather than simply straining liquid through
them, which seems to be about half the time. Modern strainers are made
to rest on top of the container you are straining into, but then they
are also made of a more rigid design than a mesh strainer.

BTW, just in response to Lord Stefan, who asked if the warp and weft of
a hair strainer were actually woven or simply laid out in two
perpendicular layers, I have no information about this specifically, but
my guess is that you would get an inconsistent and unsatisfactory
product with a strainer made that way: it would tend to open up large
gaps at inconvenient times.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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