[Sca-cooks] P: sieves

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 11 Jul 2003, at 16:23, jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:

> Ok, when a period recipe says to strain something, what sort of a strainer
> do you use-- cloth, wire sieve, metal sieve with holes? Do you use
> different strainers for different recipes? 

Yes, I do.  My impression from reading period recipes is that they had sieves 
and strainers of different sizes.

> If so, how do you choose?

I try to judge from the recipe how finely the food is to be strained.  De Nola 
mentions sieves of silk and horsehair, and sometimes specifies a "fine sieve".

> Obviously some things are meant to be strained through cloth because it
> says so in the recipe. But what about sauces? I've been experimenting with
> using metal and wire sieves and wondering which are closest to the period
> intent.

I suspect the wire sieves may approximate horsehair sieves.  By "metal 
sieves" do you mean something like a colander that one drains pasta in?  
There's an illustration of such a thing in Scappi:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food-art/strainers.gif
 
> -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net

Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net