[Sca-cooks] filtering drinks

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 4:47 PM, Susan Lin <susanrlin at gmail.com> wrote:

> It is supposed to be clear but after straining through butter muslin and
> twice through a coffee filter it still has some sludge on the bottom.

The original recipe says "strained through your sleeve of good thick
linen, and strained through it often enough that the wine comes out
clear."  I think you may have to do what they did in period: strain it
repeatedly until you get the result you want.

Also, note that it says "thick linen".  I suspect that thick linen
might work better and faster than muslin.  The looser weave would
drain faster, while the threads would probably catch spice particles.
This is purely speculation on my part, but bear in mind that medieval
cooks had reasons for choosing the tools that they did.  Finer sieves
were available; there are repeated references in the Libro de Guisados
to sifting flour through silk.

Brighid ni Chiarain