To the home cook, few implements seem as foreign and as emblematic of the professional kitchen as the chinois. From its awkward shape and its utilitarian look, it is out of place in most batteries de cuisine. One look at it conjures up visions of overheated kitchens, men and women wearing toques and plaid pants, voices shouting orders, and the general chaos of the dinner rush. The exact role of the chinois, well, it strains, doesn’t it?
The reason that the chinois, or more properly the chinois tamis, intimidates is its association with haute cuisine and its worst excesses. Even the name, chinois, derived from someone’s belief that it was shaped like a Chinese hat to someone, is slightly offensive. Its fine double mesh was designed to strain stocks, to clean impurities out of sauces. To many, this means that it doesn’t alter flavor, just appearances.
To say that this is so is to do an injustice to the chinois and to the palate. Straining does make a difference in flavor. The next time you make beef stew at home, try running the liquid through the chinois. It is this simple: remove the meat from the pot, set it aside. Strain the rest of the ingredients through the chinois, pressing down on them if necessary, and boil down until thick. Add the meat back to the liquid. You will be amazed at the difference.
For me, though, the true magic of the chinois is in what it does to and for soups. Put simply, it allows starches to pass through while retaining other, more fibrous material. One of my favorite soups is a corn bisque, made at the peak of corn season. Because the chinois allows the starches through, but not the fibrous skin of the corn, the soup is smooth and thick without requiring the addition of any cream at all. The resulting soup is silky smooth—the essence of corn flavor with a hint of corn’s heft.
Corn Bisque. Serves 6
10 ears of corn
9 cups broth, chicken or vegetable.
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
Salt, white pepper
Dash Tabasco
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped chives
¼ pound bacon, chopped into ¼ inch strips
1. Heat the broth to a simmer.
2. Shuck and remove all of the kernels from each ear of corn. After removing the kernels, use the back of the knife to get as much of the juice as possible. Set all the kernels and juice aside.
3. Place the ears in the broth and let simmer for thirty minutes.
4. In a 4-5 quart heavy saucepan or soup pot, sauté the onion and carrot until the onion is soft, about five minutes.
5. Add the corn kernels and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. After most of the liquid has evaporated, add the broth to the corn, reserving one cup.
6. Cook for thirty minutes, until corn is very tender. In batches, send the soup through a blender.
7. Using a wooden spoon, or a long pestle, strain and push the blended mixture into another pot using your chinois. There will be a significant amount of solid material. Set it aside, and repeat this until all of your soup is transferred.
8. Place the set-aside solids back in the blender. Set the blender on highest setting and blend for one minute. Add ½ cup of the reserved stock. Blend for another 30 seconds. Strain this through the chinois.
9. Repeat process with remaining solids and liquids. After you’ve pressed all of the moisture out of the solids and are left with a small amount of fibrous material, discard what remains.
10. Heat and season to taste with Tabasco, salt, and pepper.
11. Garnish with chives and bacon (optional).
my favourite utensil, for it's use and equally for it's name is the spurtle.
ReplyDeletebasically a wooden stick, used to stir porridge/oatmeal. yes it's scottish, and usually sports a hand carved thistle at the end. but i must confess it's excellent for many more things than porridge!...maybe even bisque!
favorite obscure kitchen item?
ReplyDeletewell...it is this jar opener thing that has a wooden handle and metal gears on the underside...it is so simple it is hard to explain. I've never seen anything like it - it was given to me by a Jewish mum and appears to be from the 40's or 50's. It always works and has travelled the world with me.
BTW - I am so very glad you started this blog - a dream come true for me...Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI want a bowl of corn soup! AND A SPURTLE.
ReplyDeleteI think you know that my favorite kitchen tool is that small wooden stirring stick thing that belonged to my grandma.
Aside from my knives and kitchen shears, my eeensy little wooden peppercorn scoop is my favorite. I had a chinois, but gave it away! What was I THINKING?? Regretted it ever since.
ReplyDeleteI also have a cheese plane I seem to have misplaced. It always makes perfect slices and I am about to tear the apartment apart looking for it.
ReplyDeleteoh, bummer. That reminds me, I also have a truffle-shaver. But it's not a favorite. It just hangs there, waiting for me to get rich.
ReplyDelete