WHAT IS A SIEVE?
The humble sieve is not only great for sifting flour but also for rinsing and draining small foods, like rice and quinoa, that you might otherwise lose through the larger holes in a colander.
A sieve typically has a fine mesh net or perforated sheet material that aerates dry ingredients like flour and sugar for a lighter cake texture. It can also be used to remove seeds from a fruit coulis or make a smooth puree.
HOW TO USE A SIEVE
Sift Dry Ingredients
Flour and other dry ingredients often get compacted during shipping, which can cause lumps in packaging. So, a lot of bakers like to sift their dry ingredients, which not only removes those lumps, but also adds air for fluffier baked goods.
Simply toss your dry ingredients into to a fine mesh sieve and then shake it gently in a side-to-side motion over your mixing bowl—and voilà!—the start to a delicious dessert.
Rinse Small Foods
Rice and quinoa often need to be rinsed before you cook them, but a colander’s holes are too big. In this case, you’d need a sieve.
Place your grains in its fine mesh basket, run it under a gentle stream of water and shake the sieve gently to help speed up the process.
Strain Sauces
A lot of professional chefs like to use a type of sieve called a chinois, or conical strainer, to strain foods by hand and get lumps out of a gravy or sauce.
The main difference between a sieve and a conical strainer is the shape of the mesh basket. A conical strainer has a cone-shaped basket instead of a sieve’s round-shaped basket. To use something like this, you’d place the food you want to strain into the conical strainer, hold it over a bowl and push the gravy or sauce through the mesh with a wooden spoon.
HOW TO CLEAN A SIEVE
Fine mesh strainers can be a pain to clean.
We’ve found that the best time to clean one is as soon as you’re finished using it. Shake off any excess from the mesh into the trash, run the sieve under hot water and make sure to rinse both sides really well.
From there, you can wash it like any other kitchen utensil with hot water and dish soap. You can also use a soft scrub brush to release any stubborn particles from the mesh.
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