Tier 1 · Prep

TO STRAIN

Passing a liquid through a mesh so the solids stay behind and only the liquid goes on — gravity doing the separating, not force.

Why it works

A strainer is a hole-size decision. A colander's holes are millimetres wide and hold back pasta and vegetables; a fine sieve's mesh is a fraction of a millimetre and holds back cooked egg strands, seeds, tea leaves and the fine debris that makes a stock cloudy; a cloth goes finer still. Hot liquid flows faster than cold because its viscosity is lower, which is why a stock is strained straight from the heat and a curd is pushed through while it is still warm and loose. The instinct to press the solids through with a spoon is the thing to unlearn: pressure forces fine particles through the mesh along with the liquid, and that is exactly what turns a clear broth cloudy and a smooth sauce grainy. Let it drip, tap the rim to keep it moving, and accept that the last spoonful stays behind.

How to tell

• The stream through the sieve slows to steady drips — the liquid has gone, and what is left is solids, not more liquid.
• Held up to the light, a strained stock or syrup is clear enough to see through; cloudiness means something got pushed through.
• The back of a spoon drawn across a strained sauce or curd leaves a smooth track with no specks.
• The solids left in the mesh are wet but no longer sitting in liquid.

When it goes wrong

The stock is cloudy even though it was strained.

The solids were pressed, or the mesh was too coarse for the debris. Strain by gravity through a finer mesh, or line the sieve with a damp cloth.

Lemon curd or custard has firm little flecks in it.

Egg that set on the pan wall or in the first seconds of heat. It has to be caught in a fine sieve while the mixture is still hot and pourable — once it cools and thickens it will not pass.

The sieve clogs and the liquid stops moving.

Too much fine solid for the mesh area. Tap the rim, lift and swirl rather than push, and empty the sieve part way through instead of waiting for it all to go.

Half the liquid is gone with the solids.

Poured out too early or the solids were never given time to drain. Let a stock drip for several minutes; press only when clarity does not matter, as with a puréed soup.

Recovering it

A cloudy liquid can be strained again through a finer mesh or a damp cloth, or left to settle and ladled off the top — slower, but it works. Flecks in a curd or custard pass through a fine sieve as long as the mixture is warm; if it has set, warm it gently first. Liquid lost with the solids is gone; squeeze what is left in the sieve into a separate bowl and use it where clarity does not matter.

Where to practice it

It carries to

Recipes using it

Generated from recipe step verbs and ingredient preparation forms. It is never authored, and it cannot drift from the recipes.