Food Mills

[ol_ironstomach]

Apparently I'm obsessed with tomato sauce tonight. Anybody have recommendations for a durable hand-cranked food mill, preferably one that also functions well as a potato ricer? The Cuisipro Deluxe looks promising, but is it really worth 2x the price of other all-stainless mills?

[The Hersch]

Apparently I'm obsessed with tomato sauce tonight. Anybody have recommendations for a durable hand-cranked food mill, preferably one that also functions well as a potato ricer? The Cuisipro Deluxe looks promising, but is it really worth 2x the price of other all-stainless mills?

This gadget, although it has some drawbacks and is useless for ricing potatoes, is great for straining tomatoes. The main weakness in the design is that the mechanism for disposing of the waste (the skins and seeds) is clumsy, and you tend to get a lot of mess on your counter. (In the picture, the waste disposal spout is away from you, and you can't see how useless it is). But that's easy enough to clean up. It's really very good at the one thing it does well, which is strain tomatoes, and it doesn't cost very much.

[mktye]

Apparently I'm obsessed with tomato sauce tonight. Anybody have recommendations for a durable hand-cranked food mill, preferably one that also functions well as a potato ricer? The Cuisipro Deluxe looks promising, but is it really worth 2x the price of other all-stainless mills?

I have an ~$35 smaller food mill (like the ss one in the bottom right of this picture), that has served me well for hundreds of pounds of tomatoes. My neighbor had one of the Cuisipro mills and, with the only really difference being the size, my cheapo version worked just as well. I usually make large batches of sauce (10 qts. and up), so I have to add more tomatoes to the food mill no matter what its volume. IMO, opinion the most important part is that the straight handle has a comfortable grip.

But I've never tried using my food mill to rice potatoes since I have one of these.

[Sthitch]

I have an ~$35 smaller food mill (like the ss one in the bottom right of this picture)...

But I've never tried using my food mill to rice potatoes since I have one of these.

I also have similar one, and it is good for grinding many items, I used it to puree some cooked beans for a smooth bean soup, it does a great job of separating the skins from the meat. As for potatoes, I have both a food mill and a ricer, and I now always use the food mill. It does a quick job on the potatoes, and if you use the smallest screen you can make some very light mashed potatoes. The nature of a ricer is clunky to use, while with the feet of the food mill extended over a pot I can get potatoes, or other food quickly into the mill for pureeing. I have now relegated my ricer to making spetzle.

[The Hersch]

IMO, opinion the most important part is that the straight handle has a comfortable grip.

One of the main things that I love about my tomato press (linked above) is that the crank is turned in the vertical plane, as it were, rather than the horizontal--sort of like turning the crank of an old-fashioned egg-beater. I find that to be a much more natural and less fatiguing motion.

[Gary Tanigawa]

Instead of a manual food mill or ricer, I would like to use an attachment driven by my KitchenAid stand mixer or MagiMix food processor. Has anyone compared the latter attachments? I am interested in mashing/pureeing fruits and vegetables, not grinding meat. The difference in price between the attachments is not a consideration since the combination of KitchenAid grinder and strainer kits appears to cost about as much as the MagiMix mash/puree kit.