Modern mechanics have brought any number of kitchen marvels – the electric mixer, the food processor and the blender. But sometimes progress doesn’t offer the best answer. Consider the food mill. It may be mechanical and marvelous, but it is resolutely unmodern. It’s not as basic as a mortar and pestle, but it’s not far behind.
There are only three parts: a big bowl with a hole in the bottom, a perforated disk that fits into that hole (most come with three disks with perforations of different sizes), and a rotating blade attached to a handle that you turn to press the food through the perforations.
There is nothing to plug in; the food mill is powered by “elbow grease,” as my dad used to say. Yet for a lot of kitchen jobs, it works better than newfangled contraptions.
Control is the biggest difference. Food is never mashed or over-processed. And with three sizes of disks, you can make a fairly fine to slightly coarse puree.
Boil potatoes, and run them through a food mill to make a silky mash. Try that in a food processor or a blender and you’ll wind up with a potato-flavored glue.
Add celery root to the potatoes, and the food mill shows another advantage: You can choose the texture you want. Use the coarse blade for a puree with little chunks of celery root. Use the finest blade and the puree will be light and silky.
Actually, “puree” is not the right word for what a food mill does. Because of the power and ease of electric gadgets, that word has come to mean the processing of ingredients to the texture of baby food.
A food mill breaks down the food but never smashes it to a paste. You can prepare hearty soups with a food mill. Use the coarsest disk to puree winter squash, root vegetables or cooked beans; the resulting mix will be chunky.
It does a better job than a food processor because it’s easier to control and because you don’t have to do everything in batches. It’s better than a blender because it doesn’t froth in any air.
In the summertime, when the tomato crop is going crazy, you can puree a ton at a time in a food mill – chopped raw tomatoes for canning the puree, cooked for making a sauce. The finest disk will strain out seeds and bits of peel.
In the fall, do the same with apples: Cut them in chunks, cook until soft, then run them through the food mill to make big batches of applesauce.
Or use the fine disk to make hummus with an incomparably light texture.
Puree berries, and the fine disk sorts out the seeds, an otherwise impossible chore.
You can spend the earth on a food mill these days – a shiny, modern, stainless-steel one from the high-end companies Rosle or Cuisipro can run about $100 or more. Oxo International has just come out with one that is available for about $50.
I’ve had my food mill for so long that I no longer know where it came from. It works like a champ. It’s made of pot metal. The wood knob on the handle is painted red, though it is flaking from use.
There are a couple of metal hooks welded to the side so the mill rests securely in mixing bowls or saucepans. The disks are rough and coarse, to “grip” the food so it doesn’t slide around when you turn the crank.
You can usually find old food mills like mine – or a Foley, the American equivalent – for less than $20 on eBay.
When you’re pureeing foods that leave a residue, such as peels or seeds, that residue inevitably clogs the holes so no more food can pass through. When you notice the process starting to slow, reverse the crank a couple of turns and the blade that was pressing the food through will become a scraper that will clear the holes.
Also, remember that the thinnest puree will flow through the plates the easiest; the thickest (and best) is apt to cling. When you’ve finished using the food mill, scrape the bottom of the grinding plate to get all the good stuff hiding underneath.
There is nothing hard and fast about this recipe. If you prefer a milder celery root flavor, add more potatoes. As long as you wind up with about 3 pounds combined of peeled, cubed celery root and potatoes, it’ll be fine.
Also, using a coarse disk rather than a fine disk will make a puree that is a little chunkier and less silky, more “smashed” than “mashed.”
21/2 pounds celery root
1 pound baking potatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
Pinch white pepper
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Peel celery root. Cut off knobby top and bottom. Set root upright on a cutting board and trim away the tough outer peel with a chef’s knife. Cut into 1-inch cubes and place in a large saucepan with cold water.
Peel and cube potatoes and add with garlic to the saucepan. Season water liberally with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender enough to be crushed with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes.
Drain vegetables and empty them into a food mill fitted with a fine disk. Turn the crank, pressing vegetables through the disk into a clean saucepan underneath. Reverse the blade a time or two to clear any fibers that are caught in the disk. Scrape the puree on the underside of the disk into the saucepan. Depending on the size of the food mill, puree vegetables in two batches.
Place saucepan over medium heat and stir pureed vegetables with a wooden spoon until a smooth paste forms. Stop when a dry film begins to form on the bottom of the pan. Beat in butter and when thoroughly incorporated, beat in whipping cream to make a silky puree.
Season puree with more salt if necessary, white pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Spoon it into a serving bowl. Place a knob of butter on top to melt into the mixture, if desired.
Makes 6 servings.
Each serving: 305 calories; 4 grams protein; 29 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 21 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 58 mg cholesterol; 172 mg sodium.
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