The Two Dollar Food Mill

by A.J. Coltrane

I had (and have) no idea what to shop for in a food mill, but when the next-door neighbors sold grandma’s old food mill at our multi-family garage sale I figured I’d take a flyer on it. The worst case scenario is that I’d be out $2 that someone had just given me for some of my junk.

Here it is:

The pic makes it look smaller than it really is. It fits comfortably over a medium size pot. As a flat guess it dates from the ’60’s or ’70’s. The little spring goes on the bottom and the wire scrapes the bottom of the food mill. There are no removable extra size screens, or anything fancy like that.

In one of her tomato sauce recipes Marcella Hazan recommends:  Cooking tomatoes covered over medium heat for ten minutes (we’ve been tossing in some basil and salt), hitting them with the food mill, then returning the sauce to the stovetop to simmer, uncovered. The food mill is a little more cooperative the longer the tomatoes break down on the stove, but overall, it works great for making sauce. It’s also super easy to clean, so that’s nice.

Does anyone have a food mill recommendation? (I’m looking at you, Iron Chef Leftovers.)

——–

We’re having “big” work done to the back deck. The one million pound grill had to be rolled into the living room while the work is going on. The boy cat immediately decided that it was a good, high place to hang out.

The girl doesn’t feel the need to explore. The couch is just fine.