Kitchen Gadgets - Chinois

Ever had a pureed soup at a restaurant and wonder how they got it so smooth? I can blend soup all day long and while it will be smooth, there will be elements of starch in my vichyssoise or little vegetable fibers in my split pea soup.

The best pureed soup I ever had was a the French Laundry in Yountville, California. It was an English Pea soup that was the most vibrant green color I have ever seen on a vegetable. The soup was like velvet. The secret? Passing it through a chinois - 20 times. That's right. According to my waiter, no soup exits the kitchen at the French Laundry without passing through a chinois 20 times. Sure enough, on my way out I peaked into the kitchen and witnessed the army of chefs, many with a chinois at their station.

My husband was very impressed with the soup. Guess what I got for Christmas.

Before the French Laundry I didn't know what a chinois was. When I unwrapped a cone shaped funnel, with what looked like a miniature rolling pin and a metal stand, I was amazed that my husband remembered...it must have been because it was food related.

That same Christmas I received an ice cream maker as a gift. So my first use of the chinois was for sorbet. I made one batch chinois-free and another using the chinois. What a difference. It is subtle, but worth the effort to have the creamy sorbet reach a level of silky perfection that I had not experienced in a sorbet before.

I have used it a handful of times over the past few years, so it certainly isn't a "must have" kitchen gadget. I used it most recently this morning for a cold cucumber vichyssoise. Recipes rarely call for the use of a chinois - probably because most people don't own one. But if a recipe calls for blending, and the outcome is intended to be a smooth consistency, you can't go wrong running it through a chinois.