Muslin bag for spices, im making tomato sauce

dibble35, Feb 28, 9:57pm
Hi, am going to attempt to make tomato sauce from the edmonds cook book. I need a muslin cloth to put the allspice, peppercorns, cloves etc in, asked my dressmaker friend if she had a spare bit but she dropped me off some of that stretchy mutton cloth stuff instead, can this be used! If not will clean white cotton be ok! And it says to put thru colander - whats a colander! not one of those moullie(sp) things, if so i dont have one anymore. Tia

stefanie, Feb 28, 10:01pm
Hi, the cloth should be fine to use, even a cotton hanky would do for tying up spices. A colander is a sieve.

peterlap1, Feb 28, 10:02pm
Wife says that would be okay.She boils up old nylon stockings and uses those.I am still fit and well !lol
A colander is a stainless steel bowl with small holes that you push the pulp through.

badgurl1, Feb 28, 10:02pm
The mutton cloth may not hold the pepper corns as it could slip through the holes, any cotton cloth will do as long as its clean, colander is a seive thing used for draining food :)

dibble35, Feb 28, 10:07pm
Thanks, I've got an old plastic colander (now that i know whats its called) that we use to drain pasta in, i'll use that, and maybe a hanky, at least i know that it's been washed and is clean, mutton cloth looks a bit scungy and it would probably end up all stained from the toms anyway. Any idea how much sauce the recipe will make, 3.6kg toms, 1kg apples, 6 onions etc. Hoping i have enough bottles and jars

cookessentials, Feb 29, 3:34am
A colander will not work because the holes are way too big. A colander is used for draining vegetables and pasta etc. You want a fine mesh sieve when straining

cookessentials, Feb 29, 3:35am

cookessentials, Feb 29, 3:37am

dibble35, Feb 29, 3:45am
Thats odd cause the recipe said to use a colander, I've go ta sieve as well but that would take ages to push the sauce thru wouldnt it!

cgvl, Feb 29, 4:11am
you need an old fashioned mouli or sieve to push the sauce through as it is to remove things like the pips and skins from the sauce. If you dont mind them in there then don't bother.
A colander will not do the job at all and yes it does take time and energy.
I had to do it for my plum sauce because I forgot to stone the plums first.

korbo, Feb 29, 4:28am
I agree with cgvl, if you havent a mouli, then it would be a long and tedious way to make some sauce.
I have seen moulis in shops for around $35 and if you check out OP shops they have them. or try on here.
It is a most essential item for making sauces (and soups in bulk).
I often just put my hand egg beater in towards the end of cooking relish etc, an that chops up bits too. but way too hard for sauce.
Is there nobody you could borrow one from.

dibble35, Feb 29, 4:29am
wish id kept my mouli then, think I sold it last time I shifted, but toms are already skinned and dont mind the seeds, but I guess I have the time so i could do it properly