Chinoise (utensil)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A chinoise (sometimes chinois) is an extremely fine meshed conical sieve used for straining soups and sauces to produce a very smooth texture. It can also be used to dust pastries with a fine layer of powdered sugar. It is often accompanied by a conical wooden dowel used to press soft materials through the strainer and performs a similar function to that of a food mill.

The name chinoise comes from the feminine form of the French adjective meaning "Chinese". The alternate term chinois is the masculine form.

This piece of equipment is sometimes confused with the "China cap", which is a conical strainer made of perforated metal with larger holes than that of the chinoise.