What's the best spider strainer?

[taxlady]

CD, dragn, you are both assuming that I was making stock with raw bones. I cannot remember the last time I made stock with raw bones, unless you include making chicken soup starting with a whole, raw chicken. I use already cooked bones or I roast them first. When they are already cooked, I may or may not bother roasting them.

 

[Andy M.]

Ok, so what's the best was to roast chicken bones from a baked chicken?

I would only worry about roasting raw uncooked chicken bones. Those from the baked chicken are fine as is.

 

[taxlady]

I consider this a fine mesh strainer. After using the Asian style spider to remove all solids bigger than a pea, I strain the stock through a men's cotton handkerchief in a strainer. That gives me a liquids only stock. I chill that so I can remove the fat that's solidified at the top and portion the remaining stock into quart-size freezer bags.

But that mesh skimmer is not very handy as a plain strainer. It is handy because it is quite flat, very fine meshed, and it is easy to use for skimming.

 

[Jennifer Murphy]

Another thing that can be used when making stock, that I learned about here, is a soup sock.

Interesting. I see that the mesh is much finer is some brands.

 

[jennyema]

For some reason I have 4 spiders. 2 were from the terrific Asian junk store and cost maybe $2. They are metal and have wide holes. The others look like I got them at SurLeTable (sp?) but they are plastic and have small holes.

I’ve had all four for many years and they work great.

There is a reason to seek out the “best” in many types of kitchenware and appliances, but no one needs the best spider. Go to the dollar store or find a fun Asian store.

 

[taxlady]

I betcha you could make your own soup sock with tubular gauze. Just tie a knot in one end, fill in your stock ingredients, and then cut to size and tie another knot. Would it be cheaper? I dunno