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

 

[dragnlaw]

Jennifer, as Andy mentions, those bones from a cooked chicken are cooked, you don't have to cook them again. But you can if you want.

Yes taxy, I assumed you were using raw bones. Mainly I have only ever smelled an unpleasantness from boiling beef, ergo I assumed the bones were like that. Admit I don't often make beef broth but the few times I have, the roasted bones smelled delicious and that carried over into the broth!

Tubular gauze to be used for cooking purposes is rather expensive. Smallest size for fingers or toes is 10 yds, $26.00 cd. and only 5/8th in wide. Not too practical, eh?

That soup sock was mentioned here once before and I had never heard of it either. Haven't seen any but then haven't really looked. Cheese cloth is still (relatively) cheap and easily found. I'd stick with that. I always keep several packages on hand for various things.

 

[caseydog]

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

It is not the brand, but the purpose that determines how fine the mesh is.

CD

 

[taxlady]

Jennifer, as Andy mentions, those bones from a cooked chicken are cooked, you don't have to cook them again. But you can if you want.

Yes taxy, I assumed you were using raw bones. Mainly I have only ever smelled an unpleasantness from boiling beef, ergo I assumed the bones were like that. Admit I don't often make beef broth but the few times I have, the roasted bones smelled delicious and that carried over into the broth!

Tubular gauze to be used for cooking purposes is rather expensive. Smallest size for fingers or toes is 10 yds, $26.00 cd. and only 5/8th in wide. Not too practical, eh?

That soup sock was mentioned here once before and I had never heard of it either. Haven't seen any but then haven't really looked. Cheese cloth is still (relatively) cheap and easily found. I'd stick with that. I always keep several packages on hand for various things.

Do you know that tubular gauze stretches in width? It gets a bit shorter when it does.

 

[msmofet]

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

I use soup socks when making a large pot of stock. I get my soup socks from Amazon.

I use this 3 quart pot with strainer lid for a small pot of stock. Makes straining quick and easy. Wonderful for draining pasta and potatoes.

Cuisinart 7193-20P Chef's Classic Stainless 3-Quart Cook and Pour Saucepan with Cover

 

[Andy M.]

I use a 20-quart stockpot so I don't have a lot of options.

 

[dragnlaw]

taxy, I was quoting the packaging in the tubular gauze. I did mention there were other sizes, not just for fingers and toes. It is only logical that the price for the smallest gives a good indication of the larger prices.

 

[caseydog]

I use a 20-quart stockpot so I don't have a lot of options.

My biggest indoor stockpot is 16-quart, so you got me there. My crawfish boil pot is around 32-quart, and has its own "basket." I can't even fit it on my stove.

I only use that 16-quart pot for a very large pot of gumbo, so about once a year. I only bought it because it is a Le Crueset stock pot in a butt-ugly color, so I got it really cheap at Tuesday Morning.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

Butt-ugly yellow or orange?

 

[Andy M.]

Butt-ugly yellow or orange?

HEY! My LeCreuset is orange, excuse me, FLAME. And it's not butt ugly.

 

[blissful]

For large stock pots.
You can find food safe 2 and 3 gallon strainer bags. Look at brewing supplies, cotton, or a nylon paint strainer, just wash and rinse it. We found them to strain out solids from melted wax when we consolidated old frames of wax. They were inexpensive and we threw them out after use. They are also used for straining honey.

Amazon.com

I know the cotton ones work at cooking temperatures. I don't know about the nylon ones at cooking temperatures.

 

[caseydog]

Butt-ugly yellow or orange?

Do you remember harvest gold appliances from the 60s-70s? It is kind of like that, but maybe a little paler. I got it at one of those overstock stores called Tuesday Morning, which sadly went out of business. They had some great deals.

CD

 

[caseydog]

HEY! My LeCreuset is orange, excuse me, FLAME. And it's not butt ugly.

Yes, it is my favorite, too. Almost all of mine is Flame. I have two black pieces I got on sale at the LeCreuset Outlet near me. Surprisingly, that store and the outlet mall it is in are doing well. There was a mass shooting there last year, and I wondered if the mall would survive.

2023 Allen, Texas mall shooting - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

CD

 

[msmofet]

I use a 20-quart stockpot so I don't have a lot of options.

Also look at large size nut milk straining bags.

 

[boom]

Not sure there is a best spider. But here’s mine. I got it from a restaurant supply place. I had one criteria. One box to check. It had to be dishwasher safe. Check!

I use it deep frying at the wok. Blanching veg, pulling out lots of boiled eggs. Etc.