Medium-mesh strainers

[Dave the Cook]

Tonight I was at a friend's place. She had some great-looking raspberries, and when I see raspberries one of the things I think about is making a Clover Club. Of course the drupes get smashed to smithereens in the shaking, so one must double strain (meaning, in the case of cocktails, the usual strain our of the shaker through a secondary apparatus).

In an appropriate size, all she had was a very fine-mesh strainer -- so fine that by the time the drink had been dispensed into glasses, half the work the egg white had expended was for naught; most of it was consumed or retained by the strainer.

At home, I have a mediumish two-inch strainer that does a great job at this particular task (it also excels at refining sauces, holding back the garlic mince and herbage, but allowing finer body-building particles through). Unfotunately, being constructed of black plastic, it's on the homely side. Which brings me to my dilemma.

I'm assembling a gift package comprising a set of essential bar tools. A medium-mesh strainer is one of those, but since the rest of the set is glass or stainless steel, the black plastic seems insubstantial and, well, an ugly duckling. But all I see in stainless in the proper size (say, 2-1/2 to 4 inches; 60 to 100 mm) are extremely fine-mesh. Say buh-bye to pretty egg drinks.

Anyone know where I can find a small, medium-mesh stainless-steel strainer?

[vice]

Could you give an example of what you consider medium or fine mesh? I use a small OXO tea strainer and it does OK with egg white drinks. It does have the characteristic black rubber handle, but the rest is stainless.

[Dave the Cook]

I think tea strainers are too fine; they do admit some bubbles, but they also kill off a significant proportion of the aerated population.

I'm thinking in the neighborhood of maybe 50 per inch (20 per cm), though that's a very rough estimate. I want to exclude raspberry detritus, citrus pulp and the like, but nothing much smaller.

[mbhank]

I would go to one of the hotels or restaurants in your town and talk to the bartender. I would imagine that a professional would have equipment like that or know where to get it.

[snowangel]

Dave, have you tried your dollar store for one of the really ugly medium mesh strainers? They don't hold up well, but at a buck a piece..

I've got a couple of them here that we bought on a whim at a dollar store while waiting to get a tire fixed. I think they would work just fine for what you want, unless you want pretty.

[Chris Amirault]

I've not seen any like the vintage one I found (semi-spherical, probably 2" in diameter), so I feel your pain. When I've been in that situation a couple of times, I've used a fine conical strainer and whacked it a bunch of times with the bottom of the mixing glass, which seems to help some. Also useful if citrus bits are clogging the pores.