Triturator

[chris-s]

I've been looking for something to help me make purees. I used a Raymond Blanc recipe to make a chicken liver parfait but pushing the gloop through a conical sieve with a ladle was slow, hard work.

I looked up moulins on the interwebnet - I've used a Mouli-legumes in the past - so I know what they do.

However, on several websites, Moulins are listed alongside Triturators but I can't find any explanation of what they do. They cost significantly more than a food mill, so I don't want to buy the wrong thing.

Can any professionals out there tell me what they would use a triturator for?

Thanks

[Karri]

A triturator, or pasapuré (pass puree) as it is known here in Spain is a metal "bowl" with a perforated bottom, in the bowl is a contraption with two blades that look like propellers that force the matter down and through the holes in the bottom. Effectively pureeing and straining at the same time. Very labor intensive as you work a handle in a circular motion over the triturator. A quick googling showed that you can buy changeable bottoms for finer straining. We use one in the kitchen for mash, tomato sauce and a few other things.

If you want really fine results I would suggest buying a fine tamis and working your puree through this with a plastic scraper or your hand(in a latex glove, ofcourse).

[Edward J]

Never heard that word before, but I have used the contraption many times. The pass-puree was--and is, still an attachment for many large (30 qt/lt and up) mixers. In Europe I used it for mashed pots and it's derivatives (croqettes, duchesse, etc) for straining soups and sauces, and for salt. My Chef had this thing about salt and would buy it wet in 50 kg sacks, we the apprentices had to dry it in the oven and then run it through the pass-puree.

In N.America, Hobart makes an attchment like this for it's mixers (30 qt and up). Same uses as above, but the Hobart model uses nylon rollers instead of paddles to push stuff through the mesh. It also made some really nice seafood bisques. With the Hobart model the rollers could be exchanged for brushes, and this is used exclusively to remove seeds from strawbery and raspberry jam.

With meat farces, heat and excessive friction are your enemy. If the farce gets too warm, the fat melts and separates from the meat. I personally find it best to run the partially frozen farce through progressibvly smaller dies in the meat grinder followed by a good "zing" in the food processor.