Substitute Food Mill

Who doesn’t like mashed potatoes and freshly puréed soups? Or making a yummy barbecue sauce?

What are the best substitutes for Food Mill?

With a food mill, it will only take you a few minutes to prepare such recipes. However, you may not have one in your kitchen, or it is broken.

Do not worry too much since you can use other kitchen items instead of a food mill to strain and puree foods.

They include a blender, food processor and a sieve, potato rice, cheese grate, and a hand mixer, and a strainer combined with a wooden spoon.

What Is A Food Mill?

A food mill is a classic kitchen tool that consists of a bowl, a crank to grind or crush food, a bottom plate with holes to pass the crushed food.

It is usually used to mash potatoes, making tomato sauce as well as other food purees. Additionally, a food mill can be used to separate skin or seeds from foods such as apples, tomatoes, and potatoes.

Related: Potato Ricer Substitute

Food Mill Substitutes You Need To Know About

These are standard kitchen tools that can work effectively as a food mill. This means you can quickly find one of them. They include:

• Blender

This is a common kitchen tool in many households. It is one of the best substitutes for a food mill. It has sharp blades and therefore suitable to mash fruits or vegetables and puree the food you want. Blender saves time because it works very fast.

The only downside is that the blender does not remove peelings and seeds. This will give you extra work to remove them manually.

• Food processor and sieve

The combination of a food processor and sieve can puree any food. It has sharp blades that move in a fast pulsating motion, which saves you time. This gives you a similar texture to the one you would expect from a food mill.

The sieve will ensure you have a puree with an even texture because a food processor cannot separate skin and seeds from fruits. You are also required to peel the skin and use a strainer to remove seeds.

• Potato ricer

This is another excellent food mill substitute that works best with a small batch of potatoes. It can also puree vegetables and fruits.

The potato ricer mechanism is simple since you need to load the slices of your potatoes or vegetables into the hopper and press them using a handle to get mashed food.

You can create smoother purees if you peel the ingredients during processing. The only advantage of this appliance is that it does not work well with juicy foods such as tomatoes and oranges.

• Cheese grater + hand mixer

If you want to puree softer foods such as tomatoes and potatoes, then the cheese grater and hand mixer are an excellent duo for the work.

You will use the cheese grater to puree potatoes and tomatoes. This is done by scraping them into the grater on the coarse side.

To achieve a more refined texture, you will be required to use a hand mixer. However, you should take extra care not to whisk or crush the ingredients very much to get a fluffier consistency.

• Strainer + Wooden Spoon

If you have no electricity access, then a wooden spoon and strainer is a perfect duo to substitute a food mill.

They will puree your food and separate skins and seeds from vegetables and fruits you want to mash. However, to operate them, you will break some sweat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are a food mill and a food processor the same thing?

NO, each works differently. A food mill extracts skins and seeds, but a food processor minces the skin and the seeds making them part of the final product. The skins and seeds can influence your meal’s flavor, so you have to choose which of these gadgets to use depending on what you are preparing.

• Who needs a food mill?

A food mill is for anyone who loves cooking. Seeds and skins left in your processed ingredients can alter the texture and taste of your food. A food mill strains all the gritty bits and peels that may be bitter.

Conclusion

Having no food mill should not stop you from making recipes you desire with all these alternatives above. They will give you the same results as the food mill. But none of them can remove seeds and skins, so you have to do that manually.