Kitchen Cheesecloth Can Make Life Easier!
Several years ago I found an inspiring article on www.marthastewart.com that talked about cheesecloth. Martha explained how this humble fabric can do much more than strain cheese, yogurt, or sour cream. “It is the kitchen tool you didn't know you needed,” she said.
Professional chefs agree. They say that once you discover how easy it can make life, you won’t believe how you got along without it. For instance, here are some of Martha’s suggestions:
Strain Meat and Vegetable Stocks: Line a colander with cheesecloth, place over a bowl, and pour liquid through.
Baste Your Turkey: Keep the breast moist by roasting it wrapped with wine-and-butter-drenched cheesecloth. I wish I’d have known this for our Thanksgiving and Christmas meal preparations. But oh well, there’s New Year’s day dinner coming up…
Add Texture to Goat Cheese: Roll balls of soft chevre (1½ teaspoons each). Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Wrap in 3-by-4-inch pieces of cheesecloth; twist ends. Unwrap, and serve on toasts, garnished with chives.
You might be thinking, “Are you kidding? Texture on a cheeseball? Who cares?” At least I was thinking that. But on second thought, hey, why not if we have a little time? Extra touches like this send a silent message that whomever we’re cooking for is worth the extra time things take. So, I’m considering it.
Dust Sugar: And this is my favorite idea! Fit a square over a canning jar filled with confectioners' sugar, pull taut, and screw on ring (no cap); dust cookies, quick breads, cakes, and so on.
And I discovered a few more uses online at www.buzzle.com:
Stuff your turkey. Place all the filling you make for stuffing a whole turkey on a large square of cheesecloth and gather the ends to make a pouch. Secure the mouth with a piece of string and then shove it into the bird.
Once the turkey’s done, simply pull the pouch out of the bird. Not only will the bird get flavored with the necessary ingredients, all the tedious scooping out of any uneatable dressing ingredients later on, will be curtailed! Here’s a wildly popular stuffing recipe (over 3,000 5-star reviews) from www.howsweeteats.com, that you might want to use with this cheesecloth idea:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 loaves bread to make about 12 - 14 cups toasted or stale bread cubes
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups diced sweet onions roughly 2 large onions
2 cups diced celery
6 cloves garlic minced
salt to taste
pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh sage
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh rosemary
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 large eggs
a mixture of fresh herbs for sprinkling
Directions:
Add Recipe to Cook'n
Make cheesecloth pouches for bouquet garni. Just place all your desirable herbs in this pouch and add it to whatever you are cooking! This is an efficient way to render all your condiments, soups, stews and broths with flavor. You can also make your own teabags in the same way.
Dry anything made of glass. This is a tried-and-true bartender’s trick. It doesn’t streak glass, so the drying process goes quicker and the results are lovely.
Make a fresh-air-dining bug protector. Hack off the handle of an unused umbrella. Remove the nylon cover from its wire chassis and tack a large circle of cheesecloth to it to make a dome-shaped cover for food. Because of its size, you can keep insects and fruit flies away from several small dishes at the same time.
Protect your vacuum. When vacuuming, cut out a neat patch of cheesecloth and secure it with a rubber band over the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner hose. Now when you suck in the dust, no tidbits of stuff will be gobbled up by the machine (which tend to ruin the motor, clog the hose, and even mar the vacuum cleaner belt).
Finally, use it as an emergency gauze bandage in cases of sudden cuts and bruises (not for a long period of time, though, as it will not obviously be sterilized).
Professional chefs agree. They say that once you discover how easy it can make life, you won’t believe how you got along without it. For instance, here are some of Martha’s suggestions:
Strain Meat and Vegetable Stocks: Line a colander with cheesecloth, place over a bowl, and pour liquid through.
Baste Your Turkey: Keep the breast moist by roasting it wrapped with wine-and-butter-drenched cheesecloth. I wish I’d have known this for our Thanksgiving and Christmas meal preparations. But oh well, there’s New Year’s day dinner coming up…
Add Texture to Goat Cheese: Roll balls of soft chevre (1½ teaspoons each). Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Wrap in 3-by-4-inch pieces of cheesecloth; twist ends. Unwrap, and serve on toasts, garnished with chives.
You might be thinking, “Are you kidding? Texture on a cheeseball? Who cares?” At least I was thinking that. But on second thought, hey, why not if we have a little time? Extra touches like this send a silent message that whomever we’re cooking for is worth the extra time things take. So, I’m considering it.
Dust Sugar: And this is my favorite idea! Fit a square over a canning jar filled with confectioners' sugar, pull taut, and screw on ring (no cap); dust cookies, quick breads, cakes, and so on.
And I discovered a few more uses online at www.buzzle.com:
Stuff your turkey. Place all the filling you make for stuffing a whole turkey on a large square of cheesecloth and gather the ends to make a pouch. Secure the mouth with a piece of string and then shove it into the bird.
Once the turkey’s done, simply pull the pouch out of the bird. Not only will the bird get flavored with the necessary ingredients, all the tedious scooping out of any uneatable dressing ingredients later on, will be curtailed! Here’s a wildly popular stuffing recipe (over 3,000 5-star reviews) from www.howsweeteats.com, that you might want to use with this cheesecloth idea:
BEST Stuffing
1 1/2 loaves bread to make about 12 - 14 cups toasted or stale bread cubes
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups diced sweet onions roughly 2 large onions
2 cups diced celery
6 cloves garlic minced
salt to taste
pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh sage
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh rosemary
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 large eggs
a mixture of fresh herbs for sprinkling
Directions:
Bread cube options: Stale or toasty bread works best. You can cut 1½ pounds of bread into cubes, lay them in a large baking dish, loosely tent with foil and let it sit overnight. Or, put your cut cubes in the oven and toast them at 350 degrees F until they are like croutons, about 15 minutes or so. Finally, buy bagged toasted bread cubes. Also, consider whether you want your cubes small or larger for a more rustic stuffing.
And consider combining a variety of bread types (usually two), like a sourdough and Italian. This provides great texture.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brush a 9x13 baking dish (you can also use a larger baking dish or a larger foil roasting pan too!) with melted butter, olive oil or spray with nonstick spray.
3. Place the bread in a large mixing bowl (this may be easier for you to stir!) or the baking dish that you will bake it in. You can also separate this into two baking dishes if it's easier.
4. Heat the butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the onion, celery and garlic with a big pinch of salt and pepper - at least ½ to 1 teaspoon each.
5. Cook until the onions and celery soften, about 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Stir in the sage, parsley and rosemary. Cook for another minute.
7. Stir in 1 cup of stock.
8. Pour the onion/celery mixture over the bread crumbs and toss well to coat.
9. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the remaining 1 ½ cups stock and 2 eggs.
10. Pour that mixture into the bread cubes and stir and fold the bread cubes until thoroughly combined.
11. Bake the stuffing for 45 to 50 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 160 degrees F. If the stuffing is getting too browned, you can tent it with foil.
This can successfully be made a day ahead of time and reheated it - it’s just as good! Just remove the pan from the fridge 60 minutes before reheating it.
And consider combining a variety of bread types (usually two), like a sourdough and Italian. This provides great texture.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brush a 9x13 baking dish (you can also use a larger baking dish or a larger foil roasting pan too!) with melted butter, olive oil or spray with nonstick spray.
3. Place the bread in a large mixing bowl (this may be easier for you to stir!) or the baking dish that you will bake it in. You can also separate this into two baking dishes if it's easier.
4. Heat the butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the onion, celery and garlic with a big pinch of salt and pepper - at least ½ to 1 teaspoon each.
5. Cook until the onions and celery soften, about 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Stir in the sage, parsley and rosemary. Cook for another minute.
7. Stir in 1 cup of stock.
8. Pour the onion/celery mixture over the bread crumbs and toss well to coat.
9. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the remaining 1 ½ cups stock and 2 eggs.
10. Pour that mixture into the bread cubes and stir and fold the bread cubes until thoroughly combined.
11. Bake the stuffing for 45 to 50 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 160 degrees F. If the stuffing is getting too browned, you can tent it with foil.
This can successfully be made a day ahead of time and reheated it - it’s just as good! Just remove the pan from the fridge 60 minutes before reheating it.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Make cheesecloth pouches for bouquet garni. Just place all your desirable herbs in this pouch and add it to whatever you are cooking! This is an efficient way to render all your condiments, soups, stews and broths with flavor. You can also make your own teabags in the same way.
Dry anything made of glass. This is a tried-and-true bartender’s trick. It doesn’t streak glass, so the drying process goes quicker and the results are lovely.
Make a fresh-air-dining bug protector. Hack off the handle of an unused umbrella. Remove the nylon cover from its wire chassis and tack a large circle of cheesecloth to it to make a dome-shaped cover for food. Because of its size, you can keep insects and fruit flies away from several small dishes at the same time.
Protect your vacuum. When vacuuming, cut out a neat patch of cheesecloth and secure it with a rubber band over the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner hose. Now when you suck in the dust, no tidbits of stuff will be gobbled up by the machine (which tend to ruin the motor, clog the hose, and even mar the vacuum cleaner belt).
Finally, use it as an emergency gauze bandage in cases of sudden cuts and bruises (not for a long period of time, though, as it will not obviously be sterilized).
Sources:
- www.webstaurantstore.com
- www.danavento.com
- www.adventuresofadiymom.com
- www.howsweeteats.com
- www.blog.williams-sonoma.com
Alice Osborne
DVO Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
