C
C. Lynn Bowes
January 28, 2024
What I bought it for - cleaning small car parts
My husband has blasted through many of the simple wire mesh strainers when he cleans small car parts in the media-blast so I got him this. From my restaurant days, I remembered how sturdy these "china caps" were and this doesn't disappoint at all! Super sturdy, well-made, heavy duty. It seems expensive but I'll never have to buy him another one. Unless you have a large kitchen or a restaurant, this is big and storage would be a problem, but for the garage - excellent.
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Pestle compatibility issues but otherwise fine
Ok, you can see in my pic the smaller pestle. I use my chinois primarily for getting the yummy stuff out of NM dried red chilis (not dry when I work them, of course) to make dishes like chili Colorado.So I prefer the pestle to contact the sides, or close to it, to get the pulp out. If you look at the 1st link below, you'll see what the pestle looked like before I modified it, as in my pic, the smaller one. I cut the top and the bottom off. If you don't cut the bottom, the slightly cheap fabrication method of the chinois (the screen material is sharp and will shred the tip of the pestle as you rotate it. I took some needlenose pliars and pressed the barbed end of the screen material at the cone tip as close to the solid piece as possible, so things don't snag as much) but still shredded my pestle tip. So, I cut off the end so it doesn't go down into the tip area and the ball so it presses against the side more closely without hitting the top and widening the chinois/pestle gap. Much better. The chinois itself, if you are using like I am, works well. The other one in link#2 is a fine mesh chinois, this one is coarse and not a screen material like the other, but solid metal. Better for doing the coarse squeezing, finish with the fine one if I want less particulates.The other, larger, pestle is good for the chinois in the 2nd link below. They say this little pointy pestle works with it, but I found it is worthless with chinois #2. For chinois #2, the bigger fits down into the screen mesh better and hugs the sides reasonably we also. So I really need both pestles and chonois for things to work the way I want them to. Hope this helps (and hasn't completely confused you!)https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042KZ9KK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1-https://www.amazon.com/HIC-Harold-Co-43657-Fine-Mesh/dp/B0042KVL66/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=chinois+43657&qid=1595943149&sr=8-1
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Poorly designed
This china cap seems to be built out of sturdy materials, but it is designed poorly. At the tip of the cap, the mesh section is crimped to a solid metal piece. This allows for food to become stuck and very hard to clean out. I eventually threw it out rather than try to pick food pieces out of the bottom.
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