From: twain@milton.u.washington.edu (Barbara Hlavin)
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
Subject: Re: What's a moulin mill
Date: 11 Nov 92 21:01:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov11.210126.26577
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <6925@news.duke.edu> bain0002@bullnext.mc.duke.edu 
(Landen Bain) writes:
>I just got a new veg cookbook, Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes, and Chives,  
>which recommends a moulin mill rather than a blender because it has better  
>control over consistency of purees and such.  I like the idea of a hand  
>driven machine better than a motorized one becauce it would be quieter and  
>I guess more "peaceful", but have never heard of a moulin mill.  Anyone  
>know what this is, how much it costs, and relative merits compared to a  
>blender?  

On the chance that you are talking about a Mouli food mill, here's 
the description from _The Cooks' Catalogue_, James Beard, Milton 
Glaser, Burton Wolf, and Associates of the Good Cooking School, eds.: 

"In a catagory dominated by simple shape clearly expressing function, 
the Mouli food mill is a baroque interruption, all jutting angles, twisted 
wires, scalloped edges, and curved plates stamped with holes, messages, 
and designs.  Yet it is a highly utilitarian example of simple mechanics 
harnessed for efficiency by makers without stylists on the payroll.  
The advantages with which the Mouli is endowed make it superior to 
all other types of hand-cranked food mills.  Like a sieve or chinois, 
it will separate as it purees, leaving seeds and skins of tomatoes 
behind, sorting out the peels and cores of your cooked apples as the 
sauce drops into the bowl beneath.  Our staff jester, watching this 
being tested, murmured, "The quality of the sauce is not strained, it 
droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the plate beneath".  What 
our jester meant is that food is refined to the degree you control by 
the opening in the disc you select, but it isn't liquified to death 
as in an inexorable blender.  The mill, of course, also eliminates 
hand mashing.  You simply turn the crank, topped by a plastic knob, 
which causes the flat, curving blade to rotate over the perforated 
disc placed in the open bottom of the mill.  This forces the food 
through the holes.  While you crank you grip the handle for stability. 
There are three interchangeable discs--a fine one for baby food or other 
smooth purees; a medium one which permits some texture to pass through, 
giving character to applesauce and such potages as the one in the next 
recipe; finally, a coarse disc for jobs like ricing potatoes or preparing
tomatoes for cooking into a cauce.  Any jammed particles of food are freed
by simply reversing the direction of your cranking.  The discs are easy 
to remove by releasing a simple tension spring.  Made of acid-resistant 
tinned steel, the whole works can go into the dishwasher or can be 
easily cleaned by hand when disassembled.  The 2-quart capacity is 
adequate for most purposes; you can also choose a 1-quart or 3-quart 
size.  the adjustable padded retractable legs on the mill will fit 
a container up to 11 inches in diameter.  While the coarse disc may 
be used for chopping nuts, we do not recommend it for chopping or 
grating such hard raw ingredients as vegetables." 

The illustration shows a price of $5.98; since the book was published 
in 1975, you can probably triple that.  

This is a great book, by the way.  It really is a catalogue, and two 
indices at the back give both manufacturers or suppliers for all 
equipment, and names and addresses of manufacturers and distributors.
It's rather like an encyclopedia of kitchen equipment, each item 
described in great detail in small essays that are charmingly 
written.  E.g., "What is a knife?" describes exactly what elements 
go into this object, what materials are commonly used, and how to 
choose one that is appropriate to your level of experience and need. 

I picked this up on a remainder table some years ago for $6, and 
read it with fascination.  It's not easy to effectively describe 
a mechanical object!  Just for sport, try to write a brief 
description of, say, a stapler that would tell someone who has never 
seen or heard of one exactly how it works. 
 
--Barbara, who uses a Foley food mill, herself