Cheesecloth in Your Kitchen

Say Cheesecloth!

As the name suggests, cheesecloth – a gauzy white fabric – was originally used for making cheese, but there are plenty of other uses for the professional chef, the home cook, and everyone in between. If you examine a piece of cheesecloth, you’ll notice it isn’t solid, but instead has a myriad of tiny little holes, even smaller than those in many colanders or sieves. It is excellent for the finest of fine straining! Here at Kate’s, like many professional kitchens, we use cheesecloth to strain off the minuscule impurities found in freshly made stock.

Traditionally, cheesecloth was used to separate the curds from the liquid whey. A popular use for cheesecloth is to make a sachet. If you’ve ever made soup at home, thought you removed all the bay leaves, and realized you were wrong when you crunched down on a leaf, a sachet is a great solution. Fold up whole herbs and spices in cheesecloth and tie it off. When you’re done, just pull the sachet out.

When the holidays roll around, you can soak cheesecloth in butter and wrap it around your turkey. This helps to keep the turkey moist and infuses the skin with that buttery richness. Desserts sometimes call for a berry “coulis” (COO-lee) as a sauce, which sounds fancy, but generally, a coulis is simply cooked berries with the solids strained out. Cheesecloth is perfect for this. These same purees make great granitas, flavored lemonades, sorbets …

Where do you find cheesecloth in your grocery? Try the aisle with the cooking utensils – whisks, spoons, etc.  Now that you have your own, and are a cheesecloth master, try our favorite Apple-Celery Granita recipe to test your skills!

Apple-Celery Granita

1 1/4 lb of Celery
3 medium-sized large green apples, core and seeds removed
Pinch kosher salt
1 1/2 cups simple syrup (dilution of equal parts sugar and water)
Juice of ½ lemon

In a large mixing bowl, blend the Dandy celery sticks, apple pieces and salt until a fine mash has occurred. Strain the celery and apple mixture through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth, allow to drain for 2 hours. Add the simple syrup and lemon juice to the celery -apple mixture. To churn, follow the instructions provided by your ice cream machine for sorbet. OR! Place in a shallow dish and let freeze for about an hour. Using a fork, scrape up the surface of the mixture. Refreeze and repeat 3-4 times. Put churned mixture into a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours. Serve and enjoy!