food mill recommendations

i had a cheap one that rusted and i gave it away. amazon lists mills from $19 to almost $400. thanks in advance for your recommendations .
lcb

The All-Clad one works really well, but I'm guessing there are options out there that are less expensive and work just as well.

I like my All-clad. All stainless, dishwasher safe.

-AJ

Do you use your food mills much? I've thought about getting one, but cooking for 2, wondering about getting a ricer with interchangeable grids instead.

I was going to ask the same question.

What do those of you that have them use them for?

Mashed potatoes? What else?

tomatoes

I use a food mill about once per year for a soup it seems. I use a ricer far more often.

-AJ

Hmmmm....sounds like a ricer might be a better use of space.

Maybe I've never used a good one, but Ricers are a total PITA IME.

I have a heavy old ricer that I use for mashed potatoes exclusively. It's not so bad. Takes a little muscle I guess, but not much (since the potatoes have already been boiled and are therefore soft). I suppose if you had to do more than a few potatoes, it would be a PITA, yes. Between a ricer and a blender, I'm still not sure what I would use a food mill for, except a huge batch of mashed potatoes. For fresh tomato sauce, I use a blender. Perhaps good a food mill would do a better job, but having one for those rare occasions seems like a waste of space and a PITA too.

Every summer I grow some tomato plants and make sauce out of most of them, often roasting the 'maters in the oven, and the mill is indispensable. I don't have to peel or seed them, the mill does it. I got mine in a thrift store a long time ago.

SpikeC said:

Every summer I grow some tomato plants and make sauce out of most of them, often roasting the 'maters in the oven, and the mill is indispensable. I don't have to peel or seed them, the mill does it. I got mine in a thrift store a long time ago.

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That's what I have been missing I guess. That a mill means no peeling and seeding. Pretty big time saver right there.

Lucretia said:

Hmmmm....sounds like a ricer might be a better use of space.

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mom's old ricer had holes on the sides and worked well the new ones just have holes on the bottom.. i make large batches of mashed potato at a time and the ricer takes to long. we often mix sweet and white potato with carrot and celery root and squash mash ,, the mill works better for that and then there is Alton's "no unitaskers".. or i could tell the truth....
i wanted a new kitchen gadget and i have a ricer

SpikeC said:

Every summer I grow some tomato plants and make sauce out of most of them, often roasting the 'maters in the oven, and the mill is indispensable. I don't have to peel or seed them, the mill does it. I got mine in a thrift store a long time ago.

Click to expand...

That might make it worthwhile to have the food mill. Now I blanch, peel, and core tomatoes before tossing them in ziplocs in the freezer. Might be easier to put them thru a food mill. Do you have to chop them down to size much first?

For putting up roasted tomatoes, I get romas, split them, drizzle with olive oil & kosher salt, and put them in a 200 degree F convection oven for about 7-8 hours (I like them still a little soft, but pretty dry.) Into snack-size ziplocs, then into a gallon back & into the freezer to be taken out as needed. Really saves a lot of space. Good stuff!

I cut small ones in half and quarter the larger ones, lay them on a parchment lined sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic cloves. Roast at 400 until nicely browned then put through the mill.
Other times I put the 'maters in a large pot and cook them until they give up some juice then through the mill. either way they go into storage bowles with lids and into the freezer.