Tzadziki

Cheesecloth

Most home cooks know the importance of a few good kitchen tools. We need some knives and cutting boards, a whisk, vegetable peeler and rigid spatula, mixing bowls and a couple of wooden spoons. But there’s such a glut of other stuff available that it can be confusing to figure out what, if anything, is necessary beyond these basics.

As a rule, what you need depends on the kind of cook you are. If you bake frequently, for example, or make your own pasta or like to create beautiful fruit displays, then items such as ceramic pie weights, ravioli cutters and melon ballers might have a place in your culinary toolbox.

Apart from these specialty items, there are products that, while not essential, can be very useful and would be worth having on hand, whether you are a novice or experienced home cook.

Cheesecloth is one of them.

What is it, exactly?

Cheesecloth, which is sold in cookware stores and in most supermarkets, is a thin, gauzy, loosely woven whitish cotton fabric. There are several grades, from extra-fine texture to more open-weaves with larger holes. It was invented for the cheese industry, to help drain curds from milk.

Few of us make homemade cheese these days. But cheesecloth has many culinary uses. Because the many tiny holes in the mesh-like fabric are so close together, solids can’t get through, but liquids still drain easily. That makes cheesecloth remarkably helpful for straining foods. You can use it to clarify stock or get rid of the debris that often floats to the top of a pot of simmering soup. Place the cloth over a bowl or pot, pour in the stock or soup and the clear liquids will run through, leaving the scum, bones, herbs, flavoring vegetables, shellfish sand and other unwanted solids behind. If the liquid is not completely clear, you can rinse the cloth and use it again.

The same principle applies for sauce and such. For example, if your Thanksgiving gravy is a bit lumpy and filled with those crispy, golden bits of pan cracklings that give it flavor, cook the ingredients long enough for the tastes to blend and flourish, then strain the ingredients through cheesecloth to give the gravy a good, smooth finish worthy of the holiday dinner.

Cheesecloth is also used to line molds, to solidify the contents within; for example, when making a Coeur a la Crème, a mixture of sweetened soft cheese, whipped cream and spices. Coeur a la Crème is a gorgeous dessert (it is usually served with fresh strawberries) that can also be transformed into a festive hors d’oeuvre by eliminating the sugar and adding chopped herbs and vegetables. To make this creation, or any other moisture laden molded dish, place the cheesecloth inside a mold that has holes at the bottom, spoon in the ingredients, then let it rest on top of a plate. Liquid ingredients will slowly drip through the cheesecloth to the plate; the dish is ready when it is cold and has firmed. Coeur a la Crème is usually made in a ceramic heart-shaped mold, hence the name, but you can use any container, (as long as it has holes on the bottom). It is a glamorous dish that usually wows company but isn’t fussy or difficult to make.

Other recipes that don’t need molding but benefit from time in cheesecloth include yogurt dishes such as Tzadziki, which combines Greek-style yogurt, cucumber, lemon, mint and dill. Although the ingredients are delicious when simply mixed and served as is, the texture of this dip is richer, smoother and more satisfying when some of the moisture has been drained off.

Cheesecloth also comes in handy as a sachet or packet for enclosing herbs and spices. Wrap a bay leaf, parsley, garlic and peppercorns in cheesecloth and add it to beef stew, where it will flavor the ingredients and can be removed easily when the dish is done.

Do you make fruitcake? To keep the cakes deliciously moist and flavorful, soak cheesecloth in rum, brandy or bourbon and cloak it around the cakes before wrapping them in aluminum foil. The liquor-laden cheesecloth helps keep the cake tasty and fresh for months (every once in a while brush more alcohol onto the cloth).

There are many other culinary uses for cheesecloth: enclosing a whole fish for poaching (so it stays intact); wrapping spices and citrus peels for mulled cider, straining homemade jelly or tofu, and so on. There are some non-culinary uses too: lint-free dusting, drying good crystal stemware. You can make Hallowe’en ghosts with it (glue some onto blown up balloons, then attach plastic eyes or draw them with magic markers). It’s so handy, you want consider buying some the next time you see it in the store. Obviously, the finer the cloth texture, the more efficient it will be as a strainer; if you have cheesecloth with larger holes, double or triple it and/or place it in a wire mesh strainer to make it more effective.