Passata machine

[katep23]

Hi all,

I need your help! I'm thinking of getting either a passata machine or a mouli mill and wanted people's opinions on which is better and which one they have.

I want to make passata (I'll probably get home to find I've lost all my tomatoes to blight now!) but also use it to deseed berries for making jam.

Any advice would be welcome!

Thanks
Kate

[SarzWix]

I've got a passata machine, and it does the job, except for one major fault - the suction cup which is supposed to hold it steady is a bit pathetic. So you have to try and hold it down with one hand, and turn the handle with the other.
The only mouli i've ever tried was a cheap one and it was even worse, but I'm fancying a professional one, one day

[Alison Adams]

I have a large mouli with two removable disks for different 'thickness' of sauce. It is all stainless steel. I cant remember how much it cost, but I do recall it was quite expensive.
I love it. It makes perfect passata - I use roasted tomatoes with whole garlic cloves and sprigs of herbs - the whole lot goes in to the mouli (about a roasting tray full at a time) and results in rich smooth sauce within minutes - absolutely no seeds. Mine sits on top of a saucepan - it has a removable base with 'ridges' at different circumferences to fit different sized pans or bowls and best of all it all goes in the dishwasher.
Nothing like the little ones you get for ricing potatoes. Highly recommended especially if like me you make quite large quantities.

[LostGoddess]

That is great info Alison. A mouli is definately on my wish list. I wondered if you had used it for deseeded berries at all?.... I recall a recipe I have for Haws which said you could de-stone them with a mouli but I didn't think a mouli would be suitable for something the size of a Haw stone/pip?

[SarzWix]

Cooking Marvellous do one (mouli) at around £25 which I'm contemplating buying, the others I've come across are £40/£50 which is a bit beyond my purse!

[Polly Fouracre]

I got my mouli from a company that used to be called "Divertimente" but is now called something else, and wouldn't be without it.
As well as tomato puree, I use it for sieving blackberry and apple for seedless jam.

[valmarg]

The mouli I have was from a company called cucina direct (which I believe used to be called Divertimenti).

It has three discs, very fine, fine and coarse.

Wouldn't be without it.

The other machine I have is a passata machine. Hugh Fearlessly-Eatitall used it in one of his early River Cottage programmes. I bought mine from Lakeland. It was quite a few years ago, and was in the reduced catalogue.

It clamps on to the work surface like an old faashioned mincer. You feed the tomatoes into the top and turn the handle. The skin and pips go into a basin, whilst the tomato pulp goes through a screen into another basin. It really is a wonderful machine.

valmarg

[SarzWix]

http://www.cookingmarvellous.com/mouli-p-252.html

How does that one look to people who have a decent one already? Is the mechanism the same? The other (cheap) one I got had a wooden roller as the pressing part, and a metal scraper... It was rubbish!

[katep23]

Thanks for all your comments, it's been really helpful - sounds like a mouli might be the way to go .

Sarzwix, what would the mouli do that the passata machine doesn't do?

[bazzaboy]

Not quite my territory this one (didn't know what a "passata machine" did, oops) but if it's helpful Lakeland are honest enough to post three terrible reviews of their mouli and to drastically reduce the price... See
Food Mill - Lakeland, the home of creative kitchenware
Having read that I'd be inclined to go for a passata machine even though I don't know what it is...
b.

[katep23]

I like your logic!

[SarzWix]

The passata machine on Lakeland (although i think they call it a "Tomato master") has got really good reviews from practically everyone, but it just doesn't work on my worktops - they're 'wood-grain' and the suction thingy doesn't work It is on special offer at the mo though, which makes it a cheaper option than the mouli.
I don't know if the mouli is better or worse, or does more stuff, because I've never had a decent one

[bazzaboy]

SarzWix, applying my fearsome logic (thank you KateP23) to your woodgrain worktop problem, if you got a smooth chopping board (e.g. of unbreakable glass, marble, smooth plastic even) the suction would be adequate to hold the unit. The pressure on turning the handle is not going to be so great that, even unsecured, the board is going to lurch about uncontrollably...

Or of course you can always sell up and buy another house... these problems are always solvable... b.

ps thanks for the "Tomato Master" name used by Lakeland as I searched for "passata machine" and was told it didn't exist.... The unit sold by Ascott Online (same full price but not reduced) appears to be a different unit and maybe not prone to some of the design flaws (ha!) mentioned by users reviewing the Lakeland model.

[bazzaboy]

ps SarzWix, duh, won't be able to sleep now for worrying about your woodgrain worktops... Isn't it daft that all this kinda stuff was so much easier in the good ol' days when you just clamped the darn thingymebob to the table..... Modern life, here's some alternative strategies:
a) Is there somewhere other than the kitchen worktop with a suitable smooth surface (I hesitate to suggest the bathroom but if you use the bath please send a photo...).
b) A plastic tray, possibly inverted, might hold the suction appliance(s) securely enough to use; heftier the better or put something weighty on one end.
c) Ditto a dinner or serving plate might work, again the heftier the better.
d) Ultimate solutions (slightly less drastic than moving house): decide optimum place for siting the suction unit, get someone to tastefully smooth/sand a small patch (possibly varnish?) the size of the suction pad....
Or...
e) Stick a wall tile of appropriate colour (but smoooooth surface) in a convenient little-used part of the worksurface...
Or....
f) Hire a cook....

Aha, sleep approaches..... zzzzzz. b.

[SarzWix]

I was thinking of trying a large ceramic tile next time I get it out. I just so happen to have a few lying around in the garage