Food mill, chinois, what else?

Product categories

• Food mill
• Chinois
• Victorio-style food strainer
• Tamis AKA drum sieve. [amazon]
• Spider

Opinions on one versus the other

• America's Test Kitchen
• A food mill is better than a chinois, since the chinois is more work. [2]
• A food mill is etter than tamises.
• Victorio food strainer is better than a food mill.

If I want a food mill, what's the best one to get?

Recommendations:

• https://www.americastestkitchen.com/equipment_reviews/1705-food-mills
• https://www.seriouseats.com/best-food-mills-8611779 ⇒ [Oxo]
• https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/15/best-food-mills/     [archive]
• https://nymag.com/strategist/article/oxo-food-mill.html

Product lists:

• https://www.webstaurantstore.com/2905/food-mills.html

Specific tasks a food mill can accomplish

In general, it's good for removing skins and seeds from tomatoes/apples/etc.

• Mashed potatoes ⇒ Use a potato ricer instead.
• Fruit preserves
• Vegetable purée
  • Tomato sauce
  • Applesauce, apple butter
  • Hot sauce
  • Baby food
  • Very smooth hummus
  • Very smooth refried beans
  • Gazpacho

Final verdict? Most people said it's not a must-have, unless you make the above items really often. [2]

Food mills do save effort compared to a plain sieve, but sieves are smaller, cheaper, and more versatile. So don't graduate to the food mill unless you clearly need to.