A Sip of Inspiration

Chapter Six: Cheese Cloths and Patience?

Now it’s time for the most delicate part of making broth. Straining it.

This is where cheese cloth comes in. Most of us don’t have fancy sieves that restaurants use in our kitchens. This is when cheese cloth helps.

It captures any bits and particles from going inside our containers. Take a wire mesh colander and put at least a couple layers of cheese cloth in it. Now, you’re ready to strain.

Delicate processes take time and patience. Patience, there’s that word again. I grew up hearing how I needed patience – all the time. In church, the words patience and long-suffering were used. Two words that I didn’t want to hear. In fact, who ‘does’ like those phrases? These words define ‘character’ traits. Ugh. That means, it’s work…another bad word we don’t like.

I remember waiting for pottery to be ready to remove from the kiln. Sometimes it felt like forever because the kiln had to climb past 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit before it could be turned off and the pottery could begin to cool.

In cooking, we must wait – a lot! On the stove, oven, mixing, stirring, a lot of waiting to pass the time. But there are other things that can be done while waiting. Working on other steps, getting everything prepared. This can be related to the painstaking time it takes to strain a large pot of broth.

Instead of pouring, take a ladle and slowly and gently ladle out the broth into the colander with the cheese cloth in it, and watch the mixture strain through the cloth until you can ladle more in it. A tedious and important step!

Building character takes time. It won’t happen instantly. You’ll notice things that bothered you before not happening as much. It only works though if you take the time to learn. Like waiting for the liquid to strain. If done too quickly, the colander will overflow and you’ll have a bigger problem…

A sample of Thyme and Seasonings Volume III