Ever try to clean a wire mesh filter? I found it a nightmare because the colander that I own has tiny holes inside the crisscrossed wire, and when food particles get stuck in the holes, the particles are almost impossible to remove at all. Everything from soft pasta bits to potato peelings became an incredible hassle to clean. Running hot water over the mesh would dislodge the very small particles of food, and it seems to only be used for shrinking. To make the problem worse, it seems to push the food spikes even deeper into the wire.
However, after trying several methods, I came up with a fairly painless solution: First, I find a larger pot than I want to clean by straining. In this case, I use a large pot to make the pasta as much as possible, which easily holds six quarts of water. Then turn the strainer into the pot, where the rim of the strainer touches the bottom of the pot inside, so that the strainer takes the form of a dome. Then I fill the pot with water until the filter is completely submerged. hot water, it doesn’t matter whether it’s hot or cold, and I really don’t like to use it. hot water, because this is not to sterilize the strainer, but to remove the food. (I will explain the sterility of the filter in a moment.) Then I take my hand and place it on the base of the filter, and then I bend ninety degrees to the left of the filter, and then to the right ninety degrees. I do this constantly, and back and forth, and while I do this, the food is easily dislodged. Depending on how dirty the filter is, the water in the pot can fill up and become cloudy, so I often dump the water at least once and repeat until the filter is completely away from the food. (I recently found out just how messy it can get in a strainer if you can get canned minestrone into one soup!)
After two strokes, the filter should be clean. The whole effort takes maybe thirty seconds when most of the food is stuck. And after a clean strainer, for sterility, fill the pot again with fresh water, leave it in the strainer, and put a lid on the pot, and cook the pot of water on the stove for about five to ten minutes, which should be long. enough to sterilize the filter. Look later, and use the tongs to remove the filter.
And so there you have it. A simple and quick solution, with pure straining it is ready for the next round of pasta and potato peels, and even soup minestrone.
