Why this conical strainer earns its place
A conical strainer is the last step before a liquid goes into service, and the cone is the reason it works. Everything poured in runs down the walls to a single point, so the liquid leaves in a controlled stream you can direct into a narrow-necked container, a jug or a sauce bottle rather than across a flat bed of mesh that pools and drips. The extra fine mesh is what separates it from general straining: it holds back the fine sediment, herb stalks, seeds and threads of set egg that a coarser mesh lets straight through, which is the difference between a sauce that looks finished and one that does not.
At 10in it has the mesh area to take a full pan poured in one go instead of in nervous stages, which matters when you are clearing a stockpot down or passing a large batch of soup at the end of prep. Stainless is the working choice here — it takes boiling liquid straight from the stove, does not stain from tomato or turmeric, and does not hold the smell of yesterday's fish stock. Fine mesh does need to be washed the moment it is finished with, before anything dries into it, and backflushed from the outside so the debris comes off the mesh rather than being pushed further into it. Left to dry solid, a fine cone is a long job to recover.
