Equipment & Vessel Techniques
Tamis / Drum Sieve
Also: drum sieve, tammy, tamis, tammis, sieve drum
A shallow drum-shaped frame strung with fine mesh, used to pass purées, sauces, and dry ingredients through for ultra-smooth results.
/ta-MEE (French); drum SIV (English)/French tamis, from Old French tamis, possibly from Germanic or Arabic origin; introduced into English professional kitchens via classic French brigade terminology.
Definition
A tamis (from the French word for sieve) is a flat, drum-shaped straining tool consisting of a rigid hoop — traditionally wood, now often stainless steel or aluminium — strung with a taut mesh of fine wire, nylon, or horsehair. The mesh gauge is measured in lines per inch (LPI) or microns; fine tamis used for velvet-smooth potato purée or chocolate ganache typically run 40–60 LPI, while coarser versions (~20 LPI) are used for flour, breadcrumbs, or fibrous vegetable purées. To use, the tamis is set over a bowl or saucepan and the cook pushes food through the mesh with a plastic bowl scraper, the back of a ladle, or a rubber spatula, working in circular motions. The shearing action breaks down any remaining fibres, lumps, or connective tissue shreds and forces only the smoothest material through, producing textures that blender processing alone cannot replicate — free from aeration bubbles and mechanical heat. In classic French cuisine, passing through the tamis is the finishing step for fish mousses, quenelle forcemeat, fine pastry creams, and Robuchon-style pomme purée. For dry goods, the tamis functions as a sifter with superior surface area, removing lumps from icing sugar, cocoa, or almond flour more efficiently than a conventional sifter.
In use
“After blending the potato, the chef pressed it twice through a fine tamis to achieve a purée so smooth it held a quenelle shape without any trace of grain.”
See also
- TechniqueStraining
- TechniquePurée
- ConceptTexture
Related terms
References
- 1.The Professional Chef, 9th ed. — The Culinary Institute of America (Wiley, 2011)
- 2.Larousse Gastronomique — Prosper Montagné (Clarkson Potter, 2001)
- 3.Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making — James Peterson (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991)
Confidence: high
Notes
Mesh gauge selection
The mesh gauge must match the task. A 40–60 LPI stainless mesh is standard for potato purée and pastry creams; a 20–30 LPI mesh handles coarser fibrous purées (squash, lentil) without clogging. Horsehair tamis, once the French classic, are now rare and mostly replaced by nylon or fine-wire stainless which are dishwasher-safe and resist odour absorption.
Technique tip
Never use the bowl of a ladle — the convex surface creates a poor scraping angle. A flat-edged plastic dough scraper maintains full contact with the mesh and speeds throughput significantly. Work in small batches and clean the underside of the mesh with a brush between passes to prevent packing.