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I used butter muslin (the link is to the specific product I used as an example) to roast a turkey crown (following the method from this article). I now have a piece of muslin with a tie-die pattern of browning from where the creases were. I can get most of the butter out by rinsing it in the sink but obviously it needs proper washing before I store it and use it again.

  • Can I put it in the washing machine on a typical clothes-washing cycle? (Not quite on-topic, but how wary should I be of putting it in with clothes I don't want to ruin?)
  • Is there anything I should do after washing it to make sure it is food-safe? Is there any risk of detergent residue I need to look out for? I normally use 3-in-1 laundry capsules.
dbmag9
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  • Does this answer your question? [How do you clean cheesecloth?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/81485/how-do-you-clean-cheesecloth) – Chris H Mar 24 '21 at 10:35
  • Persil is quite strongly scented. I tend to use a pre-wash with biotex (unscented biological detergent) then a half dose of sainsburys own bio detergent, and an extra rinse. The question I've just linked has a few alternatives; I'll update my own answer there - it also mentions pre-washing in the dishwasher to get the worst of the food residue off, and I do wash mine with my kitchen towels – Chris H Mar 24 '21 at 10:36
  • @ChrisH The questions are certainly similar and the answers there are relevant, but given that the staining on butter muslin is the result of roasting in an oven I think they aren't identical. – dbmag9 Mar 24 '21 at 13:24
  • possibly true - I'll see what others think. I was in 2 minds about whether to post it as "related" or "duplicate" – Chris H Mar 24 '21 at 13:28

2 Answers2

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Accept that it will never look pristine white ever again.

Whatever you do, don't wash it in Persil. That stuff is designed to make your clothes bright & nicely perfumed, not something you need in your turkey - "seven day freshness" isn't quite what they meant in the adverts. At least it doesn't have fabric conditioner in it, which would be even worse. No-one ever bought Comfort for how good it tastes;)

Unless you want to invest in some pure soap* - flakes or liquid at various prices from reasonable eg Wilko's to truly ridiculous "they saw you coming & laughed" then you'll be fine just washing it in regular washing-up liquid, or give it a soak in bleach first, so long as you rinse it afterwards until you can no longer smell it. [I'd just go with Fairy myself & put up with the staining].

*& run it through the washing machine all on its own, wasting an entire wash cycle for one cloth.

Tetsujin
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    Thanks for the very helpful advice. I grew up at the wrong time to learn how to handwash things, which is an annoying skill to be missing, but I've done my best with this cloth and some Fairy liquid. – dbmag9 Mar 23 '21 at 19:34
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As correctly stated by Tetsujin, you shouldn't use laundry detergent. There are some tricks to increase the cleaning power of simple washing-up detergents.

Soak the cloth for an hour or longer in hot water. The water should not be boiling, but just as hot as you can still touch. Many modern washing-up liquids contain enzymes that help "digest" organic material that stuck to the muslin. The warmth accelerates chemical reactions and works like a "power up".

Add so much detergent to the soaking water that you can create bubbles by squeezing a sponge in the water. If there are no bubbles, there's more fat left in the cloth than the detergent can absorb. Bubbles tell you that there is excess detergent in the water.

If you have a dishwasher and use loose powder instead of tabs, you can soak the cloth with a quarter teaspoon of dishwasher powder instead of washing-up liquid. Using more than that is a waste and may damage the fibres of the cloth. Health warning! Dishwasher detergent is caustic. Take care not to get any of the soaking liquid into your eyes and wash any residue from your hands after touching it.

However, if the brown color is not some leftover organic material, but the fibres themselves that where roasted, you won't get the color out again. The musling will still be safe to store and use again, it just won't be white anymore ;)

Elmy
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