Slicers / Mandolines

Dave

Dave

Dave

Soldato
Joined
30 Oct 2004
Posts
4,955
Location
Sacramento, CA, USA
Hi all

I'm currently finding myself cutting a lot of thinner and julienne-style vegetables and meat and am looking to get a slicer or mandoline to reduce the workload a little. We always had a mandoline at home when I was a younger (sliced my finger on it, as everyone does!) but I'm not sure how efficient they will be at slicing meat. As an example, this Chinese dish requires slices of belly pork that are about 1/8" thick - I can just about do this with a very sharp knife but it takes a lot of time and effort and my skills aren't quite good enough for very consistent results. I'm worried that a traditional mandoline won't quite have the cutting power for meat, but I've seen slicers on Amazon (circular blades on a motor) for reasonable prices and thought maybe I could use those.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for this kind of slicer? The things that I cut up thinly the most by far are potatoes (for julienne-style / dauphinoise) and belly meat, although if I had a good slicer I would definitely start trying lots of other things.

Thanks :)
 
I can't recommend a mandoline or a slicer but I can help you with slicing the pork meat.

You should semi-freeze it then slice it, this makes it much easier to slice. I believe that this is what the Chinese do.
 
Once the pork has been cooked for the first time and chilled in the fridge, it's easy to slice it thinly with a kitchen knife. Just follow the recipe basically.

Only other thing is to cut it skin side down. It goes through the skin much easier and more neatly this way.
 
I bought a mandolin the other week. It's a Borner one. To be honest unless you chop a lot I wouldn't bother. It's a pain to clean, blades aren't really sharp enough and it doesn't save much time over a knife really. Depends how much you hate using a knife though!
 
I got a Zylis one. It's great for slicing, especially potatoes (for dauphinoise etc) but the julienne setting is terrible.. so don't get that one lol.

It is really easy to clean though... remove the plate and wash it, then brush the blades under a running tap.
 
Thanks all for the responses so far.

Cliste said:
You should semi-freeze it then slice it, this makes it much easier to slice. I believe that this is what the Chinese do.
Click to expand...

The belly is boiled first and then cut after blanching. I asked the local Sichuan restaurant and they said they use a slicer :p

Participant said:
Once the pork has been cooked for the first time and chilled in the fridge, it's easy to slice it thinly with a kitchen knife. Just follow the recipe basically.

Only other thing is to cut it skin side down. It goes through the skin much easier and more neatly this way.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I'll give this a try. I have trouble balancing the belly meat as I buy it in slices - maybe better to buy the whole thing?
 
The slicer they probably have is a deli style meat one. I'd love one of those in the basement! *checks ebay*

Mandolins are awesome, for what they're good for, and that's veg really. Potatoes and gratins/dauphinoise are fantastically quick with one. I now have 2, both of which aren't amazing, but were about 15quid. Don't go for the cheapest (as I did first) as the blades are poor and also when you try and adjust the height of the blade, I found the cheaper ones less consistent in their blade heights. So they're be not level and that.

You'd not cut meat on it though, as you need something with a spinning blade ideally.
 
The Kuhn Rikon range are excellent. Have a look on Amazon etc. I have numerous items from their range and all are very good quality.

Whilst I am talking about them, their tin-opener has to be used to be believed. It manages to open cans with no sharp edges and actually allows you to put the top of the tin back on the can whilst creating a sealed unit. Very handy if you only want half a can of something and saves you buying those horrible plastic lid things.
 
PapaLazaru said:
The Kuhn Rikon range are excellent. Have a look on Amazon etc. I have numerous items from their range and all are very good quality.

Whilst I am talking about them, their tin-opener has to be used to be believed. It manages to open cans with no sharp edges and actually allows you to put the top of the tin back on the can whilst creating a sealed unit. Very handy if you only want half a can of something and saves you buying those horrible plastic lid things.
Click to expand...

I thought you were not supposed to keep food in a tin once opened as you got tin poisoning.
 
Bump - anyone tried "Kitchen Craft Professional Japanese Mandoline with Three Blades and Safety Guard" from Amazon?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Professional-Japanese-Mandoline/dp/B000YJB8F8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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Gonna get my gratin on this autumn and was looking for a decent mandoline.
 
HazardO said:
I thought you were not supposed to keep food in a tin once opened as you got tin poisoning.
Click to expand...
Can't tell if serious or not...

Anyway, I got a kuhn rikon one somewhere, get a cut resistant glove with it.

It won't slice pork though, just get a sharp knife and learn how to use it, I can't see how with a decent knife and proper grip you wouldn't be able to consistently slice 1/8" bits of pork.
 
Scaremongering, I keep open stuff in fridge all the time, I've had tins of beans in there for a couple of weeks.

If it was unsafe, then why the hell would it be in the can in the first place?

Also a load of other stuff in that article I dispute but I won't to avoid derailing the thread.
 
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