Slicers / Mandolines

[Dave]

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

 

[Dave]

Thanks all for the responses so far.

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

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

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.

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?