Mandolin or food slicer

Plantoid was asking about mandolins on this Topic: Food Dehydrators. I am also interested in what other folks use. Brands, pros and cons, photos. Thanks

I bought a Star-Frit mandolin about ten days ago.  It did not like me.  Cut a piece out of my thumb.  I need one that is idiot-proof.

I borrowed my daughters last weekend to slice things for the dehydrator.  It is a fairly cheapo one but I am glad I tried it.  I learned that not all mandolins will slice the product the thickness you desire.  With her mandolin, I found that one blade cut the slice too thin, then the next higher blade cut it too thick.  When I get around to it, I am looking for a mandolin with blades that can be adjusted to the thickness of my choice.

Ouch, scratch that one!  No safer than mine. I don't remember where I bought it. Pampered chef/tupperware home party??

Yolos, Brand?

Try getting cut proof gloves to use with the mandolins. Can't think of the actual name of them but I know they sell them on amazon. Protect the fingers

Butchers use chain mail gloves....some places like delis provide Kevlar gloves, not as good but cheaper!

http://www.uline.com/BL_6575?pricode=WY569&gadtype=pla&id=S-18009&gclid=CJ_UlPaHusoCFQ6IaQodlYoGAA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Mine is a Kitchen aid from Costco for about $25.  I bought gloves at Williams Sonoma.  They say they're not bullet proof and I haven't had any close calls with them on.  I took a pretty serious chunk of tip off of a finger before I bought them that scared the snot out of me, so I'm VERY careful.  

Mine goes from 1/16" to 5/16" I think, maybe more.  They make awesome zucchini chips.  Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

What kind of gloves did you buy?

We've had  this mandolin for a couple years.

I'm not able to upload  pictures at the moment.

Like a lot of kitchen gadgets, when cooking for one or two people, the clean-up takes longer than cutting by hand.  For the little that I've used it, it seems to work OK, but I have to cut some cabbage heads smaller than 1/4's to slice.

I got this cabbage slicer for Christmas.  

I was able to shred a small head of cabbage without cutting it.  It  shredded  the head into even-sized ribbons so quickly that I started laughing.  It has non-adjustable blades, as it's made to slice cabbage for kraut.

Fast and easy to clean.  Reviews about the quality of the product aren't flattering, but it worked great for me out of the box.  It's all wood other than the blades, and the wood isn't sealed which I wonder about.  Most of the poor reviews were about warping after getting wet.  

I don't use gloves with mandolins, but I do with my electric meat slicer; it makes me pucker just looking at that sharp blade spinning around!  I have a pair of knit cut safety gloves that are made with Kevlar, not SS as are these.  I don't like the all-knit style; they are slippery when wet.

Next time I'm at Cabella's, I intend to pick up a pair of
cut safety gloves that are rubber/plastic coated on the palm side.

What's the name of that cabbage slicer? And where the heck have you been???

CC

sanderson wrote:   What kind of gloves did you buy?

They're designed for this purpose, I think they're made out of Kevlar maybe?  I can't remember the details but I just asked the clerks in the store and they pointed me right to them.  I LOVE Williams Sonoma (I could go broke in there!)

CapeCoddess wrote:What's the name of that cabbage slicer?  And where the heck have you been???

CC

It's a Weston cabbage shredder.  There are 4 links in my post; are they working?

Here's the link to the cabbage shredder.:
http://www.amazon.com/Weston-701401W-Cabbage-Shredder/dp/B00196NOZM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453385320&sr=8-1&keywords=cabbage+slicer+for+sauerkraut


Servimg is working now; here's a pic:





Life dumped on me pretty good last year.  Nothing out of the ordinary for someone my age (aging parents, surgeries, etc.), but it was just one thing after another after another after another.

boffer wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:What's the name of that cabbage slicer?  And where the heck have you been???

CC

It's a Weston cabbage shredder.  There are 4 links in my post; are they working?

Here's the link to the cabbage shredder.:
http://www.amazon.com/Weston-701401W-Cabbage-Shredder/dp/B00196NOZM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453385320&sr=8-1&keywords=cabbage+slicer+for+sauerkraut

Servimg is working now; here's a pic:



Life dumped on me pretty good last year.  Nothing out of the ordinary for someone my age (aging parents, surgeries, etc.), but it was just one thing after another after another after another.

I see them now.  They are midnight blue in with the black print so I missed them.  Yup, works great!  Thanks.  

So good to see you again.  Hope all is well with you and yours now.  My mom went thru 2 new knees, 2 new eye lenses, a heart explore, all with in the past year and currently has a broken femur so I know the feeling.  gadz!  Does it ever end?  Fortunately I've been fine.

I love making stuff with cabbage even though I can't seem to grow them very well.  The worms,  doncha know.

CC

Boffer, the links in your original post are now maroon...

Would LOVE to get a cabbage slicer! Just not sure where I'd put it right now...

We've got one of the KitchenAid mandolins. It works okay. I use it for apples, potatoes, etc. I also have a slicer for my KitchenAid mixer, but don't use it very often. It only takes small portions...

We have a minor version of this mandolin

( Can someone make it into a link please ?
http://www.hartsofstur.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=mandolin&PN=Mandoline.html#SID=2538   )

 It was rather expensive at about £ 24. ( $ 36:00 USD ) , ours only has one thickness cutter that gives a slice about 1/8 of an inch thick the rest of the blades are graters and a Juliene making  blade .

 There is one similar to the one in the link that has three thicknesses made by a click-able rotating wheel setting  as well as all the other blades .
It's a professional chef's bit of kit  . it can lay across a 15 inch bowl or be used as sit on it's slip resistant stand.

The  actual enclosure that is the place you put the food to be grated /sliced is totally endclosed when your slicing or grating with it. The big version's food hopper is about 4 x 4 inches by 2 inches deep plus hte 2inch depth of the cap so you can usually slice up a decent sized apple with it dead easy .

So no missing finger tips ever again ( mine took many months to regrow back into a sensible tip ) unless you get silly with the cutters when they are not fastened up in the storage system .  The company always have lots of new gear appearing on their site  ..every now & then we have a look as there are often some fantastic special offers according to how much you've spent with them .

 We had a group order with several of our friends with them for  a couple of  thousand pounds and got a Sabattier knife set   FOC  which we drew lots for .

sanderson wrote:Yolos,  Brand?

Sanderson - I looked all over it and could not find a name anywhere.  But don't buy it because it does not have a dial that will let you make the size slices you may need.  Someone online at a dehydrator site recommended this mandolin.  The reviews are mixed though.  It is cheap so I don't know how long it would stand up to use. It is on my wish list at Amazon but I keep putting off buying it.  We have a Williams Sonoma near us so I may go take a look at their offerings.  But that is an expensive store.  I bought one knife and a salad spinner from that store and they were expensive.    

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FB59LS/ref=gl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=20ABSSYSH25O3&coliid=I33T85LFZOJOBO&psc=1

Kelejan wrote:I bought a Star-Frit mandolin about ten days ago.  It did not like me.  Cut a piece out of my thumb.  I need one that is idiot-proof.

I can now it on with making some more sourkraut now that my thumb can be used again but I am going to use a sharp knife this time.  I don't like donating my blood.

I used an ancient, good knife for slicing my cabbage. I also have a vintage food slicer/shredder like this one that I should try. Stock photo:

That would be more my style.

I have had a Borner mandoline for 15 years or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Swissmar-Borner-V-1001-V-Slicer-Mandoline/dp/B0000632QE

I used it this morning for hash browns. I am stress eating in case the power goes out again. That's my excuse anyway. I always use it with the hand protector. It has stayed sharp to my surprise.  I usually use with potatoes, but also make cole slaw. It will slice an orange without much effort, so you definitely want to keep your fingers safe. The next larger shred blade would make shoestring fries. It was a spur of the moment purchase.

The slicing options are almost see through and thin. I guess you could slice a lot of cucumbers or zucchini quickly.

Thanks to all who have posted their testimony (whether pro or con).

VJ72584 wrote:I have had a Borner mandoline for 15 years or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Swissmar-Borner-V-1001-V-Slicer-Mandoline/dp/B0000632QE

I used it this morning for hash browns. I am stress eating in case the power goes out again. That's my excuse anyway. I always use it with the hand protector. It has stayed sharp to my surprise.  I usually use with potatoes, but also make cole slaw. It will slice an orange without much effort, so you definitely want to keep your fingers safe. The next larger shred blade would make shoestring fries. It was a spur of the moment purchase.

The slicing options are almost see through and thin. I guess you could slice a lot of cucumbers or zucchini quickly.

  That's the sort that mandolin that I took my finger tip off with .
 Just a simple wipe that annoying bit of veg  off the plastic chute just above the  bottom of the " Vee " and whoops...  finger tip bone on view  ..then a few seconds late the red stuff and swear words etc. etc.

Sanderson, that pic you posted looks VERY similar to the slicer for my KitchenAid mixer...