[Sca-cooks] OOP Mandolin

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Feb 16, 2008, at 8:31 PM, otsisto wrote:

> I've had a cheap plastic one from a Chinese grocery store that has  
> lasted me
> 6 yrs in making Welsh chips. The drawback is the pronged holder that
> prevents you from cutting yourself. You waste about 1/2" of veggy.  
> But that
> isn't a bad idea of adding a mandolin to the feast tools.
>
> De

I also ascribe to the cheap plastic mandoline school; both they and  
the expensive ones become dangerously dull in about the same amount of  
time. Yes, in theory the expensive ones can be sharpened if you're  
_really_ good at that sort of thing, but unless you're the only one  
that touches the device, it's pretty much a given that you'll get it  
back after someone has used it to repair shoes, or shave rattan, or  
something.

I always seem to walk into kitchens where there's an expensive  
mandoline whose blades all remind me of that old Popeye cartoon where  
Popeye and Bluto are each giving a straight-razor shave to the other,  
and Bluto takes the razor to a whetstone, sharpens it, then tests the  
edge by chopping the whetstone into little bits, leaving a  
terrifyingly-sawtoothed, jagged edge.

It's a great way to practice your knife skills, though ;-). Avoiding  
such tools, I mean.

Regarding the mysterious pronged handle, unless your blades are really  
dull and require a great deal of force, a folded kitchen towel works  
somewhat better than the prongy-thing, I find.

Adamantius


>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> I've got an Oneida that I got at Target for about $30 that has
> features similar to the Matfer? that we had in the kitchen of the
> catering company I used to work for.  I really like the screw
> adjustment for cutting thickness and the removable blades for
> vertical slicing at the same time.  It seems fairly sturdy.
>
> I haven't used it in a feast yet.  I'll probably be bringing it to
> help with prep at Black Oak Lodge but that's in a month.
>
> aeduin
>
> At 12:25 PM 2/16/2008, you wrote:
>> I have a eight string mandolin now I'm in the market for a mandolin  
>> slicer
>> (but not to slice the mandolin).  Since I do feasts and the  
>> occasional
>> catering job, I want one that will stand up to commercial or
> near-commercial
>> rigors.  Suggestions about makes, models, design, and features are
> solicited
>> and appreciated.  Likes and dislikes will be considered.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Bear
>
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