Received a Mandoline for Christmas

[gogoblender 3,072]

I got one of these for Christmas

 

Star Frit Mandonline. Is it safe and Fast or gimmicky and dangerous?

 

 

It seems well made, but it's taking me a while to get the hang of it.

 

How am I supposed to handle this, the blade looks awfully sharp, and feels strange cutting into it instead of using a knife.

 

It comes with this hand thing I guess I'm supposed to attach to it if the onion gets too small and my hand gets to too close to the blade... hmmm

 

Am I supposed to just free hand and keep cutting against the board till it gets really small?

 

Yeah this thing kind of makes me nervous

 

 

ggoo

[lujate 578]

The mandoline offers speed and consistency that you cannot get from a knife, but it comes at a price. The people I know who have one just free hand it. The guide only works on round objects like potatoes, and then for only part of the vegetable. Other things like carrots have to be all free hand. A filleting glove can add a little peace of mind.

Edited January 9, 2012 by lujate

[gogoblender 3,072]

A filleting glove can add a little peace of mind.

 

 

what is that? Are they expensive?

 

 

gogo

[lujate 578]

A fine chainmail glove used to protect your offhand while filleting fish. I have seen them at the kitchen store but never priced them.

[gogoblender 3,072]

Ahh, now I know what you mean...those wild chain mail gloves they use at the butchers? Ah cool, lemme see what I can find.

 

Thanks lujate

 

 

gogo

[chattius 2,535]

http://www.niroflex.de/Sites/level_eng/produkte/produkte_handschuhe.html

 

Manufacturer site of the one I use. You can read a bit into the dozen of different types of protrecting gloves. Calculate like 30 euro for a good one. You don't need piercing resistance if you work with a mandoline or are allone when using a boning knife. If working in a slaughterhouse people prefer a full arm and torso protection.

 

Thej cheap way is of cause: use the pretty slices for salade and freeze the ugly leftovers for a soup.

 

I think I posted such a glove when delta showed a picture with an injured finger.

 

Krauthobel for making big amounts of sauerkraut, picture shows the really fine pointed cabbage at the right part. With the force and size of these bests, it won't be just a small slice of finger whivh would be gone....

 

Picture is from a compedition, whow does most...

[podgie_bear 184]

These mandolins are marvelous devices .......until you lose part of a finger using one, then you suddenly find that using your old kitchen knives becomes a much more attractive proposition. Speaking from personal experience!

[Bondbug 32]

Sorry to be a pain and old fashioned, but I have never known of them except as musical instrument - which these do not seem to be.

[masteff 64]

This is available on Amazon for about $17...

http://www.ansellpro.com/product-catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?productId=168

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=polar%20bear%20pawgard%20gloves

[gogoblender 3,072]

 

 

The cheap way is of cause: use the pretty slices for salade and freeze the ugly leftovers for a soup.

 

 

A safe sounding idea. I've actually had some largish size chunks taken off fingers in my youth as a smoked meat cutter, I have nightmares

 

 

These mandolins are marvelous devices .......until you lose part of a finger using one, then you suddenly find that using your old kitchen knives becomes a much more attractive proposition. Speaking from personal experience!

 

Have you had experience Podgie? It's because of my few months on a auto smoked meat cutter (first school job I think) that I wince a bit everytime I look at anything more complex looking than a knife.

 

Sorry to be a pain and old fashioned, but I have never known of them except as musical instrument - which these do not seem to be.

 

I know...this is my first time I have heard of the word Mandoline for this kind of kitchen tool!

 

This is available on Amazon for about $17...

http://www.ansellpro.com/product-catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?productId=168

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/?keywords=polar%20bear%20pawgard%20gloves

 

 

And that...sounds like a deal! I'll take some weekend time to see if something inexpensive like that can be offered here...but for 17 bux...will it really keep my fingers?

 

 

gogo

[wolfie2kX 528]

Sorry to be a pain and old fashioned, but I have never known of them except as musical instrument - which these do not seem to be.

 

Nope.. It's not a musical instrument.. It's a device used in kitchens to slice vegetables to an even thickness. They're a flat plate with either a replaceable or an adjustable blade. You can use it on a thinner setting for making potato crisps (Home made potato chips for those in the US) or on a thicker setting for making a gratin type dish. Consistent thickness IS important for food to cook evenly. It also makes the finished product look somewhat better as well.

 

Since the action needed to use this device somewhat resembles strumming (as in a guitar or mandolin) it was named after the musical instrument.

 

 

These mandolins are marvelous devices .......until you lose part of a finger using one, then you suddenly find that using your old kitchen knives becomes a much more attractive proposition. Speaking from personal experience!

 

Which is why it's important to always follow the manufacturer's instructions without fail.

Edited January 9, 2012 by wolfie2kX

[Stormwing 40]

Well, the music instrument was the first come in mind, when I read the thread topic. Wondered why he had given one.

I have a similar thing somewhere in the kitchen stored away. Haven't used it yet, the lazy cook I am.

[chattius 2,535]

I did the question which recipe which is no salade is done with a mandoline, and all my kids said at once Rösti's.

 

How they are done in Bern/Swiss, classical, boiled potato and butter

 

Or as a fast student meal, using raw potato and cheese or tuna

[podgie_bear 184]

These mandolins are marvelous devices .......until you lose part of a finger using one, then you suddenly find that using your old kitchen knives becomes a much more attractive proposition. Speaking from personal experience!

 

Have you had experience Podgie? It's because of my few months on a auto smoked meat cutter (first school job I think) that I wince a bit everytime I look at anything more complex looking than a knife.

 

gogo

 

Yes, and the emergency room had a few choice things to say about how many people were stupid enough to use a Mandoline. It seems there was a bit of a craze for them at the time and nothing was said in the instructions about losing the ends of your fingers, or about any protective glove. They were withdrawn from sale not long afterwards and I rarely see them in stores these days, but when I do, they now come with a special sliding attachment that you put the vegetable into with a tube and "ram" so you don't have to hold it. It works just like the 'feeder' tube on a food processor. I don't think it is legal to sell the old style Mandolines in this country now for Health & Safety reasons.

 

I have one of the new ones and love it, but I still treat it like handling a live snake. Once 'bitten' twice shy my friend.

Edited January 12, 2012 by podgie_bear

[gogoblender 3,072]

You know what, I kind of remember there being a "craze" sometime in the past too? Wasn't this during the ktel ronco era ... ? There was a movie that just came out called Father of Inspiration (inept comedy with poor Kevin Spacey) and he was a jailed inventor who released an ab flexer (or something like that) that would cut off peoples' fingers.

 

Podgie, your mention of this will have me embrace that protective tube like a shield.

 

 

gogo

[Knuckles 904]

I miss seeing K-tel and Ronco commercials, especially around Christmas. I'll admit I had a few K-tel records growing up.

 

 

p.s. don't let me anywhere near that mandoline...with my luck I'd be losing a few fingertips

[podgie_bear 184]

The Mandolin is a great kitchen tool and until my little accident I looked forward to using it. However since the accident I get a cold shiver everytime I think about it, but that doesn't stop me using it because if you treat it right and take precautions it is still a brilliant piece of equipment that saves a lot of work and is great for cutting things in ways that make for beautifully displayed food presentation.

 

Enjoy using it my friend, just do not be careless when using it anymore than you would any sharp object.

[chattius 2,535]

My wife is a doc and she told me that there are way more injuries from bread cutters than from mandolines. The most accidents are in the age 17-23 and male, when people live allone first time because of own family, university, first job, ...

 

Her theory is that these accidents are mainly because:

not trained in kitchen tool

bad and cheap tools- no money as a student

no rest using cooking like grandma does - she stops slicing these last 2 centimeters. Rests from mandoline slicing or from bread make a good soup

small kitchen with bad light in the typical student home

in a hurry to reach university and not using the rest holder which is laying around somewhere

 

Don't know if the bigger amount of bread cutting accidents is typical for this region. Sour dough bread, farmers type, has a hard to cut surface, often a bread slicer rotates the whole bread when the cutting disc stucks. Also it is irregulary shapred. A lot harder to cut than french baguette or english toast bread, it has a big hard crust to keep moisture in.

 

So I will tell you all the calculations and discussions we had when we were married, had little kids and the important question which bread slicer we would buy. I was used for my old bread knife for a decade, but my wife was right when she said, that I probably wouldn't leave work everytime our local bread had to be sliced at home:

 

 

Obviously this bread slicing tool for toast breads fails

 

A bit better, but still not usable for 6 pound round breads

 

same for this which is used for baguette I think

 

Was used in old times for our type of breads, but can remove a whole finger if careless

 

plastic, too weak engine for big breads, risc of stucked knife and injuries when trying to make it running again, no fine tuning for cutting cheese or ham slices

 

in metal more robust, allowing fine tuning, but who stops the engine when fingers are in

 

semiprofessional, but it cuts a whole bread at once into slices, which is sometimes not wanted

 

The one we use:

 

Manually driven, so more probably to stop turning the blade when it hurts At places with no electric power, BBQs, it can be used too. Robust, fine tuning possible in 10th of millimetres, small slices of ham and cheese, ... Price is around 100 Euro nowadays.

[gogoblender 3,072]

lol, all those cutters look like torture instruments!

 

 

gogo

[chattius 2,535]

Yep, but you need one with a 8 people home. The x-mas gift for my oldest was a kitchen tool too. It can save thousands of dollars and make friends:

 

 

A mechanical coffee mill. If you have visitors and use a mechanical mill it shows that you will spend time listening to them. My wife has an old one in the her office and she says sometimes drinking a coffee or tea and talking unveals more illnesses than a full examination. I had one in my office room at army and it wad a more relaxed talking. Well if I would have been a pipe smoker, filling a pipe would have probably the same effect.

 

I searched quite a while to find a good modern mechanical mill. I remember from my time at university, 8 people floor, 5 girls, 3 boys, 6 countries,... That spending time in coffee making and use it for talking kept a nice atmosphere, helps to keep the psychiatrists away.

[gogoblender 3,072]

See, stuff like this I like. I often look for gadgets or utilities that can act as focus while creating moments for conversation or sharing. Your wife is wise, and transforming a portion of the coffee drinking experience into a productivity phase is engaging and meaningful.

 

Plus the aroma must be terrific

 

 

gogo

[chattius 2,535]

Yes, lot better than the vacuum already milled stuff. You have control of the coffee beans, sort whiter ones out, then you can adjust how fine your coffee powder will be, no cable like an electric mill will have, you can mill while standing...

 

Its like a tea ceremony, spending time and relaxing , thats why I thought it will be a nice gift when my daughter starts at university.