Mandoline Tales

I think a mandoline is one of the few things I haven't cut my finger on - and I've cut my finger on aluminum foil and parchment paper!

I don't use one often, but there are times, like when making very thin potato chips/crisps, it's the best tool for the task. I do use the guard 100% of the time; even if it's something large, I don't start out without the guard. If the item is so large it won't fit under the guard, it gets cut down into manageable pieces.

I think there are a few videos of Pepin using one without a guard, but he does so using his palm only, with his fingertips curled upward, I think. I'll see if I can find that and the video for the mandoline I have, which is entertaining in itself, because it's like a funky 1980's infomercial.
 
Here’s the mandoline I have, and I do like it (even if ATK doesn’t):

View: https://youtu.be/LKAhxkeNwVY


I love this video, it’s weirdly fascinating. It’s also a little long at 20 minutes, but he walks you through basic and advanced cuts. I’m not gonna lie, there are some spots where he’s cutting something rapid-fire, with wet, slippery hands and no guard. It’s scary and thrilling, every time!

If you’re interested, he starts the actual cutting demos at around 5:30.
 
I now have THIS one,The Chef'n Pull'n mandoline Slicer. It's design is very good & helps protect your hands completely from ever touching the blade!!! :whistling:
Chef'n Pull'n Mandoline Slicer..jpg
:whistling:
 
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We have 2, a big French made stainless steel one we got some time in the early to mid 1990s. It was very expensive and is quite heavy for its size. It also came with little bIade pieces that fit underneath the top piece that makes fries or waffle cuts, etc. It adjusts up to at least 1/4 inch thick. I am sure it was made for a commercial kitchen as it still looks practically brand new.

Craig, football on TV and the above made for a very bad combo years ago. He is no longer allowed to use that one. It requires total concentration on what you are doing.

I does have a guard that actually fits into a track along the sides but the guard rips softer veges into shreds so it was never used after the first couple of times.

The other one we have is a Kyocera, i think spelling is right, handheld, adjustable to 4 settings. No guard, or at least I don't remember one. It's perfectly fine for our needs now. Cuts super thin, it can be used as a truffle shaver, to thickish very, very nice stationary thick. It has a ceramic blade. We've replaced it once in at least 10 years. I believe it was in the the mid $20 range. It requires concentration on what you are doing as well, but  nothing like the French one.

They have Kevlar gloves that people on other forums have recommended, but, honestly, just paying attention to what you are doing and deciding to stop once you get to a certain point and not trying to get that 1 last cut works better than anything else.
 
My worst injury was during Thanksgiving about 5yrs back. I was at my moms and prepping for a dish I was making. I’m a pretty fast chopper and I was moving quickly through a bunch of Coriander, My form and technique were perfect until I made one crucial mistake, I used the index finger on the hand holding down the produce and and flicked it outwards towards the blade to knock a piece of stem towards it.
Well I went a little too far. My knives were sharp and perfectly sliced my entire fingernail off. If my blade hand hadn’t be slicing evenly I probably would have taken the entire front of my finger off or cut it bad enough to be stitched.

Fast forwarding to Mando lines though - I don’t like the ones with the guards on them so I got rid of mine and got one without the guard. However after my experience above I bought some of those cut resistant gloves and those have worked really nicely.
 
I use to have a French one similar to this, however I didn’t like the guard and starchy foods like Potatoes use to stick and it got really annoying.
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I switched over to a simple design from a Japanese Mandoline maker. This one has been razor sharp and is super quick and easy to clean compared to the one above which had a lot of nooks and cranny’s needing to be rinse and dried.

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LissaC said:
I've been thinking about asking for a mandolin as a birthday gift, but you managed to detract me :laugh:
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Fore warned is fore armed. I do not use the gaurd. I do not use my mandolin frequently. I love it when I want perfect, uniform slices. Potato chips/crisps, eggplant for eggplant parmesan, potatoes for scalloped potatoes. I am not concerned about speed. I love the uniformity. I take my time, pay close attention to what I am doing and avoid distractions.
 
When I first used the mandolin it was for lime pickle. However, although it will easily take a lump out of my finger, it was virtually useless at slicing through lime rind.
 
I did shred one piece of a finger while doing cucumber salad. It happened on a Bron D454 mandoline. I should think about getting some safety gloves
 
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