Cabela's Slicer Review

[Gonna Smoke]

Some may recall this thread that I posted about 3 weeks ago...

Finally...

...I bought my own slicer. I've been on my bacon journey for right at 2 years now and for the first 1½ years, I was using a borrowed slicer that was on "permanent loan" to me from a friend. Well this past August, he wanted it back to slice up some meat for jerky and I decided it was time to get...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Well the first batch of bacon has been sliced and here are my thoughts...
The slicer was sharp and sliced just about perfectly right out of the box, as one would expect. The extended slide, which is one of the things that sold me on this slicer, was everything I wanted. Able to handle wider bellies without having to fold them...

With the plastic food carriage guard in place, the bellies can be sliced in 2 different positions giving me about an extra ¾"-1" of length...

Here on the carriage...

Here up against the carriage guard...

On the Berkel, #3 was my preferred thickness for "thick" sliced bacon. It appears to be the same on the Cabela's. I sliced 1 belly at #3 and another at about 1½ for thin slices. Both sliced just fine with only a minimal tail on the thinner slice, but there again, this is the first time it's been used...

Now on to the cleaning. It comes apart easily and the blade and guard come off with a phillips head screwdriver...

One thing I really like is the blade guard comes off with just the 4 screws you see. On the Berkel, the guard had 2 screws on top and 2 underneath that required the slicer to be flipped over to access.

With the food carriage guard on the slide, it won't fit in a standard size ink. Fortunately my island has an oversize sink that it fits in.

I'm not sure about the sharpener. It is a single stone and it fits into the holes on the carriage that can be seen in the pics. It is inserted on the top of the carriage to sharpen both sides of the blade. The carriage is adjusted up or down to get the stone in contact with the blade. It's just different than what I'm used to and eventually it will have to be used. Time will tell...

Another thing the slicer comes with is a plastic spacer plate that's installed for slicing small items. I forgot it was in place until I took the slicer apart to clean. Didn't affect the slicing, but I'll remember to remove it next time I slice bacon. It's the darker gray part in this pic and is about ½" or so thick...

So overall after the first use, I'm satisfied. When slicing fast, I could hear it want to slow down a little, not much. It was just noticeable. Time and a lot of use may change my opinion, though. It's similar enough, but different than the Hobart I used way back in the day or the Berkel more recently. For less than $500, I finally have my own slicer and I think it will work just fine...

 

[GatorAGR]

Great write up. Homemade smoked bacon is on my list which means so is a slicer. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Great write up. You’re on your way! For the money I think this class of slicer is fine for most home projects.

 

[Brokenhandle]

You'll love having your own slicer!

Ryan

 

[sandyut]

thanks for the review. Looks like a pretty nice slicer!

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Great write up. Homemade smoked bacon is on my list which means so is a slicer. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. If I could've found a used Hobart in decent shape for a reasonable price, I would've bought it. I've looked for one for 4+ months and they're either junk or want too much money for them AND they never have a sharpener with them. I was out of bacon so I had to do something. Maybe you'll have better luck in Indiana finding one, but this appears to be a decent option...

 

[Bett]

I Just joined this forum today to thank the OP. I too was looking for a slicer for my smoked bacon. Big enough for a whole belly, but not a lot of $$$$!!! My search landed me here after a lot of dead ends, and I dug into researching this rig. I did end up getting it and used it for the first time this morning.

I did some red onion just to get a feel for it. Then onto smoked chicken breast my wife loves to make sandwiches with. Now I'm able to get it deli style paper thin! (I smoked it yesterday, rested covered for about an hour, then in the fridge overnight. Put in the freezer for a 1/2 hour just before slicing). She said "OMG! this is professional! WOW!"

Then the bacon. That has been resting in the fridge for a couple days, and went in the freezer for almost an hour before I sliced it. EFFORTLESS on #2 Not real thick, but not too thin either, Just right...

Thanks Charles. This review gave me a good feeling, and I'm glad I went with it.

Roger

 

[voyager 663rd]

For anyone else, those "numbers" are really unique to a machine.

I've got a 1948 Hobart. I use #15 to get thinly sliced (maybe 1/8") prime rib slices. This is on next day cold roast, not freshly smoked--a regular knife for that.