Looking for Slicer Recommendation

[petehalsted]

Time to add a slicer to the arsenal, remember we are fulltime in an RV, so storage space is at a premium.

I would like to keep the budget in the $100-$150 range. I know that won't get me a commercial unit. But it is just for processing stuff for us. I know a unit at that cost will likely mean raw meat will need to be semi-froze first.

Here are the things I want to use it for:

1. Slicing Smoked Roast Beef, Turkey Breast, Ham for lunch meat. We do a lot of paninis for lunch.
2. Slicing smoked pastrami. My first pastrami would have been much better had I been able to slice thinner.
3. Shaving Top Round. I go through about a pound of shaved beef a week, I use it in Breakfast burritos most mornings, and also for quick Steak'em sandwich. We we travel to a new area, I also have to "train" a new butcher, seems no one outside of the North East knows what shaved beef is. I am sure this will have to be semi frozen, and top round might have to be halved first to fit slicer?
4. Slicing Beef for jerky, not a top priority as I imagine I can do that by hand if needed, and I haven't done my first jerky yet.
5. Would be great if I can buy block cheese and slice myself, but not a huge priority.

FYI, the local Costco doesn't stock a slicer.

I have amazon prime, so amazon recommendations will be great, but also getting ready to place order on LEM so if they have a decent unit in my price range that is also an option.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please delete

 

[tropics]

http://smokingmeatforums.com/t/256349/meat-slicer-review

 

[pops6927]

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/nesco-slicers.269976/

 

[dr k]

https://www.meatprocessingproducts....MIhbGbm5C12QIVULnACh0N2wTdEAQYASABEgL-X_D_BwE
This one is the one I have. It has a 200 watt motor and a non serrated 7.5 inch blade so you can easily put a sharpening stone to the beveled edge. You should be able to find it at Walmart around $60.00.

 

[johnmeyer]

I posted the following in another thread today where you asked this same question. I thought I'd repeat it here because more people may read it. I don't think the links below duplicate those given above.

I really like my Chef's Choice 615. There are dozens of posts about this model here in these forums, so you should be able to get lots of advice just by searching for "615" and then reading those old posts. It obviously would not be the choice if you are needing to cut dozens of pounds of meat at one time, or are using it every day. Also, if you have really huge pieces of meat (like a very large ham), this is too small.

However, it works perfectly for me. I slice tri-tip, cheese, vegetables, raw meat for jerky, chicken and turkey breasts, small hams (wonderful deli slices), and more.

Here are some slicer posts in this forum. The first one is a review of the 615, the slicer I own:

Meat Slicer (review)

Whats a good slicer?

Slicer: Chef's Choice 610 vs. 615

 

[petehalsted]

Thanks Everyone.

At this point it is looking like the Chef's Choice 615, still reading and researching but here's my thought process for all that are interested:

1. Chef's Choice 609, a bit cheaper. But not as powerful of a motor and carriage not as well built. Probably a good unit but don't want to regret purchase in a year.

2. The Nesco looked real promising but there doesn't seem to be a fine blade available for it. I think to get shaved beef I will have to have fine blade.

3. The Weston looks real interesting, has the highest watt motor, and comes with fine blade instead of Serrated (serrated is available) But there seem to be more unhappy reviews on amazon for it than the others. 20% with 1 star verus 5%! Always hard to judge reviews. Some are say it is noisy, but heck I grind coffee every AM at 5AM what do I care (You know those beans can't sit overnight ground!)

 

[petehalsted]

Well that didn't take long! I pulled the trigger on the 615. I saw a tip about buying from Bed Bath and Beyond. Signed up for their email list and got 20% off 1 item and free shipping. With tax it came to $128.39

Ordering the fine blade from Amazon.

Thanks everyone for all the input

 

[Laftpig]

I just purchased a Chef Choice 615 and I love it. Cuts paper thin to 1/2 plus cuts. It is a bit difficult to clean though. No part is dishwasher safe. Got it from Bed Bath and Beyond. $150.00 minus 20% and free shipping. You should easily be able to get a 20% off coupon from them.

 

[dr k]

Handling the blade is tricky. I've dropped mine twice and when it's falling to the ground I'm going skyward like a cat to keep from losing toes.

 

[johnmeyer]

I bought the fine blade, but I'll be darned if I can tell any difference from the serrated blade when trying to get really thin slices, which is what the fine (non-serrated) blade was touted for. The serrated blade is definitely better for cheese, some vegetables, etc. It wasn't a mistake to get the fine blade, but if you'd asked ahead of time I would have recommended holding off. Not a big deal.

There are some tricks to cleaning, and as others have said, there are quite a few parts that need to be cleaned. I never clean anything in the dishwasher except the stuff we eat on, so the fact that it isn't dishwasher safe doesn't bother me. However, I think most people put most everything in their dishwasher, and would like to be able to clean up more of the 615 parts in the DW rather than the sink.

The only other thing to point out, which I'm sure you've read many times by now, is that you will get much better results with any slicer, and this one for sure, if you get the meat slightly frozen. You want it slightly stiff, but still bendable. If you get it to this state, you can almost get shaved meat.

 

[Farmgal]

Glad to find this information! I'm wanting to get a slicer myself, so now I have a direction to go in. Thanks for all the info and the suggestions.

 

[old sarge]

No doubt about it, slicers are handy. I use our old Rival for slicing down roast beef and ham for sandwiches. Sure beats doing it with a knife!

 

[tallbm]

I wash most of my Chef's Choice 615 parts in the dish washer :eek::cool:

I've never had an issue with any parts being washed in the dish washer. I put them on the top rack and all comes out fine. The metal'ish meat holder plate thing (with the spikes) doesn't get filmy or scummy so it seems fine. All the other parts are plastic other than the slicing blade.

If you pull apart all the pieces of the 615 it cleans up quite easily compared to the other slicers I have used.
Read the manual on removing all the parts and I bet you find it is no issue to clean and if you use the top rack of your dishwasher I bet you find all the removable parts are perfectly dishwasher safe :)

Best of luck with it!

 

[challenger]

I tried to get the 20% of coupon but I can't seem to get one to use online. Any advice?

 

[old sarge]

Aside from your experience from BB&B, what 20% coupon are you referring to? Most of the coupon sites are bogus at best!

 

[challenger]

Aside from your experience from BB&B, what 20% coupon are you referring to? Most of the coupon sites are bogus at best!

petehalsted and Laftpig mentioned one. I figured out you have to sign up for thier e-mail list then wait for the popup to appear and accept it. So I pulled the trigger on the 615. We'll see how it works in a few days.

 

[archeryrob]

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/nesco-slicers.269976/

I have this slicer too and it works good. The back plate is a little soft and you can't exert any force on it or the meat thickness will change. I used it for slicing my deer hams and cured goose. I ussually do a lot at one time, as in 50# of goose pre-cured smoked weight maybe 45 - 50 breasts. It handled them all, but in 5 minute sessions with a break. The motor gets a bit warm for extended use, but its is one of the better lower end slicers.

I bought a really nice slicer off facebook Marketplace and I would highly recoomend do int the same thing. They wanted $375 and I just pinged them as interested. They dropped the price to $250 after a week and a half and I grabbed it up!