My bride is on a diet that calls for a lot of fresh veg. I get the task of cutting or chopping it. After much deliberation I bought the $40 OXO Good Grip mandoline. I used it for the first time yesterday. It worked fine for yellow squash and cucumbers and radishes. I managed to get it to cut some celery across the stalk, but I've been singularly unsuccessful making sticks out of carrots and celery. I haven't done any potatoes or onions on it, but Roma tomatoes are too thick skinned for anything but the thickest slice (~1/4"). I found that rinsing the surfaces between different veggies is all it takes for clean up. I even figured out how to take the thing apart and change out different blades, etc. without much trouble, but I didn't try all the combinations, yet. I think I might crucify a few spuds to see if I can get better at using it. The user manual is kinda skimpy on information about how to correct any problems you might experience, but otherwise the instructions are good enough that even I could follow them.
I would rate my knife skills as above average (not at the professional level, though), but standing for long periods makes the old back ache pretty badly. I was hoping that the mandoline would speed things up and make it easier on the old man.
I know we have some professional chefs here. What I'd like to know is whether or not I'm trying to make the device do something it wasn't designed to do or if I have an ID-ten-T (ID10T) user problem.
ps: I couldn't figure out which forum to put this in; so if a mod wants to move it my feelings won't be hurt at all. :yahoo:
I would rate my knife skills as above average (not at the professional level, though), but standing for long periods makes the old back ache pretty badly. I was hoping that the mandoline would speed things up and make it easier on the old man.
I know we have some professional chefs here. What I'd like to know is whether or not I'm trying to make the device do something it wasn't designed to do or if I have an ID-ten-T (ID10T) user problem.
ps: I couldn't figure out which forum to put this in; so if a mod wants to move it my feelings won't be hurt at all. :yahoo: