which mandolin for julienning?

[dfrostnh]

My knives are dull and I don't expect to develop good knife skills. Last weekend I borrowed my DIL's Pampered Chef mandolin to make zucchini pickles and a zucchini gratin. I loved how easy it was to make thin slices but it doesn't look like this brand has a julienne blade. I love salads of all kinds and julienned carrots with sugar snap peas, etc. Can you recommend a mandolin in the under $100 price range for me? I also liked that her mandolin fits on top of bowls.

[BryceC]

We recently reviewed a range of mandolines for KitchenAudition. The Pampered Chef model you mention was not among the models we tested. Of those we tested that julienne, the two that performed well were the Borner V-Slicer and the Benriner Japanese Mandoline. The Borner required the least amount of effort and the slices were extremely attractive, looking like they had been cut by a knife, but they were also the slightest bit too thick for our liking.

The Benriner produced more of what we considered to be a standard julienne of carrot, if there is such a thing. However, it required a bit more pressure, and considering that the Benriner hand guard is completely ineffective, we wound up using the Borner hand guard to keep safe (this actually worked quite well, and the guard can be purchased separately of the V-slicer).

In the end, I wholeheartedly agree that using a knife, paring or otherwise, to julienne carrots is the way to go. Even the mandolines listed above left a substantial amount of unprocessed carrot which then needs to be either thrown away or cut by hand anyway.

www.kitchenaudition.com

[johnb]

Interesting website. However, your price info for the Victorinox 8" chef's knife is out of date. At this moment it is about $28 on Amazon (your link), not $19.99 as you say. In general you can't count on Amazon prices staying the same for more than a few hours. That knife is a particular extreme example. I have seen it being offered on Amazon for anywhere from around $13 (which is below the manufacturer's net price to dealers) to well north of $30. Other Amazon prices also fluctuate extremely--popular electronics for example.

[Ambimom]

I own 2 mandolins, one on a slant and one flat. I also own a couple of box graters. Mandolins are great when you have large quantities to slice, but if I'm slicing a couple of carrots or an onion, it's the paring knife every time. I wouldn't be without any of them, but especially my knives, which is why I suggest the accusharp knife sharpener for your dull ones? For under $20, you can get a sharpener for knives and one for scissors. It's a cheap and foolproof solution.

One more thing. Make sure that the mandolin you buy has a decent safety shield because I've sliced the tips of my fingers more times than I care to remember.

[dfrostnh]

Ambimom, thanks for the Accusharp recommendation. I just heard it recommended by a local chef/teacher yesterday on a talk radio show. I do want to get my knives sharpened and in proper shape. I have an old hand held shredder like what would be on a box grater that I use occasionally for cheese. I use the shredding attachment in my food processor on a weekly basis during the summer making large batches of cole slaw. Do you like the way the mandolin works for julienning?

[Ambimom]

To tell you the truth, I use my paring knife to julienne. I find it a lot easier than the mandolin's julienne attachment. Maybe you have more manual dexterity than I do so don't go by me. I mostly use the mandolin to slice things uniformly. There is no other tool that works quite as well. As for the Accusharp, I am a true believer now. I have a pair of scissors that is about 40 years old that I kept more for sentimental reasons than anything else. They didn't cut anything until I ran them across the Accusharp a few times. Now they cut again. I was totally amazed.