Mandoline Versus Food Processor [moved from Home Cooking]

[cstout]

I do have a food processor & sometimes consider purchasing a mandoline, but I am on the fence about adding yet another gadget in the kitchen. Will this just become another gadget that stays in a dark corner of a drawer?

Do you have both? Which one do you prefer?

What do you use your mandoline for?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[cstout]

Hey everyone, your comments are great. As usual, there is no stone left unturned when you all get through with a subject, which makes Chowhound a great place to be. Thanks for posting.

[Caroline1]

I have a food processor, a mandoline, and several great knives. Which one I use depends on my prep goal. The fastest is, of course, the processor. My mandoline gives me greater control of exactly how super thin or fairly thick I want the slices. Occasionally some veggies turn out to be PITA on the mandoline because they "chip" as the hind part of the slice reaches the blade and leave a thick end. It doesn't happen with any one vegetable all of the time, but can happen with several vegetables sometimes, and that's when I'll switch from mandoline to food processor. The much higher speed doesn't do that. I can julienne with both the mandoline and the food processor, but with the food processor things come out with a slight arc to them. I can also get a finer julienne with the mandoline. If I want uniform length to something I slice on the mandoline or in the food processor, then I use a knife to cut a block to the length I want. Fancy cuts are easy with either. For carrot "flowers" for soups or salads, simply peel a carrot, slice five lengthwise "V" grooves around the carrot, then slice them into "flowers." Kids love it! I hope writing this doesn't hex me, but my mandoline is now 52 years old, and I've never cut myself with it. (Knock on wood) It's a Benriner, and they still make them. They are very inexpensive compared to the stainless steel "professional" mandolines available, and I often see chefs on TV using Benriners. That always makes me smile! You absolutely get your money's worth out of them. And then some! And just for the record, all these years later, I can still get replacement julienne blades that fit! Gotta order some...

[cstout]

Great post Caroline1. I saw on Amazon there are 2 sizes, what is the dimension of yours?

[kseiverd]

Have an inexpensive mandolin... Mouli, I think. Have had it fro years and still very sharp. Has a guard-thingie to keep you fingers away from the blade. Has inserts to do a julienne, a "french fry" cut, and 3 different thicknesses of slices... from thin to thinnest.

Bought a Cuisnart mandolin... at thrift store, cuz clean and cheap. Didn't care for it at all and redonated.

[mikie]

I use a food processor, a mandolin, and a knife, which I use is mostly determined by what kind and how many slices I need. For example, for Thanksgiving I slice a lot of celery for dressing, I'm not that picky on the exact thickness, so the slicer in the food processor works best. If I want consistant thin slices of something, and a fair amount of them, then the mandolin is my choice. If I'm cutting an irregular shape or dicing onions or the like, then the knife seems to work best.

We recently traded in the cheap plastic mandolin we had for a Rosle slicer, it's not as versitle, but it's compact and easy to use, so I grab it much more often than the old mandolin I had.

[NE_Elaine]

I have both a food processor and a mandoline. I use the food processor for grating, chopping and mixing dough mainly. I use the mandoline for when I need to make many thin slices, like for potatoes au gratin.

I find that I use the mandoline much more often after I bought a protective glove for my hand and don't need to use the useless food holder any more. It was a good tip that I got from a fellow chowhounder. I believe the glove is made out of teflon and can be ordered from Amazon.

[mikie]

Many of the golves are Kevlar if they're not steel core. I don't think teflon offers a lot of protection.

[NE_Elaine]

Thanks Mikie - you are exactly right!

That is what I get for posting late in the evening.

[Bacardi1]

I have both & use both for different tasks.

Food processor is used mostly for chopping, blending, doughs, etc.

Mandoline is used mostly for paper-thin perfect fruit & vegetable slices & more attractive julienne/shreds.

[rasputina]

I have both, I mainly use the mandoline for shredding cabbage for sauerkraut.

[pdxgastro]

When I had to make (tons of) cole slaw at the bagel shop, I sliced the cabbage on the meat slicer. No problems.

[hungryjoanne]

I have both a food processor & a mandoline - I use the processor mostly for mixing doughs - pie crust, pizza, sometimes for carrots (carrot cake) and other fine blending jobs. The food processor comes out of its' cupboard about once per week.
I use the mandoline probably about twice as often as the food processor (the mandoline is a Boerner V-Slicer). It's great for getting an even dice or slice when prepping anything from burger condiments (pickles, onions - doesn't work for tomatoes) to salad, soup or stew ingredients. Onions are probably what it is used for most often, but it makes easy work of carrots, celery, potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, etc. as well.
If I've just got one onion to chop, I'll stick with a knife, but if I've got a ton of veg to prep, I'll definitely pull out the mandoline.
What I love about the mandoline is a) easy storage - it's slim enough to fit in a drawer, and b) easy to clean - I just run it under the hottest tap water possible & let it dry. I think you'll use it more than you expect.

[VitalForce]

If you're interested in getting a mandoline, consider a Japanese Benriner. They're inexpensive, work great, and are completely safe when using the cutting guard that comes in the package. And they're easier to clean than a food processor. When storing I keep the guard over the blade with an elastic band in order to avoid accidentally getting a cut. The guard doesn't allow you to slice something as small as garlic. But I would use a knife for that anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_asi_1?...

[inaplasticcup]

+1

I have both FP and a Benriner. The FP has its uses but it doesn't do what a sharp mandoline will do. And even with pretty decent knife skills, and perfectly good and sharp knives, I like to use the Benriner from time to time for ease and uniformity with speed.

And the Benriner's so compact, it barely takes any room in the drawer.

[scubadoo97]

The food pro can slice if you have the disc but also chop and purée

I use a mandoline for things where I want a very consistent thickness but use a knife where that is not as important.

[ipsedixit]

Why not just a knife?

[cstout]

Using a knife instead of a food processor or mandoline - yes, great idea, but my knives are so dull & I have not mastered the art of sharpening my own knives. There is a guy in another town that sharpens people's scissors & knives, but you have to take them to an exclusive kitchenware shop for him to pick up & they look at your shabby knives like, "Are you bringing THAT in here, my word!". Of course they want you to purchase a new set of knives while you are standing around looking sheepish.

We tend to forget there are simpler ways of doing things that don't cost much money, use much electricity or take up much room. With that said, would someone tell me about a simple way to sharpen my knives???

[jmcarthur8]

I use a Chef's Choice #110 electric knife sharpener. I've had it for over 10 years, and just give all my knives a good going over every couple months. I don't know what pros do, but it works for me.

[cowboyardee]

The easiest-to-use home sharpening devices (of the ones that work reasonably well, anyway):

An accusharp or similar carbide-based sharpener
- problematic/useless for hard Asian knives
- Quick and easy
- Cheap
- Removes metal fairly quickly
- Somewhat useful for some kinds of serrated knives

A Chef's choice electric sharpener or similar design
- More expensive
- Also not too great on hard Asian knives, but not quite as bad as the Accusharp... still not recommended
- Not quite as easy to use, but close
- Similarly quick
- Slightly better edge than the Accusharp, usually
- Exaggerates the problems caused by full length bolsters
- Also removes metal fairly aggressively
- Not too great for serrated knives, though scallop-style serrations can get some benefit from it

No pro sharpener worth a damn will criticize you for bringing in a budget knife. That's how he makes his money. If your knives are so shoddy that they won't take a decent edge (and, true, some knives won't), then he might gently suggest an affordable alternative, preferably not one that he or his associates are selling. I'm not a big fan of most sharpening services run by kitchenware stores - a lot of times, it's just a minimally-trained worker running a Chef's Choice electric sharpener in the back room.

Here is a much more elaborate post about different sharpening options:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7971...

[cstout]

cowboyardee, wow - you certainly know a lot about knife sharpeners! Thanks for the comprehensive list of sharpening methods.

My knives are old knives that came from a butcher shop that closed. The blades are very thick & can be sharpened to a razor edge - only thing is the handles are thick wood & certainly have seen better days, but it just shows they were well used.

I would like to purchase a couple of Asian knives, but don't know which brand is best. I will search around on Chow to find a thread on that subject.

Just curious, how do you sharpen a mandoline????

[Chemicalkinetics]

For Asian knives, do you mean European style knives with Japanese hard steel? Or do you mean Japanese style knives with Japanese steel? Also, do you mean Asian knives as in any Asian knives? Or do you mean Japanese knives?

Do you have a budget for your inquisition of the Japanese knives?

For Westernized Japanese knives, Tojiro is a brand of good quality and nice price, especially the DP series:

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/tojiro?src=Google&cam=Tojiro&sub=Tojiro+Knife+M&kw=%252Btojiro%2520%252Bdp&gclid=CNeTvtuag7ICFYNM4AodzVsASg

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/tojirod...

[cstout]

Thanks for links, am really learning lot. Yes, any Asian knife will do, I just try to stay middle of the road in everything I purchase.

I would like one of those knives that slice tomatoes paper thin.

Maybe what I need is a good knive instead of a mamdoline. I sure like the "crinkle" edges on veggies though.

[cowboyardee]

"My knives are old knives that came from a butcher shop that closed."
_______
Old knives that take razor edges are cool, and any professional sharpener who doesn't think so should be viewed with suspicion and/or contempt. About those handles: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8241...

"Just curious, how do you sharpen a mandoline????"
______
A straight blade from a mandoline can usually be removed from the device and sharpened on a whetstone without much trouble (if you know how to use a whetstone, that is). They are typically single bevelled - meaning the cutting edge is one-sided, and needs only to be sharpened on one side - and the edge seems to be around 20 degrees (this might vary quite a bit between different makers), though really you'd be examining the blade to figure out exactly how the edge is set and following that geometry (google 'sharpening, magic marker trick' for starters). If you're not decent with stones, it probably wouldn't be the first job I suggest trying. A good pro could handle the job without much trouble at all. A mandoline blade with a zig-zaggy edge.... frankly, that would be such a PITA to sharpen that you'd be better off just buying a new blade (though you technically could sharpen it using a small squared stick and some wet/dry sandpaper with a lot of brow furrowing).

"I would like to purchase a couple of Asian knives, but don't know which brand is best. I will search around on Chow to find a thread on that subject."
_________
There are a lot of threads on the matter. I was avoiding getting too elaborate about a tangential matter, but note that most of the hard knives I was thinking of are actually Japanese. There are some fantastic Japanese knives available at many price points, and what's best depends heavily on what exactly you're looking for.

[kengk]

Buy a cheap sharpening stone and practice. You don't have to have expensive stones or tools to sharpen a knife.

Your local hardware store probably has something that will work. Way easier than making the perfect biscuit.

[wincountrygirl]

I use a knife. I am terrified of a mandoline and really find that just slicing with my knife is fast and easier.

[escondido123]

For the same reason chefs use them, to get very thin slices or slices of a consistent size or waffle cut slices or julienne--in much less time.

[al b. darned]

I was just about to say that.

[Kelli2006]

A knife, a food processor and mandoline are very different tools and a good cook should have them because there are patiticulr jobs that that each excell at.

[lovetalkinfood]

I have a bran which I researched and wanted forever but still haven't quite mastered. I want to but...it is hard

[cstout]

Which brand do you have?

[jmcarthur8]

I have both. The mandolin scares me, so I don't use it much. Maybe it's because I'm left handed. It's an Oxo, and I love their products, but I feel very clumsy with the mandolin.

The food processor makes messier slices, but quicker. Sometimes I use the flat blade side of my 4 sided cheese grater to slice cukes.
Maybe others have an Oxo mandolin who can give me advise on using it efficiently and safely.

[SeaKoz]

Consider getting a cut resistant glove like this one: http://amzn.to/Np2FR1 This is the one I have, it makes the mandoline much safer to use!

[jmcarthur8]

I will do that. The price isn't bad, amd I think the clumsiness of using the vegetable holder is what my problem is.