Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 6 Piece Set
by Borner
|
List Price: Our Price: $35.50 You Save: $9.50 (21%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $28.00 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
|---|
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 6 Piece Set
Customer Review: Best mandolin for the price, beats out higher priced items
Summary: 5 Stars
It has been a great investment and has paid for itself. I use it more often than any other gadget in my kitchen. Clean up is simple, just rinse and store in back in it's holder. The blades are still super sharp after being used pretty much daily since 1999, and it's November of 2002 now. I use it when I make chili, sloppy joes or tacos to dice onions and peppers in seconds. I use it whenever I make hashbrowns, potato chowder, potatoes au gratin or french fries as I can safely and swiftly slice potatoes into cubes, jullianed strips, chips, scalloped slices or fries. It can julianne tender-crisp delicate slices of veggies for stir-fry or as a lovely french side dish. You can make quick easy carrot and celery sticks for snacking, cucumber slices for salads, tomato slices for burgers, you name it this does it. And it's very safe to use if you use your head. I love my Borner V-slicer and recommend it to everyone. I buy this for every wedding gift and housewarming party I've attended since 1999! Yes, there are less expensive mandolins and more expensive ones, but the ease of use, super quick clean up, handy storage/safety holder and just overall sturdyness and reliability of this little tool make me go over the top raving about it. I could not recommend it more enthusiastically. Wait--I can! This thing rocks! Buy it, try it, you will adore it! Hmmm...having read through the other reviews of this product I will add a conditional caveat to the above review. The blades are really very sharp. When dealing with any cutting tool, just as you would with a chainsaw or with a knife--use care, common sense and precaution. Always use the little safety food guide that comes with it, and make sure that you are holding the guide properly so that the arrows point the right way and the guide slides smoothly! With sensible care the Borner V-slicer is safer than a knife and very easy to use. It has drastically reduced my preparation time on many dishes and it has become as essential to my kitchen as my chef's knife and fry pan. But again, this is a high quality product with German-made blades that stay sharp longer than you will. It's super sharp and slicey. If you like your finger tips and don't like blood and gore--then use the safety guide and a little care and you'll be a-ok. The V-slicer has a safety catch at the base. To get it out of it's case you simply release the catch and gently remove the slicer. If you reach inside or try to yank or force it out without releasing the safety catch first--you'll injure yourself. The unfortunate woman whose hand was badly sliced while removing the slicer from it's case probably didn't take the time to release the catch before she tried to remove it from it's safety case. Having had a tendon reattachment of my own after a box-cutter hit a metal staple, I really feel for her, but it's not the Borner V-Slicer's fault she injured herself--Please use care! It's a very sharp edged tool, and the bladed edges for julienne and cubed foods are dangerous too. Read the instructions, use the safety guide, store it in it's safety case and avoid touching the blade edges. With a little normal caution you'll soon be confidently slicing veggies in seconds like a pro.Customer Review: Add me to the LOVE IT list
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had mine for 20 years. I saw one in a professional chef's kitchen then bought mine from an infomercial. I use it all the time.
It's very safe to use, if you use it properly, with the food holder always. That last little bit of veggie can be easily chopped with a couple of slices from a knife - don't be tempted to try to push it through with your fingers. I always pop the last little bit of tomato or carrot in my mouth - yum.
It seems some folks haven't figured out how to dice with it. I make Indian food and the curry sauce takes lots and lots of onions. I can dice an onion in under 30 seconds with this (safely and not hurrying). Put the onion in the holder. Slide it across just the julienne blade with it lying flat on the counter - this is a prep slice, then put the blade in the slicer. Turn the onion 45 degrees and slice it - it will come out diced, then turn it a 1/4 turn and slice, turn and slice, turn and slice - the whole onion comes out diced beautifully.
The same can be done with potatoes and tomatos. I seriously can dice up 6 onions in 4 minutes (after I peel the top layer and chop the ends off). There isn't any time for tears to even start.
I just figured out something! If I only cut the top and not the end off the onion, that would be the part that was left over in the holder. It is a part I throw away anyway! Can't wait to try the new technique.
The holder looks like it is designed to only go down to the blade one way - with the wide part running down the rails but it doesn't catch even if you have the narrow sides parallel with the rails. So just switch back and forth for dices. No need to make knife cuts in the veggies.
That tiny sliver of veggie that doesn't go through the slicer can be chopped up in seconds by hand or if you don't mind wasting it - throw it away or compost it - it's only worth about a penny! Certainly not worth a trip to the emergency room because you tried to force it through with your fingers.
Don't get complicated with the washing either. Just run it under warm water and use a soapy brush if you want. I admit that I usually just rinse it and drop it in the holder - it still looks and works great after 20 years.
Customer Review: To address some concerns...
Summary: 5 Stars
First off let me state: This slicer completely rocks. You can make french fries or slice up an onion in only a few seconds. You can slice super thin, or thick. It is SO easy.
As an owner of this slicer I wanted to address some concerns people had with this in other reviews:
REGARDING HOW TO HOLD THE DEVICE WHILE SLICING:
Some people felt they couldn't safely hold the device. The proper way to hold it is to put down one end on a cutting board and hold the device at an angle to the cutting board. Then use your other hand to move back and forth over the blade. I think some people were trying to suspend the device in the air or something while cutting and were having problems with it. It shows a picture of how to do it in the instructions. Just look at the pic. It doesn't specifically mention a cutting board... but I suggest you use one so you can easily add your cuttings to a recipie or pan or whatever.
REGARDING TOO MUCH WASTE AFTER CUTTING SOMETHING:
If you are cutting a potato for example, there is a handle included with small pins on it that you insert into the potato. This is the handle you hold on when you move it back and forth over the blade. The "official" and probably the safest way to do the cutting is to hold the handle perpendicular so the ends of the handle are over the sides of the cutting area. If you do this you will find that the end of your potato remains uncut. Its not a big piece... but I find that if you turn the handle so it is parellel with the device for the final few cuts you can slice the final nub. Not techincally the safest option, but it works.
WORDS OF WARNING:
1) These blades are really really really sharp. Cut through any vegetable like butter, also cut through you like butter if you leave this lay around somewhere carelessly
2) You can buy inserts for this seperately here on amazon BUT the sane ones come with it. We got this as a wedding gift and we got the inserts seperately. No i have 2 julienne inserts. One is still in plastic.
3) You can buy this same package for 10 dollars more here on amazon. Why? I don't know but get this one because why waste 10 dollars.
Customer Review: But wait, there's more!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have celiac disease, which is essentially an allergy to wheat protein, and I can't eat anything with wheat flour in it. Most mixes, frozen foods, and a lot of canned goods have flour or "modified food starch," a gemish of wheat flour and other stuff that sets me off. As a result, I cook almost everything from scratch, serious scratch, starting with whole foods scratch, every day. If I want potatoes au gratin, I get out the potatoes and the cheese. Since I spend a lot of time cooking, I have more kitchen toys and gadgets than anyone else I know.
I *love* this little machine. Before this one, I had a really expensive steel mandolin that rusted and chipped, and the blade dulled quickly. Not this handy little dude. Although the plastic feels a little flimsy when you get it out of the box, it holds up. I use it probably once a week for a meal that's going to take a lot of chopping, and I got it about 2 years ago. It's still so sharp that it slides through potatoes easily. Despite the fact that it's plastic, it's durable. I've dropped it, kicked it, pounded on it, left it in water, and it's still sharp and it's never cracked or rusted, even a little.
I think the reason that it works so well is the V-design. The two slanted blades start the slice and then the vegetable slides down the blades, finishing the slice. As a result, a much longer surface of the blade slices the food. Therefore, there's much less friction on any one place where the blade and food are in contact.
Make sure to get the optional other inserts. It does come with several, but with those, you can make any size sliced, diced, shredded, or julienned pieces. You can make a beautiful salad bar for guests in 15 minutes. Ditto with top-your-own tacos. You can do all the slicing for a huge pot of Indian pilaf in a couple minutes. Do be careful washing this thing, though, and always use the included hand guard.
TK Kenyon
Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel
Customer Review: Excellent and cleans up well.
Summary: 5 Stars
There are a lot of reviews here flattering this device better than I can. I don't cook well, so any device that easily cuts things up in interesting and useful shapes and is easy to clean earns my appreciation. This focuses on cleaning and use more than results since I didn't even know these things existed until a week ago. I had no idea that I could ever slice vegetables so well. I thought only restaurants and other people had the capability.
This slicer really does work well and is surprisingly easy to rinse clean. So far, I've managed to keep my fingers out of it. The holder cavity is a little too small, so this now dictates the size of tomatoes and onions I buy.
If I ever slice something that doesn't just rinse off, I'll put this in the dishwasher again. True, the instructions advise against that because high temperatures and strong dishwashing detergents can damage the unit. I inadvertently solved this problem last year when I accepted a GE GSD3400 dishwasher as a home warranty replacement. This thing can't even clean its own front door. Things spilled on the inside of the door during loading stay there for several washings. It overflows if even a moderate amount of dishwasher detergent is used - even with the brand it came with. And it doesn't come close to drying anything. So, I'd expect this slicer to be "dishwasher safe" on any rack in any dishwasher as lousy as mine. In the interest of full disclosure, I admit that anything claiming not to be dishwasher safe either learns to be or is sent to the landfill.
It is very sharp, and I can see how it might be hard on the fingers, but as old as I am, anything that warns me so many times with "Achtung," I notice. Be careful, pay attention, and never use it while drinking or driving.