150 replies to this topic

[Richard Kilgore]

I recall Jinmyo posting that the only piece of equipment you need beyond good knives is a mandoline. I see a variety of them in catalogues --- ones with synthetic frames for less than $100 to all ss ones for almost $200. Help me choose. Why would you pick one over another? Anything to stay away from? Differences in what they will do?

And what will a madoline do that a food processor will not do? My use is for cooking at home, but additional discussion of ones for professional use in commercial kitchens is fine with me.

[Suzanne F]

Benriner benriner benriner benriner benriner.

And did I mention Benriner? Available for under $30 in Asian markets, a little more for the extra-wide version. For slicing and three sizes of julienne. Blades are replaceable. Or you can just toss it and get a new one, it's that inexpensive. You can put it in the dishwasher. There is almost no assembly, almost no setup, and it takes up very little storage room.

What can I do with it that I can't with a fp? Control the food. Put an onion or a potato or a clove of garlic in the fp, and you get weird angles and shapes as the cutting proceeds and the food slips. With a mandoline, you are the one holding the food, and can keep it the way you want it. Also, with a mandoline I can cut infinitely adjustable thicknesses, up to the max when I remove the adjusting screw, and down to see-through thin (see comment on control). My knife skills are not good enough to do that with any consistency. Ditto the juliennes.

With the big, complicated, expensive ss mandolines (Bron, for example), you can cut waffle potatoes -- which you can't do on a Benriner. If that's important to you, go with the bigger $$$ version. Otherwise, Benriner rules!

[Oreganought]

I have both of the ones Suzanne mentioned and I'm sure the SS will last a lifetime,had mine 12 years.The benriner gets more use though,lighter,easier
to lay over a bowl and slice away.I will say the benriner seems to be sharper
than my SS one.I use to do alot of veg in long strands like lingini and the SS
was better. I would probably recommend the benriner because of it's ease of
use and price.Stay away from the TV models (cheap),I don't know how many I've been given that fell apart after 2 potatoes.

[MatthewB]

I like the V-Slicer.

Edit: Search for "Swissmar Borner V-Slicer Plus" on Amazon. I think it's a tad "safer" than the Benriner. The only downside--at least for me--of the V-Slicer is the inability to manually adjust blade height.

Edited by MatthewB, 02 September 2003 - 02:54 PM.

[Jinmyo]

Matthew, and that's why a v-slicer is just another useless kitchen gadget.

Benriner. About $30.

Unless you really must make waffle cuts.

[MatthewB]

I'll cede to Suzanne & Jin.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks Suzanne, Oreganought and Jinmyo. I have no need for a wafflecut. Glad to hear that $30 is all it will take. Are these available on-line, or only at Asian markets?

Matthew --- I've got a mushroom brush and slicer you may be interested in.

[Jinmyo]

Richard, a quick Google search for "Benriner" will yield many results. I see prices from $37 to $39. But I often see them at Japanese and Korean grocers for around $25 Canadian. Which adjusting to US currency means they're just about free.

[MatthewB]

Matthew --- I've got a mushroom brush and slicer you may be interested in. 

The V-Slicer isn't *that* bad.

[torakris]

I still remember the first benriner I bought, I was a 20 year old college student on my first trip to Japan. I was walking through Takashimaya department store and there was a man demonstrating one of these things, think live infomercial. I was fascinated, I watched this man for close to 30 minutes and thought "if only I had one of these, I could cook too!" and I begged my boyfriend to buy me one. I took it back to the US with me and I have been cooking ever since!
Now that my knife skills have gotten better I pull it out less and less, but I did use it last night to make these wonderful fine shreds of daikon (picture should be on the dinner thread later today) that I never could have done with a knife!

They only cost about $10 to $15 in Japan!

[mudbug]

Another vote here for Benriner, again, for the same reasons Suzanne mentioned: ease of use, adjustability, control, made of that "they don't make 'um like they used to really hard plastic", replaceable blades - incredibly sharp too! It also came with three "toothed blades" (fine, medium, and coarse) to jullienne at different thicknesses, fine, medium, and coarse.

I found mine within the last six months at a local Japanese Grocery for $19.99.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks everyone. I am sold!

[babyluck]

Me too! It's been an ongoing debate inside my head & with my husband, who is now well-versed with the pros and cons of different types of mandolines against his will. I have the Hoffritz quasi-mandoline now and I love how it slices right into a big bowl and it is sturdy, but the attachments are bulky and clumsy and are never where they're supposed to be. It was $40 at Villagers a few years ago -- now it's 19.99 on Amazon. At the time, I thought it was a choice between infinitely adjustable thickness and paying less than $160 -- guess I was wrong! I also have a problem being full well careful of my finger, but perhaps I should learn to thrust more slowly?

Han Ah Reum, here I come!

[Suzanne F]

Benriners come with a food-guide thingy. That's the purplish part in the upper right of the picture. Not foolproof (sometimes we're all fools ) but quite helpful.

[enthusiast]

Richard, be careful. these things are wonderful but lethal. the beauty of translucently thin evenly sliced potatoes is compromised if they're streaked with blood.
my technique (and it's usually potatoes) is to hold the potato in the hand and make a few slices. then turn it over and apply the guard (Suzanne's "food-guide thingy") to the flat surface. that way it gets a proper grip (it has a series of quite sallow spikes to hold the food). then slice the rest of the potato holding the guard. it works every time. what doesn't work is getting lazy and using unprotected hands. or maybe i'm just more than averagely careless...

[Mottmott]

Has anyone used the protective glove I've seen advertised? Does it work? I've been tempted to buy one, then think, "one more useless gadget?"

[kjohn]

The benriner rules so much, I put up an appreciation page several years ago at http://www.jillyboel...sc/benriner.htm

My favorite bit is the note to their customers, and I quote: "The most excellent keen-edge is our pride."



"Benriner: Let's have daily crisp vegetables, a Fast cheerful and beautiful way of cooking."

Indeed.

[Richard Kilgore]

I know that many people here have recommended the Benriner. In looking through the Amazon offerings, I found at least four models, from about $29 to $60. The lower cost ones are about 12" X 3 5/8 (2 1/2" food channel) and the more expensive ones either have a plastic bin under the frame to catch the food, or are wider, 12" X 5". The bin to catch the food seems to be unnecessary, but is the 5" width with a wider food channel important?

[Jinmyo]

I'd say go for it as I'm getting a new wider one at the beginning of the month.

I have a huge French metal contraption but prefer the Benriner.

[memesuze]

This last Wednesday's food section in the NYTimes had an article about inexpensive mandolines, including all the Benriner models - check it out: for thin vegetables, at a slender price

[ExtraMSG]

I have to say I've been a little disappointed with my Benriner and probably would have bought the Bron if I had the money (and you can find them for almost half what they cost at some places online). I don't think the contraption would be helpful, but the extra width may be. I have the narrower one and it's definitely too narrow for lots of things. The problem is the wide one is too wide, I think. They need something in between. They also need more range in the size of slices and something tacky on the bottom so the mandoline doesn't slip so damned easily. I also don't think it slices easily enough.

[Jinmyo]

ExtraMSG, my French metal contraption has legs to support it.

What I like about the Benriner is the control between left hand holding it and right hand swiping. I can slice right into the bowl.

[Fay Jai]

Saw the new OXO one on the Today show the other day...I'd love to get a mandoline but am frankly kind of confused as to which one would be the best for me and my wife. (Read...Simplest to use and clean).

If anyone gets one, please let us know what you think of it. My wife is dying to get one.

Thanks!

[Richard Kilgore]

EMSG -- Why would the wide one be too wide? It's only 5" wide and the regular one is 3 5/8" wide. What problem would the extra 1 1/2" create?

Anyone else have a problem with the ease of slicing with the Benriner? Jin?

But I am now curious about the new OXO. The best price I could find on the wide Benriner was about $50. What would the extra 20 give me? I'll have to see if I can finds one locally, or are they not out yet at all?

[Richard Kilgore]

Oh, BTW, Jin and anyone else who uses a Benriner -- do you wear a baseball glove when using it or some other protective device? Do you still have finger tips?

I sure would like to see the design of the OXO that made the NYTimes writer so carefree in using it.

[ExtraMSG]

EMSG -- Why would the wide one be too wide? It's only 5" wide and the regular one is 3 5/8" wide. What problem would the extra 1 1/2" create?

Anyone else have a problem with the ease of slicing with the Benriner? Jin?

But I am now curious about the new OXO. The best price I could find on the wide Benriner was about $50. What would the extra 20 give me? I'll have to see if I can finds one locally, or are they not out yet at all?

The bulkiness mainly. The smaller one may not be that much smaller, but for some reason when I tried each, the bigger one seemed awkward. When you slide something down it moves from side to side often as it gets sliced.

I really think there are only two important problems with the Benriner:

1) It needs rubber feet or something so it doesn't slide around. And this is a *big* problem, imo.

2) The narrow range of thicknesses for the slices. It's about 1/8" at the widest. Very little use for the shredder blades, too.

I'd really like to get a look at the OXO, too.

The best thing about the Benriner is that it's cheap (at least the small one I got was only $20) and you can just toss it in the dishwasher. Both are actually pretty good things. If they fixed my two complaints above I'd almost never think about switching.

Edited by ExtraMSG, 20 March 2004 - 11:01 PM.

[Richard Kilgore]

The NYTimes article said the Jumbo Benriner is 5 1/2 wide and slices (only - no julienne blades) up to 1/3 thick. Same price as the Super. Which might suit your purposes, except for your "too wide" and slips complaints.

Anyone use the Jumbo? Looks good for hard cheeses, which is one of the reasons I was looking at these things in the first place.

[Bux]

I use a microplane for grating parmesan cheese. I've had a Benriner for years. I really find it useful. I've nicked myself once or twice--I've also cut myself with regular knives. On the whole I'm careful and don't use a glove. I coveted a Bron for years, but a couple of people who worked in a top French kitchen in NY asked me why I wanted a Bron when everyone in their kitchen uses Benriners in spite of the fact there's a Bron in the kitchen. So, I bought the Benriner. I don't find sliding to be a great problem. I don't have a problem with it not making thick slices. A knife is fine for thicker slices. I use the julienne blades quite a bit for strips. Long cucumber strips make a nice salad for instance. I will also cross cut the strips by hand to make miniature dice.

[Dahomechef]

I've used the Benrined for a couple of years. It's really handy. Like Jinmyo, I like being able to just stick it on a bowl and slice/shred right into it. Easy to clean, adjustable, cheap. Don't wear a glove, but pay attention. Lotta bang for the buck.

[Bux]

Unlike Jinmy, by the way, I hold the mandoline in my right hand and swipe with my left hand. Lefties take note.