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Electric Meat Slicers

Chris Amirault

By Chris Amirault
in Kitchen Consumer

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

What is the difference between a fine edge and serrated slicer blade? Do I need both?

I have the Chef's Choice 615 slicer with both blades.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

To clarify, the Model M615 comes with a serrated blade.

I purchased the smooth blade for slicing charcuterie and the like.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

thank you

 

just what I needed to know

 

are you happy with it ?  does it have  " smooth operation "  ?

 

i.e. are you both pleased with each pass as it feels to you and its results ?

 

many thanks

 

 

IndyRob

IndyRob

Posted
Posted

If you can get your hands on one in a store, try pressing the back plate (the piece the face of the meat would slide along) at the top near the blade.  If it flexes, walk away and don't look back.  You'll never get a properly thin cut.

 

The ChefsChoice seems to get good reviews on Youtube and elsewhere, but for me it too much resembles a similar unit I bought long ago and thought was a nightmare.  I think it's gear driven like that one.

 

I describe the alternative I'm pleased with in this thread.  This is similar to the ChefsChoice model 667, but about $150 less.

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, rotuts said:

are you happy with it ?

 

It has served us well.

It's great for occasional home use.

That said — and as I've also said before:

"I would definitely go with a Hobart and nothing but a Hobart if one expects to be using a slicer on a very regular basis or slicing tough stuff like large chunks of cheese.
I had a Hobart for many years, but we don't have the room now...and the Chef's Choice suits us just fine (used a few times a week.)
Older Hobart's can often be had for a couple hundred dollars or so via Craigslist and the like."

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
  • Like 1

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

Chef's Choice calls if serrated.

 

Oxford seems to approve:

"Definition of serrated in English:

 serrated
ADJECTIVE

Having or denoting a jagged edge; sawlike."

 

Source: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/serrated

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

Posted
Posted

Will these smaller home model slicers do shaved with either of the blades? I'm a fan of shaved meats for sandwiches, the thinner, the better. To me, an inch of shaved meat piled in a sandwich tastes much better and is more pleasant to eat than an inch thick slab or stack of thick slices. I don't care if the slices fall apart as they slice it but the meat counter at the local store seems to care. It's really difficult to convince them that I want that stuff thin enough to read a book through no matter how ugly it looks as a result. They invariably bring back slices that are too thick and say "if I go any thinner, the slices will fall apart" and then look at me like I can't possibly mean it when I say that I'm fine with it falling apart.

  • Like 2

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Will these smaller home model slicers do shaved with either of the blades? I'm a fan of shaved meats for sandwiches, the thinner, the better. To me, an inch of shaved meat piled in a sandwich tastes much better and is more pleasant to eat than an inch thick slab or stack of thick slices. I don't care if the slices fall apart as they slice it but the meat counter at the local store seems to care. It's really difficult to convince them that I want that stuff thin enough to read a book through no matter how ugly it looks as a result. They invariably bring back slices that are too thick and say "if I go any thinner, the slices will fall apart" and then look at me like I can't possibly mean it when I say that I'm fine with it falling apart.

Just coming around to the "thinner is better" camp. 

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

I've also always preferred very thin slices for sandwich meats and the like.

Using the smooth blade and chilling produces nice thin slices.

  • Like 2

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

I agree with the thinness.  that's what Im after for my steak // chicken //  turkey sandwiches

 

how is the clean-up ?

rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

Ive ordered one @ BB&B    

 

120 free shipping w coupon.   Ill go back in a few days and get the smooth blade

 

thanks for the info !

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, rotuts said:

how is the clean-up ?

 

 It's relatively easy to clean.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

  • 7 months later...
camtai

camtai

Posted
Posted (edited)

This is my machine, it has a special point that is automatically push the chute to hold the meat through the blade that I do not need to use force, very convenient. I can use it to cut boiled pork, frozen beef, lean beef, cut sausage for buns, and so on. Some of the images and video of the machine when we use it to cut boiled pork.

 

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Edited by camtai (log)

máy thái thịt giá rẻ

  • 5 years later...
Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted

I'm in the market for a meat slicer.  Its mostly going to be for slicing homemade bacon because doing that by hand is a pain.. though I'm reasonably sure I can find other things do with it.  Thinly sliced roast beef after making a roast would be lovely for example.  Hobart is probably more machine than I need I think and without selling my firstborn child whom I'm rather partial to, more expensive than I need too.    I have a Cabela's vacuum sealer and love it.  So maybe cabelas?  

Smooth over serrated blade is preferable and needs to have enough draw to hand a pork belly in one go.  I had a waring pro slicer for a while and I pretty much had to cut the pork belly in half lengthwise before I could slice it.  On this page, I'm thinking the 10 or 12 inch  commercial grade slicer which (I think has a smooth blade.  Id' love the pro cut one but again probably more machine than I really need.  I can't tell if the pusher is metal or not but that would be a plus.

 

cabela slicers

 

Thoughts anyone? 

  • Like 1

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, Marlene said:

I'm in the market for a meat slicer.  Its mostly going to be for slicing homemade bacon because doing that by hand is a pain.. though I'm reasonably sure I can find other things do with it.  Thinly sliced roast beef after making a roast would be lovely for example.  Hobart is probably more machine than I need I think and without selling my firstborn child whom I'm rather partial to, more expensive than I need too.    I have a Cabela's vacuum sealer and love it.  So maybe cabelas?  

Smooth over serrated blade is preferable and needs to have enough draw to hand a pork belly in one go.  I had a waring pro slicer for a while and I pretty much had to cut the pork belly in half lengthwise before I could slice it.  On this page, I'm thinking the 10 or 12 inch  commercial grade slicer which (I think has a smooth blade.  Id' love the pro cut one but again probably more machine than I really need.  I can't tell if the pusher is metal or not but that would be a plus.

 

cabela slicers

 

Thoughts anyone? 

 

When I was in business we sold components to Formax for use in their commercial bacon slicers.  Great quality but probably more than you want in your living room.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

When I was in business we sold components to Formax for use in their commercial bacon slicers.  Great quality but probably more than you want in your living room.

 

Oh sure I could put one of those right beside the commercial deep fryer system I've always wanted. Sitting in the living room is over rated anyway lol.   Sure is pretty but yeah I think way more slicer than I would need or have room for. 

  • Like 2

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

Okanagancook

Okanagancook

Posted
Posted

I have had a Chefs Choice slicer for years.  Used to slice bacon and meat as you mention.  I have to cut the bacon strips in half to slice otherwise it does not fit.  That is not a big deal for me.  It has always done a good job and has a relatively small foot print.  Not sure what the price is nowadays.  Had it for about 30 years!  You can get two kinds of blades.

  • Like 3
JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Marlene said:

Oh sure I could put one of those right beside the commercial deep fryer system I've always wanted. Sitting in the living room is over rated anyway lol.   Sure is pretty but yeah I think way more slicer than I would need or have room for. 

 

Well and good if you are merely trying to feed your family.  If you are selling a pound of bacon commercially and the package comes up short you are in deep doodoo.  Formax uses 3D scanning, originally with our cameras, to insure your customer receives all the porcine goodness for which they paid and not one micron more.

 

  • Like 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

dscheidt

dscheidt

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

I have had a Chefs Choice slicer for years.  Used to slice bacon and meat as you mention.  I have to cut the bacon strips in half to slice otherwise it does not fit.  That is not a big deal for me.  It has always done a good job and has a relatively small foot print.  Not sure what the price is nowadays.  Had it for about 30 years!  You can get two kinds of blades.

I had a chef choice 609 or 610 for several years.  It worked fine.  For what it cost, it was good.  It had a number of annoyances, one being the small blad (7"/180 mm, something like that), which limits what you can cut up.  It's also a bit annoying noisy, with a whiney high-rpm motor.  The tray to catch cuttings sucks.  (this appears to have changed in the newest model, which is more expensive than the old, by a lot.  I don't know if they've fixed other issues I had with it.)  It's under powered, cutting cheese is a chore, and blew a couple fuses trying to do too much at one go.  My biggest gripe was the minimum thickness was too thick for italian beef.  (A chicago thing, thin sliced roast beef for a sandwhich)  And the thickness setting wanders away from the thinnest setting, so it has to be held in place, which complicates slicing.  (this isn't an issue at thicker settings.  It drifts, but pretty slowly, and you can just check it visually ever few slices.)  the optional blade (serrated, I think) improves performance a lot. 

 

I bought a 12" Berkel from a thrift store, spent a lot of time cleaning it, and repairing it.  It's vastly superior, but for some reason, my wife won't let me keep it in the kitchen, so I don't use it too often. 

  • Like 1
Okanagancook

Okanagancook

Posted
Posted

The Chefs Choice isn’t perfect for sure.  But for the number of times we use it and the cost I am happy with it.  It is small but stores well.

  • Like 1
  • 10 months later...
Mike.12lu

Mike.12lu

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hey there, i was wondering if an electric slicer is worth it or not ? i saw a few advertising on it and so i started to do a little research, it look interesting, but i don't really know how to choose it between the power, the blade, and other criteria, it's a bit complicated. I see a lot of brands and different criteria so maybe somebody know what criteria i have to look at. Thank you for your help. Appreciate it

Edited by Mike.12lu (log)
  • Like 1
palo

palo

Posted
Posted

Important considerations:

 

Blade size - 8 inch minimum

 

200 - 300 watts ?

 

Most important - your purpose (use it a few times then it collects dust) - cleaning is a major chore which often dictates the frequency of use - slicing cheese? not all slicers will do it

 

It's like a food processor - great tool, but would you drag it out to chop an onion?

 

p

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 2
gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

I've read a lot of complaints over the years about cheap slicers being lousy.  I've long wanted one, but my needs are well taken care of with a really sharp (and cheap) carving/slicing knife.

 

I think I'd have to be slicing large amounts of meats before its worth it. @palo makes good points

 

And consider that the big pastrami/smoked meat restaurants use knives rather than slicers.

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