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I broke my Zyliss grater


Fat Guy

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When I got my plastic Zyliss cheese grater (model 11220 I believe) I never thought it would hold up under the stress of real-world kitchen use. Yet it provided years of good service.

Finally, though, it came to an end the other day when the handle cracked off. Now I need to replace it.

Any thoughts on the best graters being made today? I want a rotary handle type grater -- I have a box grater and a mandoline-type grater. Perhaps someone makes an all metal version?

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Interesting this comes up today. I was busy getting a load of stuff ready to go to Goodwill, and pulled this grater thing out of the cupboard (it was a white elephant gift at a Christmas party a couple of years ago), intending to give it away, but I just had to see how it would work on a hunk of parm.

gallery_6263_35_67271.jpg

And, you know what? It worked very well. It has two blade thigies -- one smaller-holed (the one I used) and one larger. Grated with ease, and there doesn't seem to be much to go wrong with it.

It has been retrieved from the Goodwill pile and in a cupboard now.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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The Microplane rotary grater (a) yields very fluffy, microplaned (duh) results, too fine for many applications in my view, and (b) is also plastic and seems a bit flimsy. See this http://tinyurl.com/3ymmxo (on amazon.com) for something that looks very much like a stainless version of the indestructible but rust-prone tinned-steel one I had for decades. Not that this is actually relevant to Fat Guy's query, but for smallish quantities I find myself using a box grater more and more. Also not entirely relevant: I find the Zylis grater very uncomfortable to use, though it's effective enough.

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I have the jumbo Cusipro because it takes a bigger chunk of cheese.

However for grating larger amounts, I use an electric cheese grater. I used to use a mini-prep food processor but it was too darn awkward because with mine I had to remove the grating blade to dump out the grated cheese. (I always seemed to drop the damm blade on the floor which then required washing, drying, etc., etc., etc. Very annoying.)

So I bought one of these.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I'm sort of surprised nobody seems to make a professional quality, all stainless rotary grater. Not even JB Prince has one. I guess anybody grating cheese professionally is going to use a motorized unit.

Looks like I'm buying another Zyliss.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Since it doesn't say a brand, it's hard to tell for sure who makes it, but I'm suspicious of the $20 price. On Amazon they have a couple in that price range -- Miu and Cuisipro -- and people really seem to have a lot of problems with them. Not that I place a tremendous amount of stock in Amazon product reviews, but these do seem somewhat compelling. I'd have to imagine that a really well made, professional quality, stainless rotary grater would cost $50+. But maybe I'll wander by Bridge and try one of those. It's no huge loss if it sucks.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I seem to recall that Moulinex in france makes an all stainless grater that cooks illustrated liked. I brought back a couple last time I was there, but I like my old Zyliss better. Just trying to find a second large shredding blade for the one I keep up north.

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I'd have to imagine that a really well made, professional quality, stainless rotary grater would cost $50+. But maybe I'll wander by Bridge and try one of those.

There's some question in my mind as to whether there is a great deal of demand for a really well made stainless rotary cheese grater for professional use. I can't say that I recall seeing a lot of the rotary type in use in restaurants. The kitchen, of course, is likely to bulk grate for their use (perhaps on a daily basis). I'd guess that the vast majority of restaurants in the States offering "would you like some parmesan cheese on that?" are spooning from a bowl of pre-grated cheese, and most of the others are using a regular plane-style grater. I've had cheese grated for me at the table out of a rotary grater probably less than 5 times.

There's also the fact that the vast majority of restaurants aren't spending more money for equipment that's made better and made to last. As you know, the most common pan to be found in restaurants is the battered, warped, blackened raw aluminum frypan.

. . . All of which is to say that a "really well made, professional quality, stainless rotary grater" simply may not exist.

What do you like using this style of grater for? Just hard "grating cheeses," or do you also like to use it for things like cheddar and mozzarella?

--

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I have never met a cheese grater that hasn't been an absolute ergonomic nightmare. Every grater I have ever had has led me further towards the conclusion that there is no way of comfortably grating cheese.

Did you come across this one at all, Fat Guy? Fox Run Craftsman - It looks pretty huge.

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Here you go, Steven, so long as price is not a problem. :biggrin:

cheese grater (professional)

I recall seeing a KitchenAid electric cheese grater within the last year but can't seem to find it on-line. I recall it was cordless and did catch my eye at around $20 Cdn.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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You know, Kim, this discussion is making me wonder whether I actually like rotary graters. I do think my Zyliss rotary grater was a huge step up from the piece-of-crap flimsy steel paddle-shaped grater I was using before. But I think I need to investigate the various improved graters that have come on the scene since then. I know I acquired a microplane or three awhile back but I'm not even sure where they are.

I've also seen some other interesting models while surfing around, and I'm intrigued by the one Dave linked to, and I'm remembering various graters I've seen in people's homes.

For example, awhile back I remember admiring this Bodum grater at a friend's house.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Steven,

Look at the selection that is available at Fantes.com

If you can get away from the "hand-held" type there are other solutions .

Scroll down and you will see a round "box" grater with two sizes and it is 7" in diameter and is fine unless you are grating large amounts of cheese. It works with very hard cheese and semi-hard cheese. I have a similar one that my housekeeper likes to use. I don't like them because I am always hitting my knuckles.

In my opinion, a better solution, for moderate amounts, is the one that has a vacuum base and although the housing is plastic, it is quite sturdy. I gave one to a friend last year to take on a trailer camping trip. They also needed something their kids could use safely and this one has a pusher. They planned on cooking on a charcoal grill, pizza, quesadillas, burritos, etc., and would be grating both hard cheeses and softer cheeses such as cheddar and jack.

They told me it goes through a chunk of cheese rapidly, even a very hard romano that "someone" had forgotten to wrap securely.

I am not fond of the hand-held plastic graters they use, or at least used to use, at the Olive Garden near me. The server was grating cheese onto the dish of the person sitting next to me when the thing came apart and most of it dropping into the dish, spattering me with red sauce - I was wearing a pale blue cashmere sweater and was not a happy camper.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I could use advice on grating SOFT cheddar. Just tried a cheddar jalapeno bread recipe from Gourmet and had the devil's own time grating the extra sharp Cabot cheddar. The rotary grater and the microplane gave up on it; my Vitamix blender grated it but it rested on the bottom in a sticky mess that was difficult to extricate -- the Vitamix does not open from the bottom -- alas.

(While I'm at it, has anyone had the same problems with jalapenos I've had in the past year or so? They seem to be getting larger and larger and milder and milder, so that the taste does not differ all that much from bell peppers. I've been using or adding serrano peppers to jalapeno recipes. Perhaps this is just the Midwest - they've altered them to fit bland Midwestern palates.

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I could use advice on grating SOFT cheddar. 

Have you tried freezing the softer cheese for an hour? Since folks often freeze "un-prime" cheeses, this wouldn't hurt the quality, but would allow you to grate more easily. IIRC, that's been the advice I've heard [and used, if I can reach far back into my kitchen memories].

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I could use advice on grating SOFT cheddar. 

Have you tried freezing the softer cheese for an hour? Since folks often freeze "un-prime" cheeses, this wouldn't hurt the quality, but would allow you to grate more easily. IIRC, that's been the advice I've heard [and used, if I can reach far back into my kitchen memories].

Thanks! I'll give it a try. And next time I'm going to use serrano chiles -- the big fat jalapenos have no bite.

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I've had three different brands of rotatry graters. The all-metal Mouli is a hopeless piece of crap, flimsy and nearly impossible to use, which went fairly quickly into the trash. The Oxo worked very well, but only held up for a couple of months before the handle broke off. The Zyliss is a workhorse that lasts forever and does the job. (The Oxo actually produced a bit more output per turn of the crank, but lasting a couple of months is not really acceptable.)

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