Electric Food Slicer


 
While not a big fan of razor-sharp spinning things, I went and picked up one of those Harbor Freight Tools $20 cheapies on a whim. It has a sort of toothed blade so it doesn't have to be dangerously sharp, but I have managed to nick my finger cleaning it. It doesn't slice thinner than about 3/16", and the main housing is a pain to clean. Should have put the $20 towards a good quality granton-edge slicing knife.
 
Tom...

Stay away from the cheapies! As Doug said, you will be disappointed! Been there, done that!

Go and find a Hobart dealer. They are VERY expensive when new, but most of these guys will have a cash and carry policy for refurbed ones. As to quality, check out your local butchers, and deli depts. Chancesa re they are using Hobarts. They also make the super thin slicers for Arby's.....I checked out a used one like that...about $1,000!!

My local dealer can sell me dozens of them for around $300 each. That is VERY cheap for this kind of industrial quality.

Beware...they weigh about a ton, so try to keep in one place if possible.
 
Tom,

I agree with Kevin - Hobart's are the industry standard when it comes to restaurant quality meat slicers. Get a good safety lesson from the dealer, respect them when using and cleaning you'll be fine.

Steve
 
Kinda overkill for most of us, surely there's a happy medium between a $20 slicer and a $1000 one.
 
Jason...

I agree......$300 for a nice, used Hobart 14" slicer.

Any blade under 10" is simply not enough..been there done that. MOST kitchen models are 8" and made of plastic...not good.
 
I inherited a Braun home slicer. Its gotta be at least 18 years old. It's plastic, hard to clean, in general useless. Thats is the reason it still works. Proabaly used 3 or 4 times. When I need to slice meat I go to a friends Italian place and use his Hobart. If I had the counter space and the bucks $300 would be well spent.
 
We have a cheap(ish) Ronson slicer. It has a serrated steel blade, which I would say is around 7 inches across. It works fantastically. We use it heavily, in fact my main use for the WSM is to cook silverside on it and then slice it for sandwiches through the week. We also use it for many other uses, from slicing bread to slicing ham, to slicing hard salami for pizza.

My one complaint is that it's a serious pain-in-the-#@&$@$@$323.neck to clean. When you go to buy one look at it from this perspective! In particular any gaps where food might get pushed during slicing. Ours has a gap near the bottom of the blade, where the upright section meets the bed section where the shuttle goes back and forth on. That gap gets food in it and only a toothbrush will get it out... and I've given up taking the blade off to clean it separately. That thing is sharp, and you can clean it reasonably well in place.

All the Best,

Sean Flanagan
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Right now there's a Hobart out on E-bay that's sitting at $61. Got 16 hours left in the auction...
 
Kevin,

Do you know if these type of slicers can slice raw meat? Say I want to thin-slice a raw rib-eye roast for making Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches?
Or, is this a blade related thing? I saw a website which sold industrial grade slicers (like for deli use), but their description specified that they were NOT to be used for slicing raw meat.

-Albert
 
Most slicer manufactureres recommend partial freezing in certain situations-- sounds like that would be one.
 
I bought a food slicer on overstock.com last year for about $65, I think. Not sure what brand it is, but it's mostly plastic and best of all, it folds up so it doesn't take a lot of space in the kitchen cupboard.

I bought it mainly to cut smoked roast beef thin, like deli meat, and have never had any problems with it. It cuts thin ... it cuts thick, and everywhere in between. Yes, it's a pain to clean, but it sounds like that is quite common.

I just checked on overstock.com and they don't have them any more, but I'm sure you can find some similar foldable slicers at other places for under $75.
 
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