Best (and safest!) mandoline?

November 30, 2014 4:29 PM

So, I want to make this for Christmas, and my knife skills are...rustic.

I need a mandoline. I've bought and discarded two cheap ones in the past and now I want a "real" one. I like a lot of the OXO products, but want to see if I can get some recommendations before taking the plunge (again) and winding up buying yet another piece of plastic that's destined for the thrift store. Safe and easy to use are the most important things - I'm pretty accident prone, especially in the kitchen.

Thanks!

posted by JoanArkham to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

I have the OXO v-slicer. I like it, but I have not used many other ones so I don't have a lot of basis for comparison. I have injured myself with it, but only when I am not using the guard. So...use the guard.
posted by quaking fajita at 4:34 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have one from Pampered Chef, and it's fantastic. All mandonines are dangerous if you don't use the guard (because they have to be sharp to work well), but with the card, you're going to be okay.
posted by xingcat at 4:42 PM on November 30, 2014

My best advice is to get one with a V or slanted blade. The ones with straight on blades are much harder to use in my experience.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:51 PM on November 30, 2014

Best answer: After the second time I cut myself with mine, I made the very worthwhile investment in a pair of cut resistant gloves . They have saved my fingers from injury more than once.
posted by fings at 5:05 PM on November 30, 2014 [5 favorites]

I prefer the Benriner, which is flat and has a plastic body. I own a nice stainless steel mandoline and my mother has another; the Benriner works better than both of those, and is easier to store. It has a slanted blade. I find that the narrow one is too small for even medium-sized whole onion, so I recommend the "super." I hate using the guard, but wear the very glove that fings suggested.

If you buy an actual stand-up mandoline, make sure you get it from a store with a good return policy. Even the expensive ones can feel rickety in use.
posted by wryly at 5:19 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Sweethome did a mandoline review and has a couple recommendations.
posted by Small Dollar at 5:38 PM on November 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

The Benriner is great, and inexpensive. Spend the savings on cut-resistant gloves, and use the guard.
posted by agentofselection at 5:58 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

No matter how safe the mandoline and how careful you think you're being... get cut resistant gloves. They're only like, $11. Mandoline cuts are NASTY. I cut myself so bad once that I almost cut off a 1/2 inch chunk of my thumb (the fleshy fingerprint part). Years later and the nerve endings in that thumb are still super tender. Get the gloves, please.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 6:16 PM on November 30, 2014

Yes, get the cut resistant glove. AND WEAR IT. I own the Benriner and the only time I've hurt myself is when I think that oh, of course I can just get a few more slices out of this zucchini and the cut's gotten all angled and I misjudge and catch myself just before totally mangling my thumb. With glove, not an issue. Without, I'd probably be safer juggling knives.

Oh, and I've made that recipe a ton of times with my mandolin and it's totally the way to go. And tasty! Have fun.
posted by deludingmyself at 6:22 PM on November 30, 2014

I got this Bron Coucke mandoline as a gift. It is an amazing piece of kitchen equipment, but it is terrifyingly sharp. The aforementioned cut resistant gloves are absolute necessities when using a mandoline.
posted by gatorae at 6:26 PM on November 30, 2014

Jacques Pepin talked about this once and explained that mandolines with diagonal blades are much safer. (Also, being Jacques Pepin probably helps.)

I don't think you need a glove if you use a guard, but always use a guard of some kind.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:27 PM on November 30, 2014

I've had a German import for 15 years now, and mandolines are pretty handy. If you get a model that you like, I'm sure you'll get good use out of it. The one I have has only a thick and a thin setting; I wish it could be adjusted more. But I almost always use the thin, and it's thin enough.

I cook all the time, and I have excellent knife skills. The mandoline frightens me, and I use a cut proof glove with it, always. I wear the cut proof glove inside a disposable food prep glove.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:29 PM on November 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, all! Will get a glove to use with this, for sure. I should probably have one anyway (see: accident prone).
posted by JoanArkham at 6:32 PM on November 30, 2014

If you don't reliably have enough clean, open counter space to set up a full-size stand-up mandoline with elbow room to spare, go with the lightweight Benriner. Also avoid large, fixed-height models if your counters are too high or you're short.
posted by WasabiFlux at 6:38 PM on November 30, 2014

Do you have a food processor? Even my cheap one has blades to slice and grate. It does it in about 20 seconds and there's no way to hurt yourself. The slices are maybe not as perfect as doing it by hand, but mine does a pretty good job (and since it's so fast you can just do twice as much as you need, take the perfect ones, and use the rest for some non-presentation dish).
posted by anaelith at 6:52 PM on November 30, 2014

I love cooking. I am a klutz. I try to avoid any cheese grating because I will invariably scrape the skin off my knuckles. I have taken myself to the emergency room based on various slicing/cutting accidents.

I love my Oneida Mandoline. I use it maybe once a month, so it's possible I just haven't used it enough for it to turn on me, but given my general assumption that kitchen implements will hurt me I always approach it with a bit of reluctance, slice my items, and then crow, often to myself, "That was so easy and awesome!"

I do not have special gloves, nor did I know they existed. I do, always, use the food-guard thingy.
posted by jaguar at 8:06 PM on November 30, 2014

I have the OXO one and I think it works well enough but it's a constant puzzle to put together and take apart and cleaning it is annoying. I don't have a glove and I used it tonight without the guard and lived to tell the tale. Not that I recommend it; just bragging.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 9:14 PM on November 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Just chiming in with another vote for the Benriner (love mine!) and cut-resistant gloves. You do NOT want to run your fingertip over that blade if you've got one of the julienne blades inserted. (Or at all, really, but healing the julienned fingertip felt somehow oogier than a normal slicing injury.)
posted by Lexica at 7:51 PM on December 1, 2014

The Benriner is halfprice on on Amazon gold box right about now.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 10:14 AM on December 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I've ordered the Swissmar Borner V Power Mandoline based on the review linked above: "Simple and safe...Our pick gives you plenty of cutting options while being user-friendly and, most importantly, safe to use."

(Also, it came in green but that's not why I picked it.)

Oh, and I ordered the glove fings recommended as well! Will let everyone know how it goes with the ratatouille. Thanks again!
posted by JoanArkham at 11:50 AM on December 9, 2014