"Pete C." wrote:
> cybercat wrote:
>
> > I am still roasting things for sandwiches. My knives are fine, but I was
> > thinking tonight how much easier it would be to slice on a deli type slicer.
>
> > Do they make small models of these? Anyone have one?
>
> The small ones work well enough, but you don't use them that often
> because they are a bit of a pain to clean after use. Of course the same
> cleaning issue applies if you go to the used restaurant supply place and
> get the real deal. Certainly they are great for getting consistent
> thickness slices of meats, potatoes for chips, vegetables, etc.

Unless you actually have some commercial-like need for a slicing
machine it makes no sense for typical home use. It's not good food
handling practice to slice more meat than can be used within a day,
two at the most, sliced meats deteriorate rapidly. All slicing
machines are difficult to clean, all slicing machines are notoriously
dangerous (the toys r us ones much more so), and none of the small
"home-style" slicing machine works well (they're toys, extremely
lethal toys). For the quantity of meat most folks need to slice at
home a sharp kitchen knife is more than adequate. If one occasionally
cooks a large holiday roast that they are intimidated by, most every
shop where one buys such a cut will when requested gladly slice it on
their commercial slicing machine and at no charge... next you go to
purchase that 15 pound or larger hunk of beef speak to the meat
department manager first to see about having it sliced, nine times out
of ten they will honor your request gladly.

There are many tricks one can employ to make meat slicing easier.
First the proper knife, no other but a carbon steel blade can be sharp
enough for effortless precision meat slicing. If you're uncomfortable
with making large slices from a large roast no law prohibits slicing
it in half longitudinally with the grain before proceding, then you
only need to slice through half the distance and when resting on the
flat you just created it will not easily move about on the board.
With very large roasts there would ideally be two carving stations, so
the roast is sliced in half across the grain, one half for each
station. I usually remove much of the exterior fat before slicing,
makes the task easier and less messy, and most folks don't eat that
fat anyway (professional meat carvers slice away exterior fat as they
go, and they slice partials alternately from the face of the meat,
they don't make full slices). Always slice only what you need for the
moment, you can slice more during a meal... always wrap the remainder
tightly and refrigerate as soon as possible, unsliced. Cold meat is
far easier to slice anyway.

I don't recommend a meat slicer for the home kitchen. Of course there
will always be the few pinheads who need to impress their guests, who
won't be impressed until they see you slice off your thumb.