Doug wrote:

> Why is the slicer set on "shave" so often? I mean, who the hell wants it
> that way? :-)

Not exactly pertinent to the discussion because of the raw/cooked
distinction, but I have lots of uses for beef which is sliced that thinly. I
recently had an interesting pho: The meat had been thinly sliced and then
piled up so that it was a block of sliced meat about the size of a half-deck
of cards. That block was put into the soup bowl and boiling-hot broth was
poured over, so that the middle of the block was rare while the outer parts
were medium. And of course, carpaccio is supposed to be thin.

Bob