Borner V-Slicer Mandoline - An Info-mercial Product Truly Worth Buying!
Written: Mar 19 '02 (Updated Jan 28 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Super SHARP slicing blade, quick, easy & convenient to use
Cons: Super SHARP slicing blade (OUCH!), limited slice thickness range
The Bottom Line: The Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline is an excellent addition to any kitchen ... at home or at work.
|
|
|
| elainehn's Full Review: Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline (14") |
Any way you slice it the Borner (also spelled Boerner) V-Slicer Plus Mandoline is a FANTASTIC kitchen gadget ...though it's so useful I hate the negative connotation of the word 'gadget' when describing this useful manual kitchen slicer.
The specific features of this product:
I received a plastic mandoline 'base' which houses the actual v-slicing surgical steel blades, a hand guard, and three inserts - a 10mm blade for julienne and dicing, a 3.5mm blade for julienne and dicing, and an all plastic insert for thick and thin slicing, and finally ... a holder for all these items. (My set also included a completely separate, all plastic cheese grater, but this may have been a 'bonus' item.)
Which alternate products did you consider, and why did you choose this one?
I originally ordered the Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline from a television shopping channel for my husband who worked as a cook in a restaurant and also had to do a lot of food prep including slicing tomatoes and onions. The particular restaurant he worked in did not use an electric slicer or any other sort of mechanical slicer, they also did not have entry level positions for 'prep' guys who had no actual cooking responsibilities as many larger restaurants do... the cooks sliced everything by hand or could bring their own preferred slicer. Knowing that some days were very busy and it was very difficult to get all the prep done while actually doing all the necessary cooking, I decided to try to help him out a bit. I started checking into various slicers.
I would have loved to have been able to purchase him a 'real' all steel French mandoline ... but spending hundreds of dollars on something to cut a few tomatoes and onions just wasn't in our budget. I also checked out a couple of electric deli slicers ... smaller 'home use' models that weren't horribly expensive ... but they just looked like such a hassle to put together, take apart, clean, repack every day (you can't leave ANYTHING at work or it will probably disappear!) that they just didn't seem practical.
I'd seen the Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline on the shopping channel before, and had always wondered how well it really worked. When I saw it again after beginning my quest for a slicer, I decided it was worth $29.99 plus shipping to find out! So I ordered it.
How has this product performed over time?
AMAZINGLY!!!! We have had the Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline for over 5 years and it is the one kitchen gadget that I recommend above all others to anyone and everyone who ever comments on it or on needing a slicer. It has stayed sharp, functioned well, and in general made hubby's prep time more efficient. It slices through tomatoes without mashing them, it slices through onions so quickly you can cut a whole 'restaurant sized' bag in just a few minutes. You can add one of the julienne blades and make a few cross cuts in your onion before beginning your slicing to produce coarsely or finely chopped onions.
Hubby now manages a restaurant and no longer has to do a lot of prep work ... and he has started leaving the slicer in his back room for whoever does have to do the prep. I've used the slicer at home enough to know that I need to purchase another to keep at home ... but I can always seem to find something else to spend the $$ on! *lol*
What are the pros and cons of this product?
Pros:
The blade is unbelievably sharp and stays sharp for a long long long time
The motion of simply sliding the veggie back and forth allows you to slice large amounts VERY quickly, even more so as you gain skill with the slicer
The item is easy to assemble, disassemble and clean
It is less expensive than most comparable products
Dishwasher safe
Converts to do thick slices, thin slices, large julienne, small juliennes, large dice, small dice simply by changing inserts
Cons:
The blade is unbelievably sharp that you can easily cut your fingers or palm if you are not careful to always use the hand guard to hold your veggies. (but this isn't so much a con as a need for extra caution when handling the slicer)
Replacement parts are not easily found. If you damage or loose a piece your only option seems to be to buy a whole new unit
Plastic is sturdy but CAN possibly break or crack with rough treatment or melt if accidentally left on a hot stove.
What is it like to use this product? Describe your specific experiences.
I've used the Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline at home for slicing small quantities of veggies for a quick family meal and it works wonderfully. It takes less time to get it out of the cabinet than it does to assemble the food processor, and there's WAY less to clean up afterwards. Hubby used it at work to slice entire crates of tomatoes and huge bags of onions quickly and evenly. One advantage of the slicer over knife slicing is that you get more slices per veggie ... not just using the very thin slice option, but even with the thicker slice the slice output per veggie is generally a more consistent size and more slices than with a knife.
To slice round veggies (tomatoes, small potatoes, onions, etc.) I place the washed veggie on the counter and gently but firmly push the hand guard over the veggie. Okay, so if it's a potato or an onion I'm more likely to 'SMACK' the guard onto it than to 'gently & firmly' push it on ... but you get the idea! *lol* Three thin metal rods inside the hand guard hold the veggie in place. Then by sliding the veggie back and forth over the slicer I create slices or julienne strips depending on which insert I've used. As the veggie gets smaller a push on the hand guard pushes the veggie downward and out of the recess in the guard.
For longer veggies such as cucumbers, squash, eggplant, long potatoes, etc. I usually start out just holding the washed & dried (don't want your hand to slip) veggie with my hand and slicing ... then I add the hand guard when the veggie gets small and the blades become dangerously close to the soft flesh of my palm. **** Look at your hand, see that sort of plump area at the base of your thumb? Slide it over the blades as you are holding the stub of a veggie and the V-slicer will take it right off!!!! This is why you MUST absolutely MUST use the hand guard! ****
You can even use the slicer for carrots, just by sort of 'flicking' them across the blade. I've found that I get decent slices for stir fry or salads this way, but I've never really found a way to use the slicer to get 'perfect' little coin type slices from a carrot. You can try to cut the carrot to even lengths and place several pieces in the hand guard and slice them that way, but it just seems to be more trouble than it's worth. So I either slice my carrots by hand, or I use the 'flicking' motion with a whole carrot to get sort of elliptical slices.
Using the 'julienne' insert allows you to cut potatoes into average size French fries or smaller shoestring fries depending on which size you select. You can also use the julienne blades to cut zucchini and summer squash for battering and frying or stir fry or using in casseroles, etc. I've also used the thick julienne blade to cut tomatoes to make a chunky salsa.
To dice a vegetable, you need to place it firmly in the hand guard, then holding the hand guard upside down in your left hand (assuming you're right handed) use a sharp knife to carefully slice completely across the veggie horizontally. Then use the juliene blade in the slicer and each time you slice you'll create a layer of diced veggie because you've already cut in one direction, and the slicer cuts vertically as well as cutting off one layer of veggie. (hopefully you can picture what I'm trying to explain)
Who should buy this product? Who shouldn't?
Anyone who enjoys cooking with lots of fresh veggies ... or who has to do a lot of food prep should buy the Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline. If you are a gourmet chef you'll probably prefer a mega-buck French all steel mandoline ... but for most home cooks, and even many restaurant cooks and prep staff the Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline is an economical and completely satisfactory alternative.
Any precautions or warnings? You MUST use it with caution since the blades are very sharp, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who tends to be careless when they cook. If you have children you *MUST* keep this put away and out of reach and caution them about handling it even just to put it away or move it. I have a 10 year old and a 4 year old and I feel safe having this item in our house, but I do keep it in a top cabinet and I have stressed to them both that it is not something they should try to use and definitely not to ever play with it. I have allowed the 10 yr old to use it with VERY CLOSE supervision and with the hand guard, but I'm still a bit tense about doing so. I add this not because I feel negatively about the product but simply because the blades are SO sharp and SO unguarded.
~~~~~~~~~
More Kitchen/Cooking item reviews:
Not So Hot
Quick Chop! -
http://www.epinions.com/content_88307240580
Ginsu 10 Knife Set - http://www.epinions.com/content_81367240324
Now We're Cooking!
Farberware 10 pc. Vintage Stainless Steel Cookware Set - http://www.epinions.com/content_86870953604
Hamilton Beach SureCut Extra Tall Can Opener - http://www.epinions.com/content_86430682756
Farberware 12x18-Inch Poly Cutting Board with Microban - http://www.epinions.com/content_86042185348
and there's lots more where those came from. If you're really into kitchen items just browse my history ... http://www.epinions.com/user-elainehn/show_~content
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
elainehn
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Elaine HN
Location: Near Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 221
Trusted by: 175 members
About Me:
Give me a thrill ... click an oldie or two!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.