I always had a difficult time describing how thick/thin I want it when they asked me too. What are we supposed to say? Not too thick and not too thin is what I usually said. Sometimes I'd even say, surprise me.

Then one day the deli girl waved my ham up in the air like a flag asking how was this and I thought it looked good so I asked her what setting she used on the machine. She said #5.

So now when they ask how would you like it sliced, I say on #5.

rofl, Duane. I like mine shaved and, yes, it MUST be perfect!

/tricia

Now you know how my whole day progresses...or doesn't progress!

I was told by a colleague once during our annual 360 feedback session that "Cathy wastes time on projects that don't add value." That was great feedback, I like to keep in the forefront as a measure before starting a project or wasting time belaboring decisions.

Shaun, you're brilliant!

I'm very fussy about this. If I'm spending money on food I want it right so I can enjoy it. Having it the right thickness means I can use several thin pieces on a sandwich and I'll get some meat and cheese in each bite. If it's too thick, I use less and then it doesn't cover the bread or roll completely. I'm sure the other 49 people behind me are just as particular. Why waste money and food.

The deli in the grocery store near my daughter's home has a sign on the counter showing how thick each setting on the slicer is, saves a lot of time.

You know I really never gave it much thought...I generally buy pre sliced healthy choice deli meats (when I buy deli meats LOL)

Back in my weight watchers days they would tell you to ask for your deli meat in ounces...2 oz of baked ham please??
Oh for ctying out loud!! LOL!!

I like Shauns idea!!

Cheers!
Susie

Shaun, yes...you are brilliant! Great idea! Same theory as when I get my hair cut. 1.5 please!

MomJ47, I'm fussy too. Obviously most people are or the deli folks wouldn't be making such a production of the thickness of the slice. I get irked when my wife returns home with too thick sliced lunchmeat. I still find it rather amusing that of all the things we can or cannot control in our lives that this seems to be of such importance.

Duane

Lol....they do the same here at the deli counter...wave a piece of ham or salami at the customer. When I want it shaved or in little crumbs, I ask the girl to set the slicer at zero. That always works. Like Shaun...I had the girl behind the counter keep lowering the dial until I had the little pieces ("migas") that I wanted and then asked what setting that was. Then I have ham that I can pile up on a piece of crusty bread. Otherwise I just say "mediano" and they give me a slice of average thickness. If we're in a hurry, we can always pick up the deli's own precut slices on a tray in the cooler section.

SharonCb

I've done as Shaun...asked the number on the slicer. Other than that, I ask for "thin, not shaved" and they usually get it right. I especially like the employee who gets my 1/4 inch slice "so I can cut it in cubes, please." If I describe what I want to do with the meat or cheese, they usually get it right. I have to say I have found many helpful, friendly people at the deli counter. I have also found slow, I'm-ignoring-you types also and I know which stores they are in.

OMG this brings back some interesting memories - I worked in a deli of a supermarket chain during high school - at an age of course where you aren't purchasing things like this for a family yourself so it makes it all the more aggravating -- and "shaved" definitely means different things to different people! I can still picture the shaved ham lady - it was never shaved fine enough, even if it was barely there. I do have to admit hiding when I saw the customers coming who I knew would order head cheese, that was a bit much for me (then and now!) . ...

Shaun, brilliant you are! I never thought of asking that question, and I go through the same thing every time. How the heck do I know how thick it is? And I do NOT want mine too thing, and definitely not shaved.
I bow down to you "Oh Goddess of the Meat Slicer."
Sherry

I rarely by meats from the deli, but the times I have, if the counter person asks me how thick, I just shrug and say, "whatever". I don't really care.

However, if I order over medium eggs in a restaurant, the whites had better be cooked and the yolk runny, or I'll send them back in a heartbeat. We all have our things that we're fussy about I guess! :D

I like it when the store has a chart that shows thickness. I know the numbers (because I've used industrial slicers), but it sure speed up the line for everyone else to be able to point or ask for a specific number.

I do find it amusing though. We'll take whatever is marketed to us on the shelf, regardless of what's in it or how it's presented, but get to the deli line and suddenly we all want it "just so". (I include myself in that obvservation.)

Yeah, I'm fussy. The only deli meats we buy are corned beef for Reuben sandwiches and roast beef for French dips. Now that our rural area has so many transplants, I can say "think French dip," and the person slicing the beef will get it just right. The first time I tried that, several years ago, I got a blank stare that was just comical! Same thing for Reubens. Next time, I will have to ask what setting he/she used. Brilliant!

but get to the deli line and suddenly we all want it "just so".

Well Bean, that's because they're asking us how we want it. We're being given a choice so we have to make one.

I'm not really all that picky but if I'm being asked how I like something, I'll tell them.

Love,
Goddess of the Meat Slicer

I used to have most of the deli meats I bought 'shaved' until I worked in the deli a few years ago. Now I take pity on the deli clerks and usually order it med, which is about the #5 setting.

It's a real riot when there's a ton of customers waiting for deli meats and 3-4 clerks waiting to use the only slicer. We had two slicers but used one for only cheese and the other for meats. One of the things that really bothered me was to see how the slicer never got cleaned off for hours....and nobody cared. From mgmt on down.

Nancy

I didn't read everyone's responses..but I learned to get it just right, and then tell the "new" person what number on the dial it was. :o)

I didn't even know the slicer had numbers. Thank you Shaun!

Yes I'm another who is picky about the thickness of my deli meat. I want it just above shaved.

What really irritates me is when they get it all sliced and into the zipper bag, then they pack it down, like you already can't get the slices apart. Then you take it to the checkout with the rest of your food where the checker and bagger both put their hands on top of it and pack it down some more. Then it's thrown in a bag with something heavey thrown on top of it. By the time you get home with it, it may as well be one big blob.

Between the dirty meat slicer and all the fat and preservatives in deli meats, I stopped buying them other than at a small deli near me, and then it is usaully a special ham I like.

The Itialian and German delis knows how to layer the meats, particularily proscutto which must sliced thin and staggered or you can't peel them off the pile.

And since I bought a slicer, beef, salami, etc I do myself. I hate the "big blob" and I do not like the fold over bags. One wrong move and the product is dried out in no time.

To answer the original question, IMO good food is almost as much about texture as it is about taste. And to me, the texture of thick deli meat is quite unappealing.

I like my deli meat sliced as thin as possible but such that you can still peel off a slice without it ripping apart. I love the suggestion of asking for the setting next time someone gets it right. However, clearly something like roast beef has to be cut thicker than ham in order to meet my preferences, so this might require remembering a few different settings.

Like Peppi, I don't buy deli meat, it just never tastes good to me, it's too salty, too greasy, too....fake. So, am I fussy about thickness, heck no, I never buy the stuff at all, LOL. Plus, deli meat seems to go bad in just a couple of days, far more quickly than the pre-packaged stuff. I never know how long that stuff sits in the deli before it gets purchased.

I'd rather shred a pork roast or roast a turkey breast or slice some leftover beef and make sandwiches. My cheese I buy in "chunks" and slice or grate it to my own specifications. I ought to buy a good meat slicer, I suppose, but where the heck would I put it?

Now that I think of it, I can't remember the last time I ate a cold sandwich but a Reuben sounds pretty good.

I do admit that Bud and Makayla like that sandwich type ham, but I always buy the pre-packaged stuff. They don't want sandwiches, just a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, maybe a cracker.

Annie

I guess if where I shopped sold greasy, fake-tasting deli meat of questionable age that seems to go bad in a just a couple of days, I'd opt out too. Yuck!

Ya beat me to it, Annie.

I dont' buy deli meat. The pork, beef, chicken or fish cooked at home works for me.........the thicker the better!! LOL

I buy a 5# brick of cheese at the restaurant supply place (for about $10, btw).

I make our bread.

If it weren't for dairy and fresh veggies in winter I would have to go to the store much at all. Hmm...maybe I need a milk cow (or goat) and get my green house up and running. Yeah, that's the ticket!!

Deanna

People who aren't fussy often buy the precut meat - they might also buy from the deli, but people who ARE fussy will only buy from the deli - hence the lines. BTW, I generally buy from the deli because I like the flavor better, as well as the selection.

Lars

Well my ham is wild. So there.

True, Shaun, true! :)

OK, luncheon meats like ham, I don't buy at the grocery deli dept. When I do buy those (seldom), it's prepackaged. I was thinking more along the lines of priscuitto, pepperoni, etc -- and I've watched them at the little specialty store where I'd buy that sort of thing and they clean the slicer EVERY time they slice a new item. If they didn't, I wouldn't be buying there for sure.

Proscuitto? Pepperoni? OMG, Renee, you've got to be kidding me, LOL. I've never even seen anything like that here in our (single/independent) grocery store. Just ham, turkey, roast beef, bologna, etc.

The bologna will last forever, of course, with all those preservatives, but turkey and the roast beef, for some reason, go bad nearly as soon as I buy it. Maybe there's not a big demand?

Fenworth, the only grocery store within 50 miles with a deli is SuperWalmart, Meijer's (a midwestern chain store) and my locally owned independent which has a tiny deli, about 5 feet of refrigerated case total. The prepackaged stuff is infinitely preferable, if that tells you anything.

I could drive to Grand Rapids but I'd have to take a cooler or leave it for over an hour in my vehicle while I drove home. For deli meat? And with gas at $3.50+ a gallon. Not a chance, I guess I'll pass on that Rueben.

Annie

Speaking of prosciutto - I once ordered "imported" prosciutto at Ralphs Waterside Marina Market, and the guy thought that the prosciutto from San Francisco was "imported" because it came from somewhere else. I guess he couldn't read the part that said "Prosciutto di Parma" and probably didn't know that Parma was a place! I expect everyone to know at least that much Italian.

I need to start riding my bike to the grocery store - it's right on the Marina bike path! Actually, there are two markets on the Marina bike path, and so I have my choice. My only problem with that is the idiots who jog on the path (often with dogs in tow) that is clearly marked "BIKES ONLY". I don't like crashing into them with a backpack of groceries.

Lars

Lars, lol get a loud horn..
I buy the preservative free deli meat..must be used up quick. Tastes alot better too..but certainly costs alot too.

The place I buy deli stuff has a chart like Renee said. (Renee are you the Renee of years ago with a new name? I don't get here as much but you seem familiar) The only two things I like super thin are prosciutto and hard salami and they get them right every time.It makes it really easy and I get my order in and go do my shopping and pick it up on the way to checkout.
Annie enjoy what you have, progress is not all it's cracked up to be.

Lars - that reminds me of the first time I bought prosciutto at a super market, as opposed to a small Italian place.

"Imported or domestic?"

"What's the difference?"

"Price."

Yeah, plus the small fact that imported makes it to my stomach, but the domestic went straight to the garbage! Granted, it may just have been a bad brand. But I've never tried again.

You know I am one that always has a hard time getting the meat cut to the thickness that I want. I have mentioned a couple of times that they should have a ruler to let people show just how thin or thick that they want their meat or cheese cut.

Stacie

We have a fabulous German deli in town. The quality is outstanding, once you have tried their meats nothing else will do.

They don't wave the slice in front of you, they give it to you to try, and then ask if that's the thickness you want. Even if you are getting 4 or 5 meats they always want you to try it to be sure it's right. Same with the cheeses.

Love that store!

Jim - yes. Change computers and emails a few times and it's just easier to re-register than try to retrieve the login.

Annie - That's how I felt for the last six years. We had to go an hour away for anything more "exotic" than bologna and wonder bread. I'm not exactly in the center of the food universe here, but at least I can get good produce and decent fish here. :) *happy dance*

Lars, if I were to have said Prosciutto di Parma in KY, someone would probably have said "bless you".

Annie, I made us Reuben sandwiches the other day because I made corned beef for dinner and purposefully bought a large enough piece to allow for them. It's better and cheaper than deli corned beef anyway. So have a boiled dinner! :D
Funny how different things are, depending on where you live. All the grocery stores around here have delis, stocked with everything from cold meats to pre-made salads and dinner items like fried or roasted chickens, pastas, bbq items etc.

All the meat counters have pre-marinated, sometimes pre-stuffed meat items (I even saw beef and veggies pre-skewered the other day). I never buy any of the stuff, because I just don't see paying the extra to save myself the minor chore of doing it myself. But I can see that for people who either don't know how to cook or don't like to these convenience items might be quite welcome.

Terri, I think you are right about my needing to get a loud horn - I'm just a bit afraid of over startling people - it's been known to happen. However, the life I save might be my own.

Beanthere, I guess you might be right - I forget that some people cannot even find Paris (or maybe France) on a map or globe. But if someone works in a deli, they certainly should know that Parma is in Italy! Where do they think Parmesan cheese comes from?

Rachel, we get great corned beef at the farmers' market on Fairfax. It's sliced very thickly, but it is very tender and is warm when I buy it. I would make it myself if DB would eat beef, but lately we have been buying turkey pastrami. Now DB is telling me that the black pepper on the turkey pastrami is upsetting his stomach, and so I might as well buy corned beef or beef pastrami to make my own Reuben sandwiches. I guess he will have to have bland Reubens.

Lars

I'm with Peppi and Annie on this one. I don't order meats at the deli.

EXCEPT, a few times a year I order shaved ham. In Pittsburgh, it is called chipped-chopped ham and it makes a great Ham BBQ sandwich that originated at Isaly's.

My friends who I grew up with that moved out of town will still take home chipped-chopped ham in a cooler to have it when they get home.

In Pittsburgh, no need to describe the shaved ham, just ask for the chipped-chopped. You can probably hold it up and see through it! Otherwise, I never knew there was any other choice.

Kari