Not bad! $200.00 for $24.00!

I agree a good mandolin is an important tool. I have one and I do use it once in a while.

However, for most dishes, 98% of the time it is much quicker to do it by hand.

dcarch

Good find.

I always wanted a professional mandoline and finally bought the Matfer Professional about 10 years ago. And a few years back one of my swap partners, gave me a Mafter 1000. So now I have two in the cupboard that don't get used more often than once or twice a year. I did pull one out recently to make shoestring french fries.

My advice to you is to show your mandoline great respect (or fear). I know many that have done some major damage to their finger tips because they were careless and/or didn't use the pusher.

Ann

Okay, I made scalloped potatoes tonight with my new-to-me mandoline. This thing is great. Slices potatoes 1/16'' with no effort or tearing at all. The dish was soggy, but that's my failing, not the mandoline's.

I think I'm going to try the Pixar ''Ratatouille'' type of ratatouille next. After I figure out scalloped potatoes, that is.

I use my mandoline for making julienne vegetables more often than anything else - especially carrots, which I like to have in very small quantities. I tend to use a knife for onions, however, because they are easier to cut. Other root vegetables like daikon, radishes, and yucca root are great choices for the mandoline because they are hard to cut with a knife but extremely easy with a mandoline. If I made hash brown potatoes, I would use the mandoline for that as well. I do use it for celery also when I'm making soup.

Lars.

I've toyed with getting a Mandoline, but haven't done so yet. It does sound like a great tool to have to make slicing easier, but I have to weigh storage space with usefulness every time I consider getting a new gadget.

Your scalloped potatoes look delicious!

Sally

My quick research (which consists of asking a chef who frequents another forum) suggests that I used too much liquid, the wrong cheese, and needed some nutmeg. But the mandoline did its job.

There are compact mandolines, they work just fine.

Try cooking the potatoes in cream on top of the stove, just until they release their starch. Then pour them into the casserole dish and bake. This thickens the sauce without having to add any flour and your dish won't be soggy. But that said, your scalloped potatoes look perfectly delicious to me.

A mandolin I never thought I's use much until I was gifted with one, sans guard, Ouch. I bought a Kevlar glove and am happy using it for all sorts of tedious slicing chores. More so than I would have ever imagined. For onions though, I use a little $20 Black and Decker mini food processor that minces nicely from Target.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Mini Food Processor - Target

I had a cheap one that I got at a yard sale for a couple of bucks, it didn't have a pusher or a guard. Elery had a nice OXO, so he gave that one to me. Can't manage to work the thing without driving myself nuts. The non-skid feet slip on the counter, the pusher won't hold the food and it's a PIA to clean.

Back to the knife for me, the food processor will slice just fine, as does the KitchenAid attachment that Beachlily sent me when I was working on all the wedding food, but it's easier and faster to just grab a knife most of the time.

Annie

Another possibly dumb question, but what is a mandoline? The only kind I'm familiar with is the stringed musical instrument.

Donna

Donna,

A Mandoline is a slicer. There are a variety of different models. Some have adjustable blades and some are single purpose.

Check out this site. Mandoline slicers.