Trouble with the Mandoline

[bbenton4]

Have any of you had trouble slicing with your mandoline. It seems if you don't get the rythm down just right it is quite the challenge. Any suggestions? It is a high priced item to not be smooth as butter!

[JAE]

I'm still working on the Mandoline. I had a great time slicing a cored apple once, and one time out of three my tomatoes did well. I still am not confident enough to use it at shows. I think I'll watch the training online again to make sure I'm doing it right.

[northern_sunshine]

I also have issues with the mandoline. Like with cheese, am I the only one that ends up with a bunch of unusable cheese at the end (it just won't grate it anymore, so it's just a chunk of cheese)? I also have issues with slicing, especially tomatoes.

[DebbieJ]

Go buy some cheap veggies and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

Your tomatoes should be FIRM. Everything has to be cut to about a 2-3 inch piece, otherwise it will be far too difficult to work with.

You can do it! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Mandoline and will be using it all weekend when cooking for Father's Day! Onions, Potatoes, Cucumbers....YUM!

[raebates]

Practice really is the key. I took mine to a cooking class yesterday--jr/sr high school girls. They each had 1/2 potato to slice with the v-shaped blade. They all struggled a bit at first, but most of them had it well by the end. The most frequent problems I noticed:

They wanted to push down too hard.

They wanted to move the food holder clear down to the end. You only need to go just past the blade.

They wanted to push down while bringing the food holder back up.

Once I had them broken of these habits, they all got pretty good with it.

[MissChef]

I hear the video on-line for the UM is suppossed to be fantastic and has helped a lot of people! Also, as basically everyone else is saying, PRACTICE! It really is true about the old saying, "practice makes perfect!" Good luck!:)

[JAE]

Yes, I need to keep practicing. I used to use the old one quite a bit, and this one seems to be better if you learn to use it correctly.

[dannyzmom]

I hear the video on-line for the UM is suppossed to be fantastic and has helped a lot of people! Also, as basically everyone else is saying, PRACTICE! It really is true about the old saying, "practice makes perfect!" Good luck!:)

I was just gonna mention the video - LOL

[MomToEli]

I LOVE the Mandoline. I demo it at every single show I do - usually with a potato, sometimes also with a tomato, onion and zucchini.

I watched the video on CC before I ever touched the thing. That said, I had to teach my director, who has been with TPC 12 years how to use the thing! She thought hers was broke but wanted someone else to look at it before she sent it back! The thing I noticed was that she was pressing too hard, was forcing a funny angle to get leverage for some reason, and was stopping and restarting at both the top and the bottom. You gotta have rhythm, baby!

For tomatoes, I've found the ones still on the vine the best, but have used others. Romas are awful. I think the skin to meat ratio is too weighted towards the skin! They need to be firm, too.

Cheese - put the cheese in the freezer first for about 15 minutes and it will work a lot easier. Totally frozen cheese comes out really tiny like, but 15 minutes frozen works well. You will still end up with a little left at the end, but you do if you use those cheap box graters, too. What I usually do for cheese (even at shows) is use a larger piece and grate it without the hopper. If you keep the piece of cheese big enough, you can do however much you need without getting your fingers close to the blade and then you can just trim off you cheese if you want it all pretty before you stick it back in the fridge. I lay the Mandoline level across the Classic Batter Bowl to do cheese usually.

Sorry to go on and on, but I simply LOVE this thing. I've sold several, and every sale comes with the option of private lessons if needed :D

[kmschroll2001]

I have used it several times at home without a problem. (Except with tomatoes, they never work right for me) It works great for grating cheddar cheese.

However, I went to use it at a party to slice zucchini and I couldn't get the thing to work. I was so embarrassed. Even the host tried to tell everyone that she saw me slice a lemon for the lemonade we made that night.

Needless to say, I did not sell any mandolines that night. I have not used it at a show since.

[straitfan]

I've had luck with potatoes and cucumbers, but can't for the life of me do anything but SHRED a tomato! I've watched the video and tried several different types. I plan to keep trying until I finally get it!

[JAE]

I just practiced using my mandoline, again. I sliced zucchini, summer squash and onion. It worked great! It made me start thinking of what recipes I could try at shows so I can use it.
Somewhere in this thread someone suggested tomatoes on the vine would work best. That has been true for me because they are the perfect size - tennis ball size, like the training video online says.

[MomToEli]

I am going to use it while making Tomato Basil Pizza, plus it would be great for the Three Cheese Garden Pizza. I used it this morning for the zucchini for the Summer Tortellini Salad thta I'm taking to a picnic.

Most of the time, I just demo it seperate. You can walk through all four blades very easily with a potato.

[bbenton4]

I know it takes practice and there in lies my concern with promoting and item that takes a lot of practice to get it down. Our goal is to put tools in the consumers hand that making cooking easier and more fun.

I have it down but how many of my customers will be frustrated and give up after a few unsuccessful attempts.

I am calling each customer who orders one to help talk them through so it won't be an item that sits in their drawer and never gets used or an item that makes them decide they don't like PC stuff.:(

[MissChef]

I was just gonna mention the video - LOL
great minds think alike! LOL!!!:D :p ;) :D

[daffycrazy]

can you use the mandoline to shred lettuce?? i had someone ask me and i don't want to give her the wrong answer.

[chefann]

If you cut it into chunks small enough to fit in the food holder. It also helps if it's a really tight head - not all loose.

(That didn't really come out the way I intended. LOL)

[daffycrazy]

hee heee....thanks for the advice.

[vtchef]

I think the Mandoline is a product you have to be really comfortable with before demonstrating at shows. I use mine at home and have no problem, every time I bring it to a show to demonstrate, it jams, sticks. I think I am to nervous demonstrating, afraid the thing will jam, and it has every time on me at a show. So needless to say I do not demonstrate it anymore.

[cookingmommy]

I had a problem with it too during my first show. I felt so embarrassed and tried to play it off. I am too nervous to use it at another show so I am trying to get as much practice in first. I thought I was alone in my fear of the mandoline.

[ljeffries]

Just thought I would pass this along....
several other consultants, as well as me, have had to have the mandoline replaced. After washing in the dishwasher, the 'body' warps and the blades will not fit back in.
PC replaced it and the SC person that I spoke to said they had many calls regarding this.
I absolutely love this product, it sells well for me, plus it is a high $$ item!

[carrdinal]

The video is KEY! Watch it on the website...it helped me and now I love the mandoline. We feel the way we do because we are not doing IT right. Trust me I WAS ONE OF THEM till I watched the video! Put those mandoline nightmares to bed and watch the video.

...and just remember...we have a great company that gives us great tools to learn by. They would NEVER setup up for failure as that is a reflection on Them.