do I need a mandoline and if so, which brand/model?

Yes. This one. Any color. Swissmar Borner V-1001 V-Slicer Plus Mandoline 5 Piece Set (Orange) https://a.co/d/gvA416b

I use daily.

I use mine for, among other things, shaved celery salads, julienne potatoes for latkes and super-thin onion slices for bagels. It doesn’t take up that much room, it’s easy to clean, and it does a good job, so while I don’t need it, I’m happy to have it.

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I picked up these slicing boards off of ebay. Mandolines just scare me way too much. I donated the one I had.

The few times I need to slice something thin, these work just fine. Also please note the cut proof glove in the picture.

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I use mine to make cabbage and fennel slaws, celery and apple salads, julienne apple or pear for salads, slice zucchini, summer squash, potatoes, etc to uniform thickness (for sautes, tortillas, or gratins), sometimes to quickly chop veg evenly for soup or pot pie (primarily carrots and celery), to shave rutabaga. I probably use it most often for slicing cucumbers for cucumber salads. I have even used it to shave ham.

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My take is that you probably don’t need a mandoline at all. In certain situations, they’re nice (such as cucumber salad), although there’s overlap with FPs. IMO, the only apps where they’re essential are the waffle- and crinklecut type things.

Over the years I’ve had multiple mandolines across all price ranges, including $$$ Brons. The one I reach for now, every time, is the Borner V-cut. It’s simple, lightning fast, light, does the thicknesses I like, stores well, and is easy to clean. It cuts very even slices, IME, probably more so than my Bron.

Whatever you get, I reccommend you pick a mandoline with an angled (not perpendicular blade. They just seem to cut better and stay sharper longer.

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They are absolutely indispensable for potato gratin, for which I prefer almost paper thin slices.

While I’m quite happy with my knife skills in general there are certain uses for the mandoline I could never match.

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Agreed. I had a Matfer at the restaurant and was really intimidated by it and its settings were hard to maintain as it grew older. I now have an OKO that I use mostly for sauerkraut/slaw making. I love it but I could use my food processor but the Mandoline is simply easier to use and clean.

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Handy, definitely. Indispensible? Not if you have a food processor with a 1mm slicing disc. Same for julienne.

I don’t. And I use the mandolin for other things as well, as mentioned above.

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I’ll take washing a small slicer over dirtying and washing a whole food processor.

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Me, too. Still, a mandoline is not indispensible for thin, uniform slices.

If one only had kitchen tools that were indispensable then a kitchen would be kitted out with a pan, a knife and maybe a spoon.

A mandolin makes quickly slicing things easy and they’re simple to wash up and put away. Normally a quick rinse in soapy water and maybe a wipe is all that it needs. I use my mandolin far more often than a food processor which sits way back in the corner.

When I need to slice whole potatoes for hasselback, the only way to do that in any time efficient manner is with a mandolin. The whole potato won’t fit in the feed tube of the processor. Same when I need a pile of uniformly thinly sliced potatoes for pommes Anna. Which maybe my all time favorite way to prepare a potato.

Slicing cucumber for a quick pickle takes seconds.

As to fear of slicing body parts, look at where your fingers and stop before you get to the end of whatever you’re cutting. A quarter of an inch and I stop and toss the butt end. I don’t understand the fear mandolins seems to engender.

ETA: try slicing something like zucchini lengthwise into thin uniform strips with a knife or food processor.

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It is when you don’t have a food processor with a 1mm slicing blade, and another poster mentioned the hassle of cleaning.

But most mandolines rinse clean in seconds while a food processor is a real PITA to wash and (let) dry all of its parts and also to store. Mine comes out of banishment once every several years while I choose to spend my time mixing or chopping rather than washing.

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Meanwhile, burying the lede on this — I had to look this up. Looks delicious!

If you do a lot of salads and crudité’s, you might find use for a mandolin, but I honestly think they belong mostly in professional kitchens and if you do a lot of fine dining at home for your guests…

I own a Kyocera mandoline and I’ve used it 5-6 times total in 5 years.
When I make potato dauphinoise, I typically make a large batch, so I dust my Magimix F.P. off and use that and accept the extra cleaning instead of risking my finger, when using a mandoline :slightly_smiling_face:

In my home cooking, I rarely need anything to be sliced as thinly as a mandoline can do, and I already own a bunch of super sharp kitchen knives and rarely make dinner for more than 2-4 persons at a time, so for me personally a mandoline is a kitchen tool I really never miss in my kitchen - same also applies for my Magimix FP to be quite honest.

I love my wide Benriner but I only use it with a cut resistant glove. I keep the glove on for washing up.

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If I used a mandoline more often I would buy a cut resistant glove - but I really am not a fan of finely cut crudité in my kitchen.
I can cut very fine pieces with my ultra sharp knives - and that’s perfect for my needs in my home kitchen.

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I love Bobby Flay’s recipe: Smoked Chile Scalloped Sweet Potatoes, uses some canned chipotles en adobo. Always double the recipe but it’s best to use half as much of the heavy cream.

It would be very hard for me to make this without the Benriner. I have to be extremely careful because sweet potatoes are very hard.

Great dish for Thanksgiving.

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That is a deadly delicious dish…sadly I can’t tolerate the smoked chipotles after going through chemo. Life sucks sometimes…