Mandoline

A mandoline is the most useful and dangerous nonknife tool you can have in your kitchen. Its sole purpose is to uniformly, without variation, cut vegetables. It’s perfect if you want to create same-sized foods for uniform cooking, such as slicing potatoes to make French fries or potato chips. If all of the food is the same size, it will cook at the same rate. Or you may want the food to have a uniform look for display on a table or plate such as for a crudité, a cold vegetable and dip platter.

But a mandoline can be so dangerous that it’s crucial to use it without any distractions or interruptions. Why is it more dangerous than a knife, or any other kitchen tool? First of all, the blade stays stationary and you move the food into it. This is similar to how we move food over the blades of zesters and graters, but the difference is that the blades on the mandoline are so large and sharp that you can easily do enough damage to yourself to require stitches, or worse. Although mandolines have hand guards in place, it is easy to slip and cut yourself on the blade.

The other reason a mandoline is so dangerous is because human nature and impatience often take over when using it. The hand guide that holds the food safely when you push it toward the blade is small and often awkward to use. And it can be difficult to clean. Human nature and impatience take over when cooks remove the guide and just use their hands to hold the food.

If you do feel compelled to remove the safety guide (this is dangerous and not recommended by anyone), use a cutresistant glove on your guide hand. This will not guarantee that you won’t cut yourself, but it will help if your hand grazes the blade. Different gloves are made from varying cut-resistant fibers, including Kevlar, which is used in bulletproof vests.

There are many brands and prices for mandolines, ranging from under $20 to over $200. I urge you not to buy a very cheap mandoline. With such sharp blades, you need to make sure the frame is solid and stable.