Food Slicer

A food slicer is a superb kitchen appliance, which makes it a cakewalk to produce uniform slices of different food items.

History

The food slicer was invented in 1925 by Thor Bjørklund and started being produced from 1927. The food slicers are available for both home and industrial purposes. Sizes of these slices are different; slicer for home is small in size, whereas for commercial purposes like restaurants and other needs larger food slicers are available in the market.

Currently, many varieties of food slicers are available in the market, which include cheese slicer, egg slicer, meat slicer, vegetable slicer.

Two major designs of slicers are currently popular in the market –

a. A manually operated slicer that can be use with a hand, and
b. Electric slicers to slice with great accuracy.

Generally, standard food slicer consists of a bunch of plastic and metal components.

Structure of Slicers

Coming to structure of egg slicer, it consists of series of blades, which slice an egg in uniform slices. In case of a meat slicer, it also has series of knifes that cut the meat accurately.

In case of electric slicers, the device has a round shaped blade that revolves very fast with the help of a small motor. All you need to do is to just keep this revolving blade on food such as vegetables, cheese, or meat. Simple slicers have only one blade, whereas the high end electric slicers are produced with a series of revolving round blades. It is up to the customer to purchase the slicer of their choice, depending upon specific needs, and budget constraints.

Meat Slicers

Meat slicers are very important kitchen appliances, which have become a part of modern non-vegetarian kitchen. The meat slicer is also used as a cheese slicer.

There are various types of meat slicers available in market such as industrial meat slicers, home meat slicers, and electric meat slicers.

Two major varieties of meat slicers, which find extensive use include –

• The industrial or heavy duty slicers, and
• The economy or medium duty slicers

The Heavy Duty Industrial Slicers

The Heavy Duty Industrial Slicers have 12 inches to 14 inches long blades. For the first time, these were developed in United States.

These heavy duty slicers are manufactured especially for

• delis,
• restaurants,
• meat shops,
• commissaries,
• caterers, and
• grocery stores.

For instance, the Berkel 827 E 12 inches Light Duty Manual Slicer is designed for slicing small quantities of cheese. This is especially manufactured for small diners and restaurants.

The Medium Duty Economy Slicers

The Medium Duty Economy Slicers have either 8 inch blade or 10 inch blade. These are manufactured for small or medium cooking applications and are generally utilized for home usage. These are used for small parties and picnics and cannot be used for larger cooking applications.

How to Choose Meat Slicers

Since meat is fatty food, slicing it to small pieces is very good idea and you should select a meat slicer, which produces small slices. Performance of meat slicer must be very good and blades used in the slicer should have stainless steel to ensure longer lifespan, and higher efficiency.

If the meat slicer has all above qualities, it is likely to be slightly expensive. Even if it is slightly expensive than what your budget currently permits, you should try not to compromise on the quality, and purchase a qualitative meat slicer, since quality comes first, and cost next. More so, it will be a worthy investment for at least next 4-5 years.

You can watch the operation of Food Slicer here: