Kitchen Tools

[JRinPA]

Well on the OXO the julienne blade combined with #1 thickness on the onions didn't work. The julienne blades stick up above grade and the plastic vegetbable holder hits them. Or the prongs on it. And of course it took a few bumps on those sharp blades until I figured that out. Are they still sharp? Don't know. I think it was the 1/4" julienne, looks like it needs to use the thickest slice adjustment to clear it.

It is has been crazy busy here with deer season. For once I wish I had a double decker quart canner. I did buy peanut oil last week, one step closer to fries. I always just used canola but that is over $10 a gal so I figured I may as well go with real deep frying oil. I want to do fries and sweet potato fries. Just too much processing going on. Scrapple making and now rendering tallow. 30 lb of pastrami started its cure yesterday. Getting tired here.

Stopped at the garden on the way back from hunting and picked another cabbage head. I'm gonna make another double or triple batch of coleslaw. Get that mandolin going again. Hellmans 30 oz were $5.49 -$1 coupon, limit 2 walmart. I figured I'd better get two. I am really happy with the fall cabbage, now that I have a few things I like doing with it.

[worth1]

@JRinPA
I tried what you did with the onion on the mandolin and it's a complete failure for me, or at least too much trouble.
I went back to my knife skills.

[JRinPA]

I messed up and missed on the sauerkraut from the last cabbages. It got too cold for too long and then the deer got in there. So no sauerkraut test for the OXO.
Otherwise I have been using it a lot for cutting up potatoes and sweet potatoes for fries. I think it works pretty good for them. I haven't done a lot of sweet potatoes and they are tougher but I wonder if you a minute in the microwave might not help that. Plus I peeled them, I don't have to peel the potatoes.

I bought an air fryer to test versus deep fried fries. No comparison at all. Not impressed at all by that thing, I took it back. 15-20 minutes and the fries on top would get dark and the ones below were still half raw. No amount of "basket shaking" corrected that. And it took up extra space. So I started using my existing convection oven, which I don't see how is any different, except a lot bigger and already there. That makes okay fries, what I would consider oven fries, not french fries.
Now I am trying some pan fries, in the cast iron skillet after the deer loin was done. The deer was cooked in deer tallow. So I just added some more and put ran a potato over the OXO mandolin and dumped it in. Wow, that is good stuff. Good fries that way. Now while typing I'm doing two more but two potatoes overfilled the pan.

Mandolin, good.
Air Fryers, bad.

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I definitely like the consistent sizing for potato fries and the ease of it. And 1/4" was what I was looking for.

[worth1]

I can't wrap my mind around fried sweet potatoes.
Tried them many times and just can't feel the love for them.
Feel the same way about fried dill pickles.

Air fryer I have no use for at this time.

[worth1]

I bought a head of cabbage to run through the mandolin to make a creamy delicious coleslaw with cabbage and carrots.
Carrots will be grated.
We'll see how it works.

[worth1]

@JRinPA

Here's the cabbage ran through the mandolin at it's thinnest setting.
The core and scaredbto go any farther scraps were tossed in with my corned beef.
An apple was also added.
It's a wonderful coleslaw with cabbage apple caraway seeds mayonnaise sugar and apple cider vinegar.

IMG_20240128_094236474.jpg

[JRinPA]

That looks good for pepper slaw, sweet and sour but no white. I like the @2 setting for kfc coleslaw. Yeah I used it for coleslaw a number of times this fall and winter, worked okay, maybe a little narrow of a raceway for doing large amounts. Just haven't used for a big sauerkraut batch yet.

[worth1]

That looks good for pepper slaw, sweet and sour but no white. I like the @2 setting for kfc coleslaw. Yeah I used it for coleslaw a number of times this fall and winter, worked okay, maybe a little narrow of a raceway for doing large amounts. Just haven't used for a big sauerkraut batch yet.

If I were to go big I would buy the big wooden one made for the purpose.

[JRinPA]

I like sweet potato fries cut through that oxo, but they fry really quick. And hardish to cut. Certainly not easy like potatoes.

Best way is to peel, cut to length, microwave, OXO 1/4" slice, then deep fry in peanut oil 350F for 2-1/2 minutes.

Peel is self explanatory.
Cut to length, about 4" is the longest the slicer wants to do. Longer than that, it hangs up the at the end of the cut.
Microwave, a minute or two to soften the sweet potato chunks a bit.
Slice with the OXO 1/4 and julienne setting. There will one last chip that won't cut, just break that in three.
Oil fry for 2-1/2 minutes. By 3 minutes, they start to blacken.

So far the seasoning I like best is just a little bit of brown sugar. Makes sense, since "candied yams", sweet potatoes in electric skillet with brown sugar and butter, is what I grew up on. So, fries in a bowl on paper towel, sprinkle just a tsp or so of brown suggar, cover with a plate and shake it.

Where as potato french fries, I will sprinkle with old bay and a little salt and shake that, then ketchup or occasionally cocktail sauce.

As a multi use the oxo is not terrible. I'd like an easier way to sweet potato fries, but, from what I read the commerical style ones don't do them well either, or at least, not for long. I have a ton of sweet potatoes yet, I can't believe how many I harvested last year.

I do have a dent in the main V blade on this thing, happened the first couple when I didn't understand the way the vegetable holder worked. So the metal prongs, I guess, smacked the blade and notched it. I stoned it a little but haven't REALLY tried to resharpen it. I'm sure the notch doesn't help the cut.

[worth1]

I used mine yesterday to cut an onion as thin as I could to go in a concoction I made for supper.
And that's one of the main reasons I got it.
I can't do this by hand and I'm really good with a knife if I do say so myself.

[JRinPA]

I almost always do onions for a saute the way Giada did it. That show got WATCHED. Made a lot of young men into good cooks.