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When my roommate Kristen moved out of our Brooklyn apartment to fulfill her destiny as a self-possessed Manhattan It Girl, I fulfilled my own: I became the new owner of her mini mandoline slicer. As she left Brooklyn, she held out her gloved hand, placing a miniature, careworn Oxo mandoline in my palm. “This has always brought me luck—and lots of thinly sliced radishes,” she said, her eyes obscured by a large elegant sun hat. The final call for departure rang out and she turned to board the ship.
“Thank you, Kristen! For everything you taught me!” I shouted after her. She glanced back for a moment, offering a knowing smile, before disappearing into the bulkhead door. Her last words of advice hung vivid in my mind: “Always remember toprotect your fingers.”
Ever since she crossed the great expanse of the East River, I’ve tried to do right by her parting gift by making a lot of exquisite shaved and shredded salads.
These details of my mandoline acquisition are true emotionally, if not literally. But, I do genuinely love this kitchen tool. You probably alreadyknow the deal on mandolines: The blade, positioned on a sloped plane, provides consistently thin slices of all manner of vegetables, cheeses, and meats with the swipe of your hand. Those blessed with truly expert knife skills may find mandolines unnecessary, but for the rest of us, they are reliable tools for expedient and precise prep work.
But most mandolines on the market are large and come with a lot of attachments that are hard to keep track of. Oxo’s mini mandoline slicer, technically called Oxo Good Grips Mini Complete Grate & Slice Set, has a modular design small enough to fit in your utensil drawer—and it’s more versatile than your typical mandoline slicer.
The set comes with three attachments: There’s a mini mandoline, which I use on raw brussels sprouts to makeslaw, to cut radishes perfect for garnishingtacos, and to make thin slices of cucumber for a salad. The set also comes with large and small-holed grating attachments, which I use to shred hard cheeses for pizzas, pastas, or salads. All three slicing attachments fit onto a plastic basin, which catches your shavings and has markers for measuring the amount of cheese or vegetable you’re shredding. And for storage, that plastic basin, along with another plastic piece, form a compact carrying case for all of the blades. No scrambling for the right shredding attachment in your drawers.
当然,曼陀琳琴的大小意味着年代ome limitations. It can’t slice large potatoes or butternut squash, and there’s no way to make ribbons or julienne cuts. But the purpose of a small mandoline like this is not to handle all your slicing work. Rather, it steps in for a little assistance here and there, when you just want to add a neat little pile of shredduce to a single sandwich, or add an extra clove of sliced garlic to an already sizzling pan. It’s ideal for people who cook for one or two,make a lot of salads, and don’t have a ton of kitchen space—not necessarily for people who frequently make gratins or potato chips for large crowds.
Perhaps someday, when I too am ready to become a downtown It Girl, preparing for my own distant voyage 15 minutes away by subway, I will also leave behind a mini mandoline in the utensil drawer for future generations of salad lovers.*
*Kristen, you forgot to pack your mandoline, if you want it back let me know.
