Is there a way to slice meat thinly as luncheon meat at home?

[Brooklyn1]

Bullshit, they're the know nothings who couldn't make it here who were too embarrased to demonstrate their ineptitude.

Which proves you have no business in a kitchen.

Why? They're expensive, very expensive for a true commercial machine (well over a grand), take up a lot of space, very heavy to move, and a bitch to clean... plus for anyone who is a klutz with a knife who can't slice bologna by hand it would be far too dangerous to be using a motorized meat slicer... many deli clerks are missing finger tips. But there are simple tricks for slicing deli at home; a sharp knife is essential, much safer/controlable than a dull knife... and for home slicing, fancy not being too important, first slice the hunk of bologna in half longitudinally, creating a flat for steadiness helps a lot plus slicing through less depth makes it far easier to control thickness... can do the same with a canned ham or roast beef, start by slicing in half to create a flat and shorten the slicing depth by half... who gives a ratz b-hind if you build a sandwich with half slices of salami... you'll not see or taste any difference... and eventually you'll gain skill so won't require the training wheels technique, you'll be able to slice full sized thin, even slices of even 8" diameter mortadela. Personally I have no use or need for a slicing machine at home, in fact I wouldn't want one for free... they are a BITCH to clean. Also, when one cooks a large roast beef for entertaining nine times out of ten the butcher at the store where you purchased it will have it machine sliced for free... always a good idea to introduce oneself to the store's meat department staff... custom ordering larger roasts than one typically finds in the display ensures better quality cuts, and not something that was cut and wrapped the day before. None of yoose douchebags need a slicing machine, yoose ALL need a decent sized electric meat grinder. Yesterday morning I bought a gorgeous ten pound top round roast, soon as I got home I sliced it into two 5 lb roasts, froze one and ground the other, great 12 oz burgers for dinner, on kaiser rolls... got four more 12 oz burgers in the freezer.

[Brooklyn1]

Those are not professional quality slicers, they don't even qualify for newbie status... those are Toy's R Us slicers.

[Brooklyn1]

I'd not want to clean that thing just to slice one tiny roast I can slice by hand in under five minutes.

[W. Lohman]

Whoa, a person's got to be hard-up to pawn an electric knife.

If you paid $10 the seller must have gotten about $3 for it.

[JRStern]

Even the market slicers don't work as well (cut as thin) as the industrial equipment they use to produce the pre-sliced - well, shredded - packaged lunch meats.

But you will notice those do not comprise perfect, uniform slices, either, they are shreds.

And you can do roughly the same shredding work with a sharp, high-quality kitchen knife (and a cutting board underneath so you don't dull it in the first five seconds), just learn how to use it, and understand what the end product is supposed to look like.

And watch your thumb.

And a ninety-nine cents cheese slicer will do as well as a fancy machine, as far as the cheese goes.

If you want perfect slices for a sandwich, well, good technique with a sharp knife *should* do about as well as the market slicer, just a lot more slowly, and maybe a 50% error rate, so be ready to eat the failures.

J.

[Sqwertz]

You are the master of prattle. Go Shelly!

-sw

[mike]

Slice it in half so there's a flat side to stabilize it. Slice with a ceramic knife.

But, what are you trying to accomplish? If it's thin meat, that's all I got. If it'd feeding the kids, why do they care if it's a little thicker? Put it in a blender and spread it as thinly as you like.

[Nunya Bidnits]

sf wrote, on Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:09:34 -0700:

I have tried hand sharpening knives, and that's a bust (for me).

But I have a lot of good quality shop tools, so, my *first* hope is that I can simply buy a special thin stainless-steel blade and jig for, say, my Makita miter saw or my circular saw or use a table saw with a special setup, etc.

I was hoping someone else had tried the shop-tool approach, and had recommendations and ideas for me. Otherwise, I will try it on my own, but, of course, it will take a lot of experimentation and tests.

Actually that's your best case.

Indeed most craftsmen would shudder at the idea of someone slicing cold cuts on their shop equipment. Even if it weren't a nutty idea, can you imagine the shop cleanup necessary after slicing meat with a table saw? lol

Either get an electric slicer, or get a very thin very sharp slicing knife and learn how to use it. Slice meats when well chilled to facilitate slicing.

MartyB

[Nunya Bidnits]

Sawzall? Dremel? Trollsaw? Come on, man! lol

[Vic Smith]

Exactly. What about hooking the meat slicer up to the gasoline powerwasher or weed-whacker? He has the answer. An Amazon meat slicer with over 300 reviews averaging 4 stars. What was it, about 60 bucks?

[Nunya Bidnits]

Yeah, that's the thing when people buy equipment that exceeds their skills or needs, they find out they have a lot more stuff to clean up and the equipment ends up sitting in a cabinet. I wouldn't get out an electric slicer unless I was doing turkey and brisket for a buffet line. I don't thin slice brisket anyway, mine is so tender you can slice it the thickness of a pencil and it will be moist and very tender. We bought an electric for the barbecue team but it rarely gets used, nobody wants to do the cleanup, but at least we do have jobs big enough for it once in a while. I'm not a big fan of electric knives and their sawing motion either. I can make much better looking cuts with a thin sharp slicing knife.

This is my favorite slicing knife, very thin, which can be easily maintained with a razor edge:

[Nunya Bidnits]

I'm familiar with the sentiment, which I have modified to include I've always wanted a servant to clean the goddam thing after use.

[W. Lohman]

Most butchers use the equivalent of a band saw for cutting through bones, Mr. Know-it-all.

[W. Lohman]

Dolt.

[W. Lohman]

That's great, now please go away. No one cares.

[Gary]

You insist on using your shop tools? Use your lathe to make shaved lunchmeat rather than sliced. No need to buy anything new. Just sharpen one bit to razor sharp and make sure the machine is cleaned well before and after.

G.

[W. Lohman]

A cheapass greaseball like you would never pay a servant their worth.

[Gary]

You would be better suited to buy a commercial hot pepper slicer. ;)

[Ed Pawlowski]

Read some of the 1 star reviews. They are really crappy for any type of serious use.

[Vic Smith]

What, is he opening a deli?