11
top. The bottom layer gives you perfect slices
for garnish.
If you want all the slices to be perfect, it’s best to
process one layer at a time.
Long fruits and vegetables
Trim food like bananas, celery, and zucchini by cut-
ting them into pieces a little shorter than the feed
tube. Cut both ends flat. (Use a ruler as a guide, or
the pusher assembly with the pusher pulled out as
far as it will go.)
Fill the feed tube with the pieces, standing them verti-
cally and adding enough pieces so they are solidly
packed and cannot tilt sideways as they are sliced
or shredded.
Small amounts of food
Use the small feed tube and the small pusher.
Remove the small pusher from the pusher assembly.
Slide the pusher assembly over the feed tube and
press the sleeve down to lock it into place.
Cut the food in lengths a little shorter than the feed
tube. If you are slicing one or two long, thin vegeta-
bles like carrots, push them against the left. If you
are slicing a few vegetables that are wide at one end
and narrow at the other carrots, celery or scallions
cut them in half and pack in pairs, one wide end up,
one narrow end up.
French-cut green beans
Trim fresh green beans to feed-tube widths. Blanch
them for 60 seconds in boiling salted water. Plunge
them immediately into cold water to stop the cooking.
When they are cold to the touch, drain and dry them.
Stack them in the feed tube horizontally to about
1 inch from the top. Use the slicing disc.
Be sure the small pusher is locked. Apply light pres-
sure to the pusher and press the OFF/PULSE lever
until beans are sliced.
To make long, horizontal slices of raw zucchini or
carrots, use the same procedure.
Matchsticks or julienne strips
Process the food twice – “doubleslice” it. Insert any
large fruit or vegetable – potatoes, turnips, zucchini,
apples – in the feed tube horizontally. Apply pressure
to the pusher while pressing the OFF/PULSE lever
until the food is sliced. You will get long slices.
Remove the slices from the work bowl and reassem-
ble them. Reinsert them in the feed tube, wedging
them in tightly. Slice them again. You will obtain long
julienne strips. With the optional Square Julienne
Discs, you can make square julienne strips in
one operation.
SLICING MEAT AND POULTRY
Cooked meat and poultry
The food must be very cold. If possible, use a chunk
of food just large enough to fit the feed tube. To
make julienne strips of ham, bologna or luncheon
meat, stack slices of them. Then roll or fold them
double and stand them upright in the feed tube,
wedging in as many rolls as possible. This technique
works better with square or rectangular pieces than
with round ones.
Uncooked meat and poultry
Cut the food into pieces to fit the feed tube. Boned,
skinned chicken breasts will usually fit when cut in
half crosswise. Wrap the pieces in plastic wrap and
put them in the freezer. They are ready to slice when
they pass this “knife test”: they are easily pierced
with the tip of a sharp knife although semi-frozen and
hard to the touch. Stand them in the feed tube, cut
side down, and slice them against the grain, using
firm pressure on the pusher. Or lay them flat in the
feed tube, as many as will fit, and slice with the grain,
using firm pressure.
Frankfurters, salami and other sausages
If the sausage is soft, freeze it until hard to the touch
but easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Hard
sausages need not be frozen. If the sausage is thin
enough to fit in the small feed tube, use that tube.
Otherwise, cut the sausage into pieces to fit the large
feed tube completely. Stand the pieces vertically,
packing them in tightly so they cannot tilt sideways.
SLICING AND
SHREDDING CHEESE
Firm cheese like Swiss and Cheddar
Cut the cheese into pieces to fit the feed tube. Put it
in the freezer until it is semi-frozen – hard to the
touch but easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife.
Stand the pieces in the feed tube and apply light
pressure to the pusher.
Type of Cheese Chop Shred Slice
Soft
Brie, Camembert,
mozzarella, ricotta,
Liederkranz, cottage,
cream
yes no no
Semi-Soft
blue,
Fontina
Bel Paese
yes
yes
chill
chill
chill
no
Semi-Hard
Cheddar, Monterey
Jack, Longhorn,
Swiss, Jarlsberg,
Edam, Gouda,
Provolone
yes
yes
chill
chill
chill
chill
chill
yes
chill
chill
chill
chill
chill
Hard
Parmesan, Romano,
Pecorino, Sapsago
yes
yes
room
temp
no