What is Meat Slicer?
A meat slicer, also called a slicing machine, deli slicer or simply a slicer, is a tool used in butcher shops and delicatessens to slice meats, sausages, cheeses, and other deli products. Older models of meat slicer may be operated by a crank, while newer ones generally use an electric motor. While the slicer is traditionally a commercial apparatus, domestic use versions are also marketed. These slicers make it easy to portion and prepare lunch meats and deli cheeses for sale in your supermarket, sandwich shop, or restaurant.
With a meat slicer, you’ll be able to spend less time slicing products by hand while helping more customers and being able to provide fast service with exceptional results.
Meat Slicer Types
There are three different types of meat slicers, each designed for a specific purpose.
Light-duty slicers are designed for low volume applications with less than 1 hour of slicing per day. These slicers can be used for slicing meat and vegetables. They are not meant for cutting raw or frozen meat and/ or cheese.
Medium-duty meat slicers are considered intermediate slicers and are great for people who slice for several hours per day. These slicers can handle a?variety of meats but aren’t designed for heavy use, and the blades can become strained if the slicer is used more than recommended. A maximum of?30 minutes a day of cheese slicing is recommended for this item.
Heavy-duty meat slicers are the top of the line slicers designed for use at big restaurants. They are the type of slicers found in butcher shops and other meat markets because they can handle just about anything.
In the past, most meat slicers were manually operated, but technology has provided users with more options making it easier to use the slicers. Some of the power options available with meat slicers these days include Electric Power, Automatic, and manually operated slicers.
The electrically powered meat slicers are the most popular type of slicers because all you have to do is plug the slicer into an electrical outlet and run the meat between the blades. This speeds up the process of slicing meat significantly, saving the user a lot of time.
How to choose meat slicer?
Power and Speed
Many meat slicers include higher wattage motors that slice food faster and more efficiently. The power of the motor also influences how long you’ll be able to slice food for. Some food slicers will quickly become overheated and need a break to cool down before you can continue. If you just need a slicer for making a few sandwiches each week, that may never become an issue. If you ever aim to do a lot of slicing at one time, it will quickly become an inconvenience.
Higher-powered units are especially useful for anyone who intends to slice a lot of cheese or frozen meats. These are two of the toughest tasks for a food slicer to pull off. If either of these will be a primary use you put your slicer to, consider investing in a model with a lot of power.
Uses
Being that the term “meat slicer” is often used interchangeably with food slicer, many people consider meat slicing the first and foremost use of any food slicer. That’s far from the only use a food slicer can be put to though. Customers actually use their food slicers for a wide range of things. Meats, cheeses, and bread are just the start. Some find their slicers most useful for foods that require especially thin slicing like potato chips or sauerkraut or getting the sliced onions for a salad just right.
Consider what you’ll want to use your food slicer for in advance of making a purchase. This will help you figure out what kind of thickness options you require, how big the carriage on your machine needs to be, and whether or not you need a machine with a lot of power. Whether you simply want your food slicer for jerky every once in a while or expect to turn to it every day for a wide range of uses, it’s important to know what you want it for in order to find the best model for your needs.
Durability
Nobody wants to purchase a meat slicer that only lasts a few months, or that needs new parts or repairs to last longer than a couple of years. One of the appeals of going with a higher-end model is that it’s likely to be made of more durable parts that can withstand a lot of use for a longer period of time before needing to be replaced.
A higher price tag won’t always translate to a food slicer that lasts longer, so it’s important to take a look at both the materials the model you choose to go with is made from and the reviews to see what customers are saying about its durability. In general, metal parts will last longer than plastic ones (particularly when it comes to the motor’s gears) and stainless steel is the most reliable metal for meat slicers to be made with. A meat slicer that delivers a dependable performance for years to come will turn out to be a much better investment than one that needs to be replaced within a year or two.
Size
There are several factors you need to consider when it comes to the size of the meat slicer you choose. The first is counter space. How much room do you have available in your kitchen? If you have nowhere to put your food slicer, you won’t get much use out of it. If you have limited counter space and plan to only bring out your food slicer in the moments when you need it, then you should also consider its weight and how willing you are to regularly lift and move an appliance of its heft.
The size of your food slicer’s blade and carriage will also have a lot to do with the functional uses you can put it to. If you plan to buy large cuts of meat and blocks of cheese to slice, then you need to be able to fit them on the carriage of the slicer you purchase and know the blade will be long enough to cut them fully from one end to another. Most slicers will clearly list the blade length in their product specs, the most typical lengths range from 9 to 14 inches.
Ease of Use
One of the big reasons to buy a food slicer, to begin with, is that it makes the process of slicing foods easier. While pretty much all food slicers will be an improvement over your typical knife and cutting board, some are designed in ways that enhance the ease of use further.
Higher powered models that allow you to do all (or most) of the slicing you need without having to take a break for the machine to cool down will be more convenient for big slicing projects. A meat slicer with a small carriage may require you to do some trimming of your items in advance of slicing them with your machine, which adds more work to the process. Many models also come with a serving tray, which adds some extra convenience for users as well.
The biggest component of how easy your meat slicer will be to use is how easy it is to clean. But that’s a big enough category for its own section.
Ease of Cleaning
Keeping your food slicer clean and sterile is imperative. Skimping on the cleaning step can lead to foodborne illnesses, which no one wants to deal with. All food slicers will require some cleanup time, but some require more work and time than others.
Most models will need to be taken apart to clean, so you want to be aware of how involved assembly and disassembly will be after each use. A food slicer that doesn’t have any removable parts will leave you trying to clean spots in tricky crevices and corners, which is both no fun and will mean you have a much harder time getting it fully clean
Many models have parts you can throw in the dishwasher. The more parts of the machine you can wash in your dishwasher, the easier a time you’ll have with cleaning it, so pay attention to what parts of the machine are listed as dishwasher safe in the product specs.
Safety
Food slicers all come equipped with large, sharp blades that move at fast speeds to do their job. Naturally, that makes safety an important concern.
Models that are heavy or difficult to take apart for cleaning after each use will provide more opportunities for cutting yourself while handling the machine if you’re not very careful unless they have an easy-to-remove blade. Some food slicers come with non-slip feet on the bottom to make sure they stay firmly in place during use. Protective blade guards can help further reduce the risk of a user cutting themselves. And a safety lock will help ensure the blade stops spinning any time the slicer isn’t in use.
These safety features can go a long way to helping protect users, but it’s also crucial that customers take steps to maintain safety on their own end. Make sure you read the manual before use so you don’t risk misusing your food slicer in a way that increases your risk. You can also purchase cut-resistant gloves to wear while using your meat slicer to further protect yourself.
Noise
Many meat slicers can get very loud. If you or someone in your home is sensitive to the sound of noisy appliances, you can find models that work more quietly than others. They’ll often cost more, but the difference in noise levels is worth it for many buyers.
Where to buy commercial meat slicer?
You can search on the Internet and find the nearest store around you or shop online.
Why choose WebKitchenStore meat slicers?
As a professional manufacturer of commercial kitchen equipment, WebKitchenStore keeps improving the quality of products and services in accordance with the concept to safeguard the security and healthiness of catering service to better satisfy the customer’s needs and demands.
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