The night my mandoline slicer tried to kill me during prep

Last Saturday night I was slicing shallots for a big catering order and my mandoline just completely gave out on me. The blade guard snapped clean off after maybe 6 years of use and I nearly took off the tip of my thumb. I ended up having to hand slice about 8 pounds of shallots with a chef's knife which took forever and left my hand smelling like onions for two days. The worst part was I had to explain to the owner why I was 45 minutes behind on the prep list for a 200 person wedding. I ordered a new one from a different brand that arrived Tuesday but now I'm paranoid every time I set it up. Has anyone else had a kitchen tool just fail catastrophically like that during a rush?

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2 Comments

harper_smith3mo ago

Did you ever hear about that batch of box graters a few years back that had the handles just snap off? Sounds like you got lucky it wasn't worse.

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stellas562mo ago

Ugh yeah I remember that brand. I think it was the ones with the plastic handles that looked all industrial? My friend had one snap on her mid-shred and she cut her thumb pretty bad. She was so mad because it was like a week after she bought it at that big kitchen store. Glad yours held up okay though, seriously a close call.

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