[Buffy the eggs layer]

Hi,


      well the pancetta is drying in a muslin bag and the next purchase on my list is a meat slicer. Amazon have an Andrew James with a 19 inch blade. Mostly great reviews.


  Does anyone else have one of these or any other make that they can recommend?

[Bionic]

Buffy, I can't help with your question but I recently got a meat slicer through freecycle. I placed a wanted ad. It was a long shot but someone responded to me. The machine, a Krups, is old and was very dirty (probably been at the back of a cupboard for about 30 years) but it does work. I would want something more heavy duty if I was doing it frequently but it's good enough for me for now.


Maybe worth you trying the same before you spend your pennies

[hughesy]

19cm blade will be a bit small for hams I would think. Can't see that one lasting long with anything other than very light use. For small amounts of slicing why not just use a good knife. It's fine unless you want to go paper thin.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

I did want to go paper thin for the pancetta. Will see what other models I can find.

[SophieYorkshire]

We have a butchers Berkel (can't remember the model, buts its chuffing heavy!). It slices very thinly if needed, and we use it for meat, vegetables and bread! We got a broken one and repaired it because they're the best part of £400 normally.

Only bad side to it in my point of view is that the heavy spiky thing to hold the meat in place is awkward to use and doesn't really 'grip' items. Other bad side of it is the weight - takes the two of us to shift it for cleaning underneath.

[greenbeast]

i love those old cast butchers slicers, i've used a motorised berkel and and even older hand-turned mechanical one, beautiful mechanism. The latter did have a problem gripping bacon though

[Rupert the bear]

Hi,


      well the pancetta is drying in a muslin bag and the next purchase on my list is a meat slicer. Amazon have an Andrew James with a 19 inch blade. Mostly great reviews.


  Does anyone else have one of these or any other make that they can recommend?

Sorry but the Andrew James slicer we got was returned ,  unable to do the job properly, We got a Berkel ( £300 )  with a spare blade and sharpener stone set off ebay , works brilliantly from wafer thin , almost see through to thick sliced bread 13mm . ours is gravity fed and once you get the hang of it £300 is a small price to pay,Ps dont forget the chain mail glove !!!

[farmers wife]

Bought mine on Ebay from Nesbitts Outlet- reconditioned returns.  Buffalo Brand which is the cheaper end its robust and strong but its not the best however for our needs and the the cheapest £55 including carriage I have ever spent! 


I made pancetta the other day I hung it for 3 week unrolled as I tend to chop it up and use in casseroles etc I dont tend to eat it raw however, it was sooo tasty I had have a few slithers.


Watch the size of the blade as its no good for hams as the shelf it sits on wont be big enough and you end up having to roll the meat.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Thanks everyone,


  I think the Amazon one is a bit too cheap and cheerful. I will look for something bigger and better

[Possum]

Let me know when you have found the right one.    I am on  a similar search. A friend of mine brought a good one from Lakeland last year but it has been discontinued. Now I'm trying to balance cost with effectiveness and I'm not getting very far!

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Do you know what make that was possum?

[hughesy]

A tip when buying any machinery. Check if spares are available for it! Some suppliers don't carry any spare parts and/or won't order them if you need them. The Buffalo brand while being fairly cheap machines do have a good spare parts availability and Nisbetts will supply them.

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Thanks for that Hughesy,


  I was just looking at an old Berkel one on preloved and wondered about the availability of parts for older models. I will google Buffalo.

[Possum]

Hi Buffy,


It was Lakeland's own brand. The staff don't know why it has been discontinued. They say that they sold a lot of them!

[Piggerswiggers]

Hopefully this isn't too late to help.
Back in July we bought a D-250 electric slicing machine from weschenfelder.co.uk. It wasn't cheap but so far nothing has been a problem for a couple of complete amateurs, although it did give me the heebie-jeebies to start with, spinning razor sharp blades need to treated with respect.
We've produced wafer thin pancetta, lovely even rashers of bacon and decent chunky gammon. Cuts anything from 0mm to about 15mm.

I'll admit to being a bit hooked to the weschenfelder site ever since I got my mincer/sausage maker from them but I'm sure there are other equally good web sites out there.

Cheers
Piggerswiggers