Product Review: The Slice-O-Matic

The SOG City Oracle is just pleased as punch to present its very first ever (and maybe last) Product Review.

Ever since I first saw the commercial for the Slice-O-Matic on TV I have been intrigued. After the sixth or seventh viewing of that commercial I screamed out, "I got to have me one of them there devices!" I ordered one on-line. Six months later I was still waiting for it. I finally called and was able to speak with someone who said the damn thing was on back order and my original order had been cancelled.

I ordered another one, dammit!

They (I received two) arrived a couple of weeks ago. Oh, be still my beating heart and get me to the kitchen post haste. I will toss out my sharp knives and that expensive mandolin because I now have a Slice-O-Matic.

The slicer with two julienne/dicing blades and a slicing blade.

The first thing I discovered after unpacking the slicer was the instruction booklet was a useless piece of crap. It gave nothing more than the basic instructions that were shown on TV. The booklet stated that I should go on-line to the Slice-O-Matic instruction web site for complete details. I did that.

What came up was the friggin' TV commercial.

I played with this frustrating contraption for awhile and was finally able to figure out how to use it. Here is what I came up with:

To slice, use this one blade - slide it in and lock it down.

To dice or julienne, release the side locks and take the unit apart.

Insert one of the julienne/dicing blades.

Lock this blade down with the two gray slide locks, one on each side.

Put the unit back together and dice or julienne away like those two idiots in the commercial.

Looking goofy is optional.

Nothing to it - right? Just plan your slicing, dicing, and julienne-ing in advance to keep from having to open up the unit to change functions.

Remember, to slice use just the top blade. To dice or julienne: use top blade and one internal blade. I should probably mention right here that unless you are working with an onion then dicing requires some pre-chopping.

 

To clean the unit, take it apart. Look at the underside of the top unit. Food particles lodge in many of the crevices. Once you have pried out the particles, then hand wash the unit.

The unit is not dishwasher safe.

After experiencing the Slice-O-Matic, which do I prefer, it or my trusty mandolin?

 Actually, neither one.

While the mandolin is easier to use than the Slice-O-Matic and can be washed in the dishwasher, I prefer my old standby devices.

I can slice, dice and julienne in a fraction of the time it takes to use either the Slice-O-Matic or the mandolin, and cleanup is a breeze.

The Slice-O-Matic is a gimmick device that in our kitchen proved to be more trouble than it is worth, and unless you are prohibited from using sharp objects I would suggest saving your money.