Walmart meat slicer I purchased for about $80

It’s been a while since I’ve done a kitchen gadget review.  Buying pre-sliced meats for my stir-fries can be expensive.  When I try to cut a whole beef shank or pepperoni by myself it becomes uneven.  The meat cooks unevenly and thus parts of the meat are undercooked and others become overcooked.  Now, imagine a versatile electric kitchen counter appliance that cuts your meats, but also can cut veggies, cut bread and even make your own potato chips.  I was skeptical at first, but for a home chef like myself, this is a must-have.

Stir-fries

Whenever I go to Korean restaurants, I like to order the Korean BBQ.  The charred meat, coated in a sweet but savory sauce, is out of this world.  While I enjoy eating them at restaurants, the bills do add up.  With the new meat slicer, I’m able to make thinly sliced meats that cook almost instantaneously.  The meats are so thin you can put them into homemade pho, homemade barbecues, and stir-fries easily.  The versatility of this machine is endless.  My personal favorite is grilling my meats on a cast iron grill over a gas stove.  It takes only a minute to cook before the meat is charred and ready to eat.

Hotpots

While this is not a common occasion for myself, this is yet another feature of the meat slicer.  Before my meat slicer, I was purchasing a lot of pre-cut frozen meats from grocery stores.  However, the pre-cut meat was less fresh, and also pricey.  Now, whenever I have guests over for hotpot (a traditional Chinese cuisine where food is boiled in hot broth at the table), I resort to my trusty home meat slicer for perfectly sliced lamb shoulder, pork belly and beef shanks.

Perfect homemade chips

Potato chips sliced to the right thickness.

One of the dietary changes I made in the last two years was to cut down carbohydrate and sodium intake.  I found that store-bought chips tend to be oversalted.  However, there were few options available for lower salt chips that were not ridiculously expensive.  Now, I make my own taro chips, parsnip chips, and potato chips.  Since I also have an air fryer, tossing the thinly and uniformly sliced veggies into the air fryer results in a crispy, almost gourmet snack that you can’t stop eating.  I also found it to be healthier than purchasing fried chips.

Cold cut meats

Previous to using my meat slicer, I would be purchasing pre-cut ham, prosciutto and Italian cured meats.  However, pre-cut meats are not always fresh and are also can be pricey since they are purchased by weight.  Now I purchase an entire slab of prosciutto and cut the meat myself.  Cold cuts are perfect for sandwiches and meal prep ideas.

Bread

Golden, crispy and unsalted potato chips which is a healthier alternative to the processed store-bought chips.

If you’re a fan of artisan bread like myself, you might benefit from a meat slicer.  My favorite feature of the slicer is that the thickness of the cut is customizable.  I can cut as thin as 2 mm and as thick as a slice of bread.  If you’re purchasing loafs of sourdough bread or baguettes, instead of struggling to cut a hardened piece of bread, the meat slicer does a phenomenal job of ensuring the right thickness of each cut.  Now, you can serve beautifully cut bread for appetizers at your own family gathering or party.