# Chef's Choice 615 Slicer / Vacmaster 305



## philsey da bear (Jan 3, 2014)

Well Santa was good to old Philsey. My bride got a hold of Lisa B and secured a Vacmaster 305. Works great!

*VACMASTER 305*













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__ philsey da bear
__ Jan 3, 2014






And, of course I ordered more bags from Lisa.

*CHEF'S CHOICE 615*

Used some of my "Santa Cash" to buy a meat slicer. The Chef's Choice 615

to be precise. Takes a little practice to work this thing effectively and not cut

your finger off. But before long I was slicing some boneless Chuck Shoulder

that I got for $2.50/# on sale at Kroger.













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__ philsey da bear
__ Jan 3, 2014






Learned a couple of things. One, you don't have to thaw the totally frozen meat

very much at all to be able to put it on the slicer. (in the future I would trim excess

fat before I did the initial freeze storage). Two, I got carried away with just how thin

you can slice frozen meat. Sliced for jerky at about 1/4". After a 24 hour marinade,

this slices were REALLY thin. Came out like "beef crisps". In the future I think

I would increase the slice size to about 3/8".

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2014!

Phil


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## little smokey (Jan 7, 2014)

Any problems with your slices not being even, I mean like thicker o one end than the other?


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## philsey da bear (Jan 8, 2014)

If you mean on one given slice, then no. I think the trick is to use slow, even forward pressure. With the "home" machines it is

hard to hold "exact" width. You can vary it by how hard you push the meat against the blade with your strokes. (But remember "home slicers do not cost $2K+. Again even pressure gives pretty even slices. And with almost all the products I slice (especially meat)

they have been frozen for a bit. That too makes it MUCH easier to produce even slices.

As to "slices toward the end of a run".... Yes, meat seems to develop a tail. What I do, especially when slicing for jerky, is just pull the slab off the slicer and cut off the "tail" with a knife. (And of coarse dump it in with the perfectly sliced meat <grin>).

Hope that helps. The CHef 615 seems like a pretty good value for the money. It seems a bit more powerful than the lesser  models in the line. I was a little surprised by the RPMs of the cutter. When I worked in a deli, the cutter there was much faster. But as long as you don't hurry it, the slicer seems to work just fine. (Be sure to buy the supplemental "smooth" blade). The supplied blade will pretty much hack up your meat.

Phil


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