Cookaholics Bulletin Board

What do you think is the best device for thinly slicing cheddar? It it is a knife, any particular sort?

Ok, no necessarily cheddar really, but we end up with lots of cheese with roughly the humidity/texture of 2-3 yrd old cheddar, and it is a serious PITA to slice thinly with a knife, even a very sharp one, due to the intense sticking. I know there are lots of specialized cheese knives out there in a big range of designs, plus a variety of other ways.

Any suggestions on a really great, efficient way to do it?

What about a cheese wire.

I use a cheese plane.

I find the planes tend to stick, plus at the end they tear out the cheese; this is with the more aged cheese (2-3 yr old). With much more aged (say 5 yr), they just crumble it. Unless you've found a better plane, which is quite possible.

Talanhart, do you find a wire works well?

My wife and I always use a wire but the trick is finding a proper 'machine' with a VERY strong wire. Once it breaks, replacing it is a major PITA! I don't know where we got our current one. Sorry!

That appears to be the Norpro. I had one (different brand) some years ago, and the wire bent and eventually broke. It was difficult to control, and it too broke off cheese at the end of the cut; when you get close to the end, the wire just breaks off a hunk of cheese as the cheese is unsupported. Is the Norpro a lot better? Or would one of the cheese wire slicers on a board be better? (the board supports the cheese so it *should* have a clean finish, but i've never used a remotely decent one)

Paul,

The slicer mechanism on the Norpro is somewhat better because the wire is off-center, so it gets closer to the end of the board. Theoretically, a built-in wire board would get an even cleaner cut; that's what professional cheesemongers use after all. I just don' t know where they buy their stuff.

If you want a beautiful cheese slicer which works the same as the Norpro, consider Bonnie Glover. Not sure she ships to Canada though.

http://vid.firepixie.com/WoodTurning/bo ... ery.html#6

i have http://www.cutleryandmore.com/wusthof-gourmet/offset-cheese-knife-p14402. I also have the Norpo wire slicer.
They both work rather well but I prefer the knife.

I've had good luck with the block style wire slicers similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Marble-Ch ... B0000VZA2W

The marble base is easy to clean, and supports the cheese.