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Noble cutting machine: As expensive as a smartphone
Photo: GRAEF
It is not surprising that in times of pandemic domesticity, kitchen gadgets in particular sell like sliced bread.
On the other hand, it has to be cut first, the bread.
And that's not child's play, especially if the loaf, which is still oven-hot, is to be cut into beautiful, even slices.
Unless you have a really good slicer.
Or a really big bread knife.
Because both can do a lot more than just cut baked goods, as our test shows.
Knight food slicer fortis 1
Rickety electric "food slicers" are available for as little as 30 euros, but they can usually cut everything except sensible. The old bread slicer found in grandma’s attic usually does a better job with the hand crank, as long as it can be fixed reasonably securely with a screw clamp. The product promise of the electric rotary knife to be able to cut "everything" from bread to vegetables to sausage and meat fails, despite the mostly quite sharp cutting discs, due to the wobbly design of the cutting width setting. Note: If the width of, for example, bacon slices can be regulated not only with the adjusting wheel, but above all with the pressure with which you press the bacon against the machine, you will not have much fun with this kitchen buddy in the long run.
Well-known traditional manufacturers such as the Bavarian »Ritterwerk« founded by Franz Ritter in 1905 build usable, solid constructions and, in addition to the serrated serrated knife, add a second cutting disc with a smooth edge to their devices - this is how my »fortis 1« was delivered.
This idea assumes that the device is the most commonly used to slice bread.
Vegetables and firmer types of sausage are no problem either.
The delicate meat fibers of frozen raw fillet for carpaccio and broth fondue or thin slices of roast beef roasted pink on the inside, on the other hand, are torn to shreds by the teeth.
A smooth finish is essential here.
Anyone who nags about the "constant knife change" - after a few years with the pleasantly quiet and small "fortis" in the kitchen and in view of the increasingly lower meat frequency in my diet, I can say: Fondue, carpaccio or roast beef are not that often on the menu.
And the good knight does the rest reliably.
What is it?
A solid mid-range food slicer, easy to clean, but not so easy to upset.
Who needs it
A machine for all cases.
What does this cost?
Approx. 120 euros.
Graef food slicer SKS 700
Many bosses earn six times as much as their employees. A hand-forged damask knife costs six times as much as a reasonable stainless steel chef's knife. A successful hip-hop star has six times as many intimate contacts as a conventional street rapper. Is that fair? Is that in proportion? Does that make sense? Well, when I unpacked their new flagship SKS 700 for testing from the Graef company (next to the Ritterwerk, the second large traditional manufacturer of cutting machines), that was also my first question. For the price of this eight-kilo bolide, with which Graef is celebrating its 100th company birthday, I could almost buy six "fortis 1" s. On the other hand, what the hell am I supposed to do with six slicers?
As is so often the case with these questions, the answer lies in the details. And this is exactly where the SKS 700 actually combines pretty much everything that could be put on a slicer wish list: a powerful motor like a professional butcher's machine, but whisper-quiet. An unshakable stand, zero millimeter deviation in the cutting thickness regardless of the pressure. A razor-sharp cutting disc with a hollow cut (including the enclosed diamond sharpener), which, despite the missing knife points, even cuts oven-hot white bread inside and super-crispy outside into thinner slices without complaint and does not lose its weight even with a completely frozen beef fillet carpaccio. The disc is so sharp that you shouldn't even touch it very gently with the back of your hand,which is why Graef installed a red warning light that only goes out when the slide has been completely driven to the knife.
For notorious braggers like me, the stocky slice thickness setting in the range from 0.1 to 2 millimeters with an extended turning range of the regulator is the most fun. The entire first third of the adjustment path lies in this fine range, only with thicker thicknesses does the control become linear. This is not only ingenious for wafer-thin slices of bacon, vegetables such as cucumbers or carrots and even mushrooms can be sliced more precisely and smoothly than with any sharp kitchen slicer.
A special holder supplied for vegetables that are not too thick supports the process.
This is particularly good news for the little would-be star chef who wants to make an impression on his guests with ultra-slim julienne or microscopic brunoise.
This fine cut is only available if the carrot lengthways slices are cut absolutely flat and not thicker than 0.5 millimeters.
What is it?
The most expensive, but also by far the best cutting machine for upscale household use.
Who needs it
Any ambitious braggart with sufficient creditworthiness.
What does this cost?
670 euros.
Güde bread knife
If you want to come to a museum with an invention, it should already be epoch-making. Such as the "rear teeth", which the Solingen cutler and company namesake Franz Güde initially devised in the 1950s for the circular knife disks of cutting machines and shortly afterwards also used for his bread knife with the "Güde serrated edge", which is still legendary today. A grinding technique that still has to be done by hand in the finish.
The huge pastry machete with a 32-centimeter blade (total length 45 centimeters) is rightly a worthy exhibit in the European Bread Museum in Ebergötzen near Göttingen.
It is not advisable to try to cut small party rolls with it without injury.
But no other knife can cut large loaves of bread so easily.
The Güde (optionally available as a right or left-handed model or sanded on both sides) glides through bread like a warm blade through a pound of butter.
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Or a giant Halloween pumpkin, a pineapple, a football-sized head of cabbage, a hard-frozen parfait or an oven-hot fillet Wellington - all of which can hardly be done with a smaller or less spicy device.
Especially important for these applications: After use, the Güde should be wiped off immediately with a damp cloth, because despite the rust-free chrome-vanadium-molybdenum knife steel, the part must not be put in the dishwasher.
Neither the wooden handle nor the filigree, super-sharp serrated edge would withstand the chemical attack of the soapy water.
If you don't saw off tree trunks every day and don't use unsuitable cutting mats made of glass, stone or metal in the kitchen, the Güde will not have to be sharpened for ten years at the earliest - the company arranges a knowledgeable grinder service for this.
In order to swing this serrated blade, which weighs more than 330 grams, just as proficiently, it takes a courageous handshake.
Hobby cooks with slender joints will therefore not benefit from the large selection of beautiful real woods such as pear, walnut, olive or plane tree for the handles, which are also handcrafted.
The handle material barrel oak is particularly sustainable and at the same time appropriate to the idea of creating a knife for the rest of life plus that of the heirs.
It consists of the recycled wood from disused wine barrels.
And that's always better than starving with bread and water.
What is it?
The role model of all bread knives.
Who needs it
Every bread slicer who thinks far beyond his generation.
What does this cost?
207 euros for one-sided sanding (optionally for right or left-handers);
249 euros for two-sided grinding.
Tip: Order the solid leather sheath (24.70 euros) - the sword does not fit in any knife holder.