The Best Mandoline Slicers for Anyone With Zero Knife Skills

One of my favorite scenes in Ratatouille is when Remy makes the humble title dish, creating perfectly uniform slices of eggplant, tomato, and zucchini using a mandoline slicer and placing them in a casserole dish, tossing the slices in like he’s dealin…

One of my favorite scenes in Ratatouille is when Remy makes the humble title dish, creating perfectly uniform slices of eggplant, tomato, and zucchini using a mandoline slicer and placing them in a casserole dish, tossing the slices in like he’s dealing cards. The final product is a thing of beauty, and it totally made me want a mandoline.

A mandoline is a handy kitchen tool for when you want uniform slices for aesthetic or practical purposes (like if you’re making homemade french fries and want them to cook evenly), or if you’re slicing ingredients in bulk. Sure, your chef’s knife can do it all, but if consistency is the name of the game, or you’re looking to make super thin slices, it’s much easier on a mandoline.

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A Low-Pressure Guide to Using a Pressure Cooker

The OG pressure cooker has been a staple in home kitchens all over the world for hundreds of years—way before the buzzy Instant Pot came to the scene. The versions on the market today have more bells and whistles (and safety features) than the ones…



The OG pressure cooker has been a staple in home kitchens all over the world for hundreds of years—way before the buzzy Instant Pot came to the scene. The versions on the market today have more bells and whistles (and safety features) than the ones from the 1600s, but the cooking method is the same: using steam to cook food fast. If you’re new to pressure cookers and want to know how they actually work, what to make, and the best ones to buy, you’ve come to the right place.

How Does A Pressure Cooker Work?

As the name suggests, pressure cookers create a high-pressure environment in an enclosed space to cook food. “The increase in pressure is caused by holding the steam inside the vessel, which raises the boiling point of water, so the liquid inside doesn’t boil but gets very hot,” says Joshua Resnick, chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education. “This shortens the cooking time of foods that take a long time to cook and leads to amazing flavor extraction, since no liquid evaporates from the pot.” The faster cook time also helps preserve the vitamin and mineral content of food.

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