Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I looked all over the web for a French Fry cutter and found nothing but cheap junk that could not accommodate a whole potato. Not only that but every review I saw said that the fry cutter broke, bent, or was rendered useless before 5 potatoes had been sliced.
Then I found the Northern Industrial Tools DeLuxe fry cutter. It looked impressive and sounded as if it could do the job with more damage to the potato than the cutter. As it turns out, that is an understatement.
This commercial tool is a monster. It is larger and much heavier than I would have guessed. It is made from heavy cast aluminum with steel nuts and bolts, and steel cutter blades. The guide bars even have plastic slider bushings for quiet and smooth operation. If you were to drop this thing onto concrete, I would be willing to bet that the concrete would fare worse than this tool. It weighs 8 pounds and is an industrial grade tool. I cannot imagine how this thing showed up broken as in the other review. I had to tighten a couple of bolts, and mount it to the wall, but I cannot fathom how this item was broken in transit.
This fry cutter will EASILY accept a 6 inch (and larger) potato. This beast makes short work of twenty full size russet potatoes (sold individually as baking potatoes in the supermarket). The long lever arm requires a long pull to get the job done, but the leverage you generate to cut through the spuds (with skins on) in a single pull is impressive and makes the task relatively easy.
The cutter ships with two blades, one for 3/8 inch square, and one for 1/2 inch square. The "pusher block" and cutter blade assemblies must be swapped out to change between sizes. This is done by removing wing nuts to pull out the cutter blade assembly, removing machine screws that hold the "pusher block", and installing the other blades and pusher. It was never built for quickly changing sizes. It will take a few minutes and some basic hand tools.
I would have given 5 stars if the cutter were easier to mount and/or clean.
This industrial tool must be mounted to a wall with four screws (not included) to make it stable and safe to operate. My guess is that this unit was designed to be mounted directly above a fryer so as the potatoes are sliced they fall into the hot grease along with potato juice.
When you cut a spud, the juice sprays a little bit, and the frame, slides, guide, and cutter blades get pretty much covered with sticky, starchy goo. If you are outdoors or in an industrial kitchen, you could just spray the unit down with a hose to clean it. In a home kitchen, a spray down is impractical. This is the reason I gave this cutter only 4 stars.
Each of the holes to mount this beast to the wall is just that, a hole. To really clean the cutter, you need to completely remove each and every one of the mounting screws from the wall. If all of the holes were counter bored slots, designed to quickly mount and un-mount the cutter, I would have gladly given this monster 5 stars.
If you buy this you will never buy another fry cutter. But be forewarned that it takes no small effort to swap cutter size, likewise to mount and clean this industrial grade kitchen tool in a residential kitchen.
BTW, the BEST fries are made by blanching at 325F for 6-8 minutes, then remove them from the oil. Crank up the grease to 375F and dunk them in small batches for 2 minutes to brown them up. Heaven on Earth.
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Northern Industrial Tools Deluxe French Fry CutterAluminum base with 2 blade grids for cutting either 1/2in. or 3/8in. size fries. Base can be mounted for extra stability. Cutting Thickness (in.): 1/2, 3/8, Dimensions L x W x H (in.): 20 1/4 x 7 x 10 1/2, Base: Mountable
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