New Star Foodservice 42306 Commercial Grade French Fry Cutter with Suction Feet, 3/8", Green

This French Fry cutter works beautifully, with a few caveats. It produces lots of fries with minimal effort (hint: use older potatoes for better flavor and easier cutting). I like to soak the cut potatoes for at least 30 minutes in water with a capful of plain vinegar added. This helps draw out the starch (the water will be cloudy). This is followed by two cooks in peanut oil, one at low temp to cook the fries through, then one at high temp for crispiness. Season immediately with salt and/or BBQ rub to your preference. The cut fries are perfectly formed. Your results with proper technique will be better than anything at a drive-thru, and way-way-way less expensive. I find the machine simple to clean. The cutter blade is easily removed with 3 thumbscrews (hint: have a small bowl handy to keep the thumbscrews and lock washers together). I soak the cutter blade in a bowl of soapy water, and then use a sink sprayer and vegetable brush to make sure all the potato gunk is cleaned out. It's a 30-second job. The body of the cutter generally needs only to be wiped off with a damp cloth. You can replace the cutter and matching pusher with a different size if you wish to make different size fries. Those users who are complaining that the suction cups are too strong should note that a small rubber column on the cup can be pulled up to release the vacuum. I like having the strong attachment, as I usually cut fries on my smoothtop range and don't want the cutter sliding around. If you don't like the suction cups, take them off and mount the cutter to a piece of plywood or install it vertically on your wall. It's also handy to have a shallow bowl ready to catch the fries as they come out. Put the cut fries immediately into water to avoid darkening. Two design weaknessses: First, if you're not careful removing the cutter blade, it's easy to have the cutter seem to fall apart and be confusing to re-assemble. The more you do it, the less this is likely to happen. Second, it's possible to mount the cutter blade backward. Pay attention, people–the sharp side needs to be the one in contact with the potato! Some of the folks complaining it's too hard to push the potato through the cutter have the blade mounted backward, as the machine is designed to give you a big mechanical lever advantage against the poor defenseless potato. This a pro-style cutter, the same one I used in culinary school, and will hold up forever.

Since our family loves homemade fries and makes them a lot; I was looking for a fry cutter that was a little better than the plastic hand held ones that take a lot of strength and effort but just don't work well with potatoes. I got this and I am very satisfied with it. It is a professional restaurant grade cutter, very sturdy. There were no instructions but it was pretty obvious how the thing is put together; maybe took 2-5 minutes to unbox, figure it out and put it all together. The components are all held together with bolts, wing nuts and Philips screws. The plunger and cutter can be unscrewed and removed for clean up. You will need a Phillips screwdriver to remove the plunger when you want to clean it but that's it, all the other parts can be finger tightened together. The suction feet do grip well with most surfaces; I used it on granite countertop surface and it sticks well. I use a butter knife to slide under the feet to dislodge and when I want to move it. I am an ordinary guy and had no problems running potatoes through it. It does take a little effort but I found it works best to push the top of cutter in the opposite direction with one hand as I pull forward with the arm with the other. It cuts the potatoes real easy. The only con with this is the dimensions and you need a space to put it away when you done. It is approximately 16 inches long by 8 inches wide by 14 inches tall, all put together with the arm attached; that's a lot to space you need to store it! You could remove the arm and feet when your done to reduce the height but that could be a hassle. Glad I got the 3/8" inch square size; perfect size for fries (not shoe string, not steak size but just the right size). Anyway if you love to make your own fries and make a lot of them then this is great. If you only want fries occasionally then maybe the cheapo plastic handle ones would be best for you.

Really great french fry cutter. I was sick of mucking about with a knife trying to get a consistent size and with this thing it's a piece of cake. The packaging was a little lackluster, It was a cardboard box and some foam inserts. The box looked a little beat up when I got it but all the parts were pristine when I opened it up. Granted this thing is 100% heavy metal so to do any damage it'd probably have to get dropped off a moving truck and then get run over by a different truck. Also no real instruction but the only thing you have to put on is the lever. To install the handle reomve the long bolt in the very back of the cutter. Place the lever behind the cutter with hand grip pointing away from the unit and the smaller hole up. Line of the back set of holes of the lever in between the holes you removed the long bolt from reinsert the bolt, and tighten down the nut creating the pivot point. Next there should be two metal braces that lead to the pressing plate. Remove the nut and bolt from these braces, raise the lever up so you can sandwich it between the two braces, reinsert and tighten the bolt. It should now slide smoothly back and forth. The cutter is rather large about 1.5 ft long and 1 ft high with the handle attached so it's going to take up some cabinet space The suction cups (which bolt in and you can finger tighten in place) are STRONG. I tried them on a normal counter top, tile, and wood (like a butchers block). They had no problem sticking to anything smooth and nonporous but the wood surface didn't work to well so anything like granite or a varnished counter should be fine. For how they actually cut the potatoes? Nothing was easier. I cut up Russets and it took my about 30 seconds to cut 6 potatoes perfectly and evenly. Clean up isn't bad but you will have to break out a screw drive the remove the pushing plate so it can be properly washed (skins tend to get a little stuck in it). Remove the three front wingnuts and take the cutting grid off. Remove the pushing plate by unscrewing the two screws in the back. Once both those pieces are off you can remove the metal chute where the potato sits. Those get scrubbed and washed and the rest of the cutter gets wiped down since the frame doesn't touch the food at all. It's a tad pricey but the incredibly solid construction means it'll last a life time. Plus you can but a bunch of other plates to make different sizes and such. PS Here's a link to a pretty good method of making frites and one to picking the best potatoes for frying (using a potatoes specific gravity no less) http://chefjonlovett.com/2013/09/french-fries/ http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/finding-perfect-french-fry-potatoes

Okay, so this thing is an all metal beast! It makes fries like no other. Love the interchangeable blade sizes. You can cut fries fast with this thing. Now, because it's not a little flimsy plastic thing it's going to take up some room in your kitchen cabinet. So be prepared because it isn't small. Yes, this is made in China. Again the quality seems good. Ours had silicone O-rings where the rods meet the cutter frame and two were broken in the box. Seems to function fine without them, but disappointing given cost. Also, had a funky smell kind of a "I've been in a warehouse in China then spent time on a cargo ship" mildew odor. Thought it was just the packaging but even after multiple washings it still had the odor. We've had this for many months now and it's been used and washed may time. Still has a slight odor. Just an FYI to anyone overly sensitive to this kind of thing. Not a deal breaker for us and overall we're very happy with its performance.

This is a very durable, strong cutter. It's easy to use. Just rest it on the counter, get a potato, pull back the handle, place the potato in and apply pressure and it turns the potato into fries. Very fast and efficient and it cuts the potato perfectly into fries. You just have to be careful where you place your hand when applying pressure so as not to pinch your fingers. It's easy if you're rushing to not pay attention and do that. I did that once but learned my lesson. I highly recommend getting this product. It's very strong and works well. The cleanup is easy.. you just unscrew the grate and take off and rinse everything off. Be careful not to let it sit without cleaning it for very long... just like a cheese grater, the stuck on food dries and becomes harder to clean and get off. I have been using the cutter often since it was delivered. Easy to use ~ even on the larger potatoes~The blades are sturdy & sharp, clean up is a breeze plus it doesn't slide all over the counter. I've been destroying the inexpensive (Progressive) fry cutter too often.. they're only inexpensive if they actually work.. This product came in nice packaging and was clearly labeled. Upon opening it is disassembled, but didn't take long to get together. I did notice that it didn't come with instructions which made it a fun puzzle. But none the less, it was easily done. The best feature besides the strong construction, is the suction cups. They will stick just about anywhere. They hold tight and allow you to get to work. A 50lb. Box of potatoes was done in minutes. I am extremely impressed and would highly encourage anyone to buy this cutter. You do need some strength to push a potato through it and don't even thing about a sweet potato in case you really don't know anything about potatoes....a sweet potato takes a special strength cutter. Another thing that would help all those who don't read instructions, you should lube the slides the pusher plate slides on...we used just plain olive oil for that and this might be the reason many complain about how hard it pushes....I found it easier if I cut the potatoes in half before slicing them.

After breaking our second plastic consumer-grade french fry cutter within 3 years, we decided to upgrade to this commercial grade fry cutter. Having worked for both food service and food manufacturing companies, I am familiar with commercial- and industrial-grade cutting equipment, and had used New Star cutters in food manufacturing laboratories and research kitchens for cutting potatoes. As I expected, this cutter is well-constructed, and with such a long handle for leverage, the force required to push a potato through the grid is significantly less than that needed for the smaller consumer cutters. The attachable suction cups grip the countertop firmly, allowing me to place the cutter next to the kitchen sink and eject the cut potatoes directly into the sink. Hint: For best results, fill the sink about 1/4-full with cold water, and add 1/4 tsp of citric acid (available in the canning section at the grocery store). This will keep the fries from turning grey or orange caused by enzymes activated on the cut surfaces of the potatoes, even after removing the cut potatoes from the water. My family especially likes the variety of cutting heads shipped with this combination package, allowing three different sizes of french fries and two sizes of potato wedges, also popular with my family. The cutter is a bit pricier than consumer models, but for us the improved ease and durability are well worth the cost. We are using this cutter once or twice per week. The only thing that I would like to see different in this design would be the ability to remove the pusher grid plate without needing a Phillips screwdriver; however, this is only a small inconvenience. Since the cutting blade plates are already removable without tools, it would be nice (and consistent from a product design standpoint) to have both plates removable without tools. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this New Star cutter for anyone who likes to make home-made fried potatoes.

Works great you need one !! good value.

Excellent! Make sure to tighten everything first. Also if you switch blades a lot, make sure you have the right Philips screw head or else it will strip over time. They could change that to a wing nut to avoid this issue.