Commercial Veg Cutter Discs

We recommend always purchasing the same brand of blades and discs as the machine, to guarantee compatibility. Go by make and model, never by size alone. Two brands both selling a 4mm slicer are selling two different parts, and what fits yours is decided by the plate diameter, the shape of the centre drive boss and the depth of the housing it sits in. A disc that's close but not right will either not seat at all or will foul the housing and get chewed up.

The quickest way to get it right is to read the model number off the data plate on the machine, then turn over any disc you already have and read the part number stamped on it. A photo of the underside of the disc tells us most of what we need. Ring or email those through before you order and we'll confirm the match, which takes a minute and saves a return.

No. Dicing takes two parts. A slicing disc sits on top and cuts the product into sheets, and a dicing grid sits underneath and cuts those sheets into sticks and then cubes as they're pushed through. The two have to be a matched pair, which is why grids are often listed as working with one particular slicer.

So a 10x10mm dice means a 10mm slicer with a 10x10mm grid. Some brands list grids in a standard and a low version for different machines, and those aren't the same part, so order the one your machine calls for. Chip and french fry grids work the same way and give you a stick instead of a cube.

For slicing, 1mm to 2mm is the salad range: cucumber, radish, red onion, anything going raw on a plate, and crisps. Three to 5mm suits potato bake, roasting veg and onion for the grill. Eight millimetres and up is chunky roast veg, thick chips and stir fry, and the coarsest slicers go past 10mm for things like whole potatoes for wedges.

For grating, 2mm to 4mm is cheese, carrot and beetroot, and 6mm to 9mm gives the coarse strands you want for rosti or a slaw with some bite. Julienne is the same idea in two directions: 2 to 4mm for garnish and salad, 8 to 10mm for stir fry and crudites. If you're not sure, buy the thinner one first, because a thin cut is more useful in more dishes.

Usually the blade is blunt. A sharp edge parts the skin and a dull one pushes it, and tomato shows that up before anything else does. The same thing shows as ragged edges on cucumber and a puddle of juice in the pan underneath where there shouldn't be one.

Soft product also wants a soft slicer, which uses a different blade geometry to get through skin without crushing what's behind it, and running the machine a bit slower helps as well. If tomatoes and mozzarella are a daily job, keep a soft slicer for them and stop using the general purpose disc on soft product, which is what blunts it in the first place.

On most veg cutter discs the blade is riveted or bolted into the plate at a set angle, and grinding it changes that angle, so they're replaced. A few ranges sell the blade as a separate part from the plate, and where that's the case it's the cheaper repair.

The cut goes ragged, there's more liquid in the pan, the machine sounds louder and yield drops because more of the product is being torn to waste. Our prices on discs are sharp and a disc is one of the least expensive parts you'll buy for that machine, so replace a tired one well before it stops cutting altogether.

Where a brand offers the same cut in more than one material, stainless is what to buy for a machine that runs every day. It holds its edge longest, it doesn't stain from beetroot or onion, and it stands up to being washed several times a day for years.

Aluminium and polycarbonate plates are lighter, which makes a real difference if the disc is being changed six or eight times through a morning prep, and they're easier on the hands of whoever is doing it. They're a sensible choice for a cut you only do occasionally. What they don't like is being dropped or stacked under something heavy, since a bent plate rubs the housing and won't sit true.

Three or four covers most kitchens. A thin slicer around 2mm for salad, a mid slicer around 4 to 5mm for cooking veg, a grater for cheese and carrot, and then either a julienne disc or a dicing set depending on whether your menu actually dices anything.

Then double up on whichever one gets used every single day. Discs need washing between products, and while your only 2mm slicer is in the sink the prep bench stops. A second one of the size you lean on keeps that from happening, and it gives you cover for the day someone drops one.

Wash them straight after use, before starch, onion juice and beetroot dry on. Use a brush, not a cloth: a cloth wraps over the blade edge and that's how people cut themselves badly. Dry them properly, because water left sitting on a blade will pit even good stainless.

Most of the damage happens in storage. Loose in a drawer, plates knock together, blades chip and someone reaches in blind. A wall rack or an accessories trolley keeps them flat, separated and where you can see what you're grabbing. It also stops the plates bending, and a bent disc rubs the housing and cuts unevenly for the rest of its life.

Hallde offers slicers from 1mm up, fine cut and soft slicers, graters and shredders, julienne cutters, dicing grids from 6x6mm to 25x25mm in standard and low versions, and potato chip grids, plus the feed cylinders, hoppers, push feeders and racks that go with them. Dito Sama discs are made for their own machines including the Prep4You line, covering grating, shredding, slicing and wavy slicing plates along with dicing and chip grids.

Dynamic's CL discs run from 0.5mm slicing up to 13mm, with julienne from 3x2mm to 10x10mm and dicing sets. ICE offer slicing, julienne, shredding, cubing grids and a parmesan disc, and Yasaki offer slicing in metal, aluminium and poly, plus shredding graters, julienne, french fry and dicing sets. The machines themselves are on veg processors.