 The mandolin is an essential tool in a kitchen for making quick meals and perfect salads. The cooking-like test kitchen loves the Japanese mandolin, which costs only about $25. Mandolins are best suited for thinly slicing soft vegetables like zucchini, cucumbers, and cabbage. The first thing you want to do is you want to cut your vegetables down to a manageable size. You want to leave one side untrimmed because what that does is it gives you a handle to keep your fingers safe. So you're going to go ahead and start slicing. And what you're going to do is you're going to check the thickness. If it's too thin, you're going to want to make the blade a little bit smaller by adjusting this knob here on the back. So I just want this a little bit thinner. You're going to keep cutting very slowly so that you don't slip. And the closer you get to your fingertips, you want to go a little bit slower. And what you'll get is these nice paper thin slices that are great for salads and great for served fries. Now when you get towards the end about the last half inch to an inch, you just want to discard that because it's not worth cutting off the tip of your finger for the extra little bit. The mandolin is one of my favorite tools and is the best way to get the perfect slaw on your fish tacos. And beautiful thin slices of radish on your salad. For more tips and wisdom, go to cookinglight.com.