Grater love hath no man (or woman)

I am typing with a bandaid on the knuckle of my thumb. I lost some skin on the grater, grating lemon zest. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've barked my knuckles grating something.

More modern graters than mine have a nice big knob on the top to hang on to while you grate, to keep the grater still. But that still wouldn't solve my problem. It's the hand holding the lemon/carrot/block of cheese/whatever that gets shredded. Am I clumsier than average? Have you found a way round it? Do you have a high tech grater that gets round the problem?

[Jenise]

I am as pathetic as you are, and other than stopping sooner and not grating to the nub as we both apparently do, I see no help for us.

My name is Jenise, and I grate my fingers off.

I have two comments in the form of pictures. FIRST I recently bought myself this new grater from Williams Sonoma. It is a Microplane grater and I love love love it.



Second, here is the solution to your problem. Try a mediaeval armorer if you can't find one in the shops.



Glad to be of help.

Frank

Happens to the best of us - best thing to do is to think of the chunk that remains as chef's or chef's assistant's nibbles. Thus the incentive not to go too near to finger/knuckle flesh.

Frank, after years of just normal box graters, I just bought this one too -- the Microplane box grater. Wow!! I have entered a completely new world of gratingl; it's kind of wonderfully frightening (as well as expensive at 55 euros here), but I am enjoying it immensely. Grating was never so good. cheers, Bonnie

I have two comments in the form of pictures. FIRST I recently bought myself this new grater from Williams Sonoma. It is a Microplane grater and I love love love it.

Second, here is the solution to your problem. Try a mediaeval armorer if you can't find one in the shops.

Glad to be of help.

Frank

Frank, that is TOO funny! Love it! I once cheese-plane-sliced off the ball of my thumb (but it's grown back on, complete with fingerprint). I bled all day and soaked through a whole roll of paper towels and was facing a deadline and couldn't type. I guess I could've pulled the flesh out of the planer and gone to the ER, but I was in a hurry. So anyway, I finally manged to finish the article, and it took like FOREVER for my thumb to stop bleeding, and I had to keep grabbing another towel and blotting in the meantime. I was trying to protect my keyboard. I never realized how much I use the ball of my thumb.

I'm not a chef, but I'll bet every chef or wannabe chef out there can identify with this!

Jenise is right, there's no hope for us. I get Pete to grate the finicky stuff - I figure my skin can only grow back so many times...

[Jenise]

Frank, hadn't seen the Microplane before but it looks a whole lot better than what I've got, which is flimsy but better than the Good Grips one I threw away not long ago (warning: the plastic parts crack).

Love the chain mail glove--that exact stuff (small ring mesh), btw, is what I'm having a curtain for my new kitchen made out of! Everybody I show the 'fabric' to wants a pair of underwear made out of it.

I have started eating cucumbers again just so that I can slice them on the single "mandoline" blade.

Zip zip zip zip zip zip zip...

F

I've not tried this, but anyone ever tried a metal thimble (or two) for protection?

This model has the knuckle protector.http://us.microplane.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

[Jenise]

This model has the knuckle protector.http://us.microplane.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

Interesting user reviews on that site. The first one mentions that the plastic started breaking after six months (same complaint I had about the Good Grips). The plastic parts should and could be made out of polypropylene, then it would last forever.

OH BOY, have I been there regarding barking the knuckles or fingertips on a grater!! My mandoline means that I don't suffer that fate regarding vegetable julienne anymore. But it doesn't solve the finely grated cheese problem.

BTW, I said before that every "authentic" Parmesan Reggiano I'd ever tried smelled and tasted like barf. I FINALLY found a good one. The Kraft green can is permanently OUT from now on! Only the real stuff going forward, now that I've found a good supply! This is a real revelation.

-Paul W.

This model has the knuckle protector.http://us.microplane.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

Interesting user reviews on that site. The first one mentions that the plastic started breaking after six months (same complaint I had about the Good Grips). The plastic parts should and could be made out of polypropylene, then it would last forever.

Falling apart seems to be a common thing with box graters. When Cook's Illustrated reviewed them a couple of years ago, #1 was from somebody called Cuisipro (I think). But that one turned out to fall apart, particularly in the dishwasher. They didn't like the one Microplane referenced in Karen's link for two reasons: poorly designed knuckle guard and a too-short grating surface. That left the Oxo one at the top of the heap, so I picked up one of those. Mine is hanging together for now but from what you say, it won't for long . AFAIK they haven't yet reviewed the new Microplane model that's been mentioned by others. I considered it but thought it might be too dangerous (as well as pricey), although I love my little original file-type Microplane.

[Robin Garr]

This model has the knuckle protector.http://us.microplane.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

I have that exact grater and love it, but I find the knuckle protector awkward to use, so I generally just skip it and work vewy, vewy carefully and don't try to grate that last little chunk of cheese.

I have that exact grater and love it, but I find the knuckle protector awkward to use, so I generally just skip it and work vewy, vewy carefully and don't try to grate that last little chunk of cheese.

That last little piece is "cooks share" isn't it. I also think of it as the "Angel's share" Not of course that I am an angel, just ask my wife! Hope you are gaining strength and feeling better day by day.

for zesting citrus I think the handheld microplaner (shaped like a ruler) is one of life's little treats

This model has the knuckle protector.http://us.microplane.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

I have that exact grater and love it, but I find the knuckle protector awkward to use, so I generally just skip it and work vewy, vewy carefully and don't try to grate that last little chunk of cheese.

That last little chunk o' cheese always gets popped into my mouth.

The topic of one of my Weight Watchers meetings was BLT.

Bites, licks and tastes. The point being that if you are trying to do it the right way and record everything that you eat, then a finger-full of sauce, or that "crumb" of cheese needs to get recorded. It can add up, especially if you have kids who don't clean their plates...

Our group leader also has meetings at the local hospital, and the members are doctors and nurses. She talked about one doctor who as an experiment left on the cloth mask over her lower face while cooking. When she took it off for the meal it was covered with food, all those little unconscious nibbles had left it pretty greasy.

I realize that everyone else here wears "petite" sizes...

F