French fries: Consider this a warning
This isn't so much a blog post as a public service announcement. Those fries on the right? Ninety seconds earlier, they were the potato flakes on the left.
Such is the doing of FryWorks, which demonstrated its Willy Wonka of a product (video here) at last weekend's Restaurant Expo. Pour flakes into the top of the machine; fries come out at the bottom. They also stay crisp and relatively hot for a discomfiting period of time. The taste? French-fryish. Like crispy instant potato with a hint of cardboard.
Although Guy and the other Golden West Equipment reps seem like nice people, it must be said: This is truly instant karma. Tread carefully.
I guess when you think about it, it's not *that* much creepier than instant mashed potato flakes.
Posted by: Nick | August 21, 2007 at 02:50 PM
And what's not creepy about mashed potato flakes?
Posted by: Dana | August 21, 2007 at 03:04 PM
To go from a flake to a fry, is a bigger shape changer than a flake to glop ...
Posted by: Big Bomb | August 23, 2007 at 06:38 PM
So, it takes potato flakes, makes them into really thick mashed potatoes, forces them through a shaper, and drops them into a fryer.
Earthshaking stuff. Humanity will never be the same.
Posted by: Gurn Blanston | August 23, 2007 at 07:10 PM
As a chef of 20+ years exp. this product,(even more than the instant mash), is an abomination. People who would eat such pap deserve to be flogged!
Posted by: Demidan | August 23, 2007 at 07:13 PM
http://www.rotten.com/library/culture/french-fries/
Long time commin'
Also I can see using this at an airport when stuck, as all other souces of food are locked away, and then regreting it soon after.
Posted by: not a doktor | August 23, 2007 at 07:30 PM
From the rotten.com link above:
"Over the course of the past ten years, Tasty Fries has spent over $40 million in research and development, searching for ways to establish and market an army of vending machines capable of dispensing hot, tasty french fries to consumers -- in less than ninety seconds."
So -- while the so-what description provided by "Gurn Blanston" above tries to minimize the weirdness of this product, an expenditure of $40 million and the time involved seems to say it is worthy of note.
Posted by: Big Bomb | August 23, 2007 at 07:51 PM
Ewww...it's the Soylent Green of the Tuber world.
Posted by: Marc Hernandez | August 23, 2007 at 08:24 PM
Gurn Blanston would eat this pap and be flogged!
I'm holding out till they can do the same thing for hot dogs.
Posted by: The Gentle Sherpa | August 23, 2007 at 08:59 PM
It was more than 20 years ago that I worked with a machine that did a similar task. You poured the flakes in the top and then put a mold over the extruding portion to determine the shape of the final product. Like a big PlayDoh factory toy.
A windshield wiper like device cut off the chunks and the fries were dipped into the fryer. Sometimes we would use the potato mix like PlayDoh and then cook our creations in the fryer as well.
Posted by: Bob | August 23, 2007 at 09:08 PM
My high school had something like that in the 90's. The result wasn't too bad.
Posted by: brainswarm | August 23, 2007 at 10:12 PM
The fast food chain Carl's Jr. used a similar product back in the late 70s. As I recall if you didn't eat them quickly (like within 5 minutes of cooking) they would get pretty soggy.
Posted by: Scott Saavedra | August 24, 2007 at 02:46 AM
I like how the machine opens up like some kind of big military nuclear device. I'd eat these, but only out of morbid curiosity.
Posted by: Thomas J. Brown | August 24, 2007 at 09:33 AM
as a fast-foody, I will say to the old-school types - "GET OVER IT"
Anything that gets hot crunchiness to my trembling lips a bit faster and with consistency is to be applauded. How much is one of those machine and how do I get one installed in my bedroom next to my computer?
(Note to self, have doorway widened and bed reinforced. Ripley's, here I come!)
Posted by: Marques C | August 24, 2007 at 10:14 AM
I'd always assumed that this is how curly fries were made anyway. I mean, they just LOOK like they come out of an extruder. But, apparently not, usually at least.
Posted by: Dewi Morgan | August 24, 2007 at 10:24 AM
Yep, Carls Jr used something like this well into the 80s. I spent a good 3 yrs there and remember it well. Frispo machine, it was called. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk also had a concession stand that used the Frispo technology, it was in the 90s, IIRC. People either loved them or hated them. I hated working there.
Posted by: Rob | August 24, 2007 at 04:09 PM
saw a similar type machine in australia called the FoodCube French fries vending machine, they also have one that does chicken nuggets
Posted by: greg | October 09, 2007 at 12:26 AM
I am trying to find a video of this machine working. Does anyone have it?
Posted by: Jeremy Schwartz | August 22, 2008 at 10:48 PM