Re: Mystery Kitchen Tool

Quoted message said:

Chris De Young writes:

Katra said:

Or a french fry maker? :-)

Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?" column
awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well; it
only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to cut
even slices yourself first.

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion. Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
Sheldon
````````````

PENMART01 said:

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion.

Neither I nor they said it was a good one. 🙂

Quoted message said:

Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

I can't find it on their web site at the moment (I'm not a member, or
possibly they don't archive the small blurbs) but I have the print issue at
home. I'll give the complete citation tomorrow (no Usenet access from
home). It's one of the '04 issues, I'm pretty sure, or perhaps late '03.

Cheers,
-C

Quoted message said:

Katra said:

Or a french fry maker? :-)

Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?" column
awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well; it
only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to cut
even slices yourself first.

-C

That object doesn't look like it would slice through a raw potato very well.
Are there pictures of the object that show it being used to cut french fries?
Personally I think it looks more like a noodle cutter to me.

Quoted message said:

That object doesn't look like it would slice through a raw potato very well.
Are there pictures of the object that show it being used to cut french fries?

No, just the tool itself.

-C

"DJS0302" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Katra said:

Or a french fry maker? :-)

Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?"

column

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well;

it

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to

cut

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

even slices yourself first.

-C

That object doesn't look like it would slice through a raw potato very

well.

Quoted message said:

Are there pictures of the object that show it being used to cut french

fries?

Quoted message said:

Personally I think it looks more like a noodle cutter to me.

Funny.... my first thought when the tread appeared was, "perhaps it's for
cutting fresh pasta into noodles."

PENMART01 said:

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion. Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

I read the article and wondered myself if Cooks Illustrated had just
made that up. A simple Chef's knife would be easier to carve out french
fries than that gadget. I figured it was some type of rudimentary dicer...

~john

In article <[email hidden]>,

Levelwave© said:

PENMART01 said:

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion. Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

I read the article and wondered myself if Cooks Illustrated had just
made that up. A simple Chef's knife would be easier to carve out french
fries than that gadget. I figured it was some type of rudimentary dicer...

~john

After a LOT of thought on this tool, I'm willing to bet it's a
garnishing tool of some sort.

Veggie art can get seriously creative sometimes, and this looks like
it'd be a time saver on some of the scoring that is needed for bending
veggie strips into symmetrical patterns.

I'm going to go looking for garnishing/veggie art tools and see what I
can find.

Who knows? It might not even BE a kitchen tool! Might be for patterning
clay or something.
--
K.

(PENMART01) said:

Quoted message said:

Chris De Young writes:

Katra said:

Or a french fry maker? :-)

Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?" column
awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well; it
only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to cut
even slices yourself first.

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion. Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
Sheldon
````````````

See page 3 of the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated.

Here's the text of the item. It is accompanied a drawing of the device
in question.

"Bigger, fancier,
and no doubt faster variations on this tool are available in
kitchen stores today, but none can claim
the low price and simplicity of yours. What is it?
It's a french fry cutter, also known as a potato chipper. About the
size of a paring knife, this tool typically has eight small blades set
perpendicular to the
larger knife blade that cut french fries from a slice of
potato when you drag the blades across the slice. Its
drawback is that it can promise a straight and even
cut on only two of each french fry's four sides; it's
up to you to cut straight and narrow slices first.
In a search of the Internet, we couldn't find a
cutter like yours. Those available for home use,
ranging in price from about $ 11 to $ 150 or more,
work something like a ricer-a peeled raw potato
is put in a chamber and a handle then lowered to
force it through a grid that produces the fries, evenly
cut on all four sides. Where we did find an example
of your french fry cutter was in Steve Ettlinger's
Kitchenware Book (Macmillan, 1992). A search of
his sources-some now defunct-was also fruitless.
It looks like you've got something of a novelty on
your hands."

Cheers,

Leonard

Leonard Lehew said:

Quoted message said:

(PENMART01) said:

Chris De Young writes:
>Katra wrote:
> Or a french fry maker? :-)

Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?" column
awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well; it

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to cut

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

even slices yourself first.

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion. Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

See page 3 of the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated.

You don't say what year. In any event one would need to have a password for
access and you don't supply one of those either.

I don't think a gadget such as depicted in the original post would function as
proposed, indicative of the fact that it cannot be found for sale anywhere.

Searching <potato chipper> (apparently a UK term) only finds gizmos similar to
that found here:
http://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/boutique/produits/lte-coupe_fri
tes_menager.html

---> http://tinyurl.com/3td3y

Quoted message said:

Here's the text of the item. It is accompanied a drawing of the device
in question.

"Bigger, fancier,
and no doubt faster variations on this tool are available in
kitchen stores today, but none can claim
the low price and simplicity of yours. What is it?
It's a french fry cutter, also known as a potato chipper. About the
size of a paring knife, this tool typically has eight small blades set
perpendicular to the
larger knife blade that cut french fries from a slice of
potato when you drag the blades across the slice. Its
drawback is that it can promise a straight and even
cut on only two of each french fry's four sides; it's
up to you to cut straight and narrow slices first.
In a search of the Internet, we couldn't find a
cutter like yours. Those available for home use,
ranging in price from about $ 11 to $ 150 or more,
work something like a ricer-a peeled raw potato
is put in a chamber and a handle then lowered to
force it through a grid that produces the fries, evenly
cut on all four sides. Where we did find an example
of your french fry cutter was in Steve Ettlinger's
Kitchenware Book (Macmillan, 1992). A search of
his sources-some now defunct-was also fruitless.
It looks like you've got something of a novelty on
your hands."

---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
Sheldon
````````````

Leonard Lehew said:

See page 3 of the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated.

Here's the text of the item. It is accompanied a drawing of the device
in question.

Quoted message said:

"Bigger, fancier, and no doubt faster variations on this tool are
available in kitchen stores today, but none can claim the low price
and simplicity of yours. What is it?
It's a french fry cutter, also known as a potato chipper. About the
size of a paring knife, this tool typically has eight small blades set
perpendicular to the larger knife blade that cut french fries from a
slice of potato when you drag the blades across the slice. Its drawback
is that it can promise a straight and even cut on only two of each
french fry's four sides; it's up to you to cut straight and narrow
slices first. In a search of the Internet, we couldn't find a cutter
like yours. Those available for home use, ranging in price from about
$ 11 to $ 150 or more, work something like a ricer-a peeled raw potato
is put in a chamber and a handle then lowered to force it through a grid
that produces the fries, evenly cut on all four sides. Where we did find
an example of your french fry cutter was in Steve Ettlinger's Kitchenware
Book (Macmillan, 1992). A search of his sources-some now defunct-was also
fruitless. It looks like you've got something of a novelty on your hands."

If you hold the knife in the right hand, with the tines up, and draw the
blade through the potato, making sure the tops of the tines protruded
above the layer you were cutting, you would get a 'row' of fries with
each draw. I don't know that I would want to try that maneuver without
lots of bandages on hand, but it should work after a fashion.

"PENMART01" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Leonard Lehew said:

Quoted message said:

(PENMART01) wrote:

>Chris De Young writes:
>>Katra wrote:
>> Or a french fry maker? :-)
>
>Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?"
>column
>awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
>french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well;
>it

Quoted message said:

>only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to
>cut

Quoted message said:

>even slices yourself first.

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the
market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion.
Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

See page 3 of the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated.

You don't say what year. In any event one would need to have a password
for
access and you don't supply one of those either.

I don't think a gadget such as depicted in the original post would
function as
proposed, indicative of the fact that it cannot be found for sale
anywhere.

Searching <potato chipper> (apparently a UK term) only finds gizmos
similar to
that found here:
http://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/boutique/produits/lte-coupe_fri
tes_menager.html

---> http://tinyurl.com/3td3y

Quoted message said:

Here's the text of the item. It is accompanied a drawing of the device
in question.

they stated, ".. in Steve Ettlinger's Kitchenware Book (Macmillan, 1992)",
is where they found the id. That could have been a long-shot both later
wished was not published..... or the dorkiest "stranger than fiction"
offering of a batonet cutter I have ever seen. LOL

Oddly, they site exactly the type of potato ff cutter Sheldon spoke of,
which is a much faster efficient device. I was sort of surprised they
mentioned it in the same article and held to the "finding".

Speaking of gadgets... I have a great idea for a contraption to flute
mushrooms and a similar design to tourne potatoes and carrots.. but every
chef I mentioned it to says no "real" chef would want to mechanize the knife
work. ?? Uses flexible blades and a tiny ratchet spinning turntable in a
setup that adjusts to size, within a fairly small range. When I consider
how much thread spin cutters or a good mandoline cost, I wonder if a kitchen
would spend $150 on such a thing. Anyone ever seen a gadget that could do
either? Basically, cut a circle of arcs in varying diameters.

PENMART01 said:

Quoted message said:

See page 3 of the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated.

You don't say what year. In any event one would need to have a password for
access and you don't supply one of those either.

2003. Regardless, he supplied the complete text, which is accurate (at
least as compared with my print copy).

Quoted message said:

I don't think a gadget such as depicted in the original post would function as
proposed,

No one ever said it worked as intended. That wasn't the question.

-C

Quoted message said:

There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion.
Searching <potato chipper> (apparently a UK term) only finds gizmos

similar to

Quoted message said:

that found here:

A Google search for "french fry cutter" turns up a lot of them. Most for
home use are around $20. Many come with parts to make two sizes of fries.

Isn't there a simular device for slicing a whole tomato in one motion?

Jim

"james a. finley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion.
Searching <potato chipper> (apparently a UK term) only finds gizmos

similar to

Quoted message said:

that found here:

A Google search for "french fry cutter" turns up a lot of them. Most for
home use are around $20. Many come with parts to make two sizes of fries.

Isn't there a simular device for slicing a whole tomato in one motion?

I think so, but since they chop rather than slice, I wouldn't expect much
unless the tomatoes were peeled first... or it somehow rolled the tomato as
the blades dropped. Otherwise, I would expect mush more than a stack of
intact slices.

(PENMART01) said:

Leonard Lehew said:

Quoted message said:

(PENMART01) wrote:

>Chris De Young writes:
>>Katra wrote:
>> Or a french fry maker? :-)
>
>Ding ding! Winner. Cook's Illustrated had a short "what is this?" column
>awhile ago on this exact item. It's for cutting potato slices into even
>french fries. Cook's didn't seem to think that it worked all that well; it

Quoted message said:

>only makes evenly cut fries on two sides, after all - you still have to cut

Quoted message said:

>even slices yourself first.

I don't think so. There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion. Please
point us to the cook's illustrated article that features that "tool".
Peronally I don't think that thingie is at all food related.

See page 3 of the September/October issue of Cooks Illustrated.

You don't say what year. In any event one would need to have a password for
access and you don't supply one of those either.

I don't think a gadget such as depicted in the original post would function as
proposed, indicative of the fact that it cannot be found for sale anywhere.

Searching <potato chipper> (apparently a UK term) only finds gizmos similar to
that found here:
http://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/boutique/produits/lte-coupe_fri
tes_menager.html

Sorry. It was in the 2003 year. An earlier post indicated that it was
in late 2003 or early 2004, so I looked. I could not find the item on
the Cooks on-line site, but I have a hard copy. The text I quoted was
scanned from a hard copy of the issue.

Leonard

james a. finley said:

Quoted message said:

There are many simple *inexpensive" gadgets on the market
that will slice a whole *entire* potato into fries with one motion.
Searching <potato chipper> (apparently a UK term) only finds gizmos

similar to

Quoted message said:

that found here:

A Google search for "french fry cutter" turns up a lot of them. Most for
home use are around $20. Many come with parts to make two sizes of fries.

Isn't there a simular device for slicing a whole tomato in one motion?

Jim

There are devices that are claimed by their manufacturer to slice a
whole tomato at once. One of note is the Vegomatic. It has a couple of
sets of parallel blades that can be turned parallel (for slicing) or
perpendicular (for cutting a potato in to "fries"😉.

Many year ago (mid-late 60s), when this thing first came out, a friend
of mine was working at Sears, which sold the Vegomatic. One of his
chores was to demonstrate the thing. He had seen it demonstrated and
felt sure he could do so. One of the demonstrations was to slice a
tomato. He placed the tomato on the blades, grabbed the plunger and
pushed down firmly.

Unfortunately, in observing the demos, he had failed to notice an
important detail. To slice something like a tomato with this thing,
you need to slide to item back an forth a bit on the blades so initial
cuts are made through the skin. His failure to do this resulted in a
chest high cloud of tomato pulp spattering the spectators. I doubt
this enhanced his career with Sears.

There are others that are still available including this thing

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00012K6O2/qid=1104933260/sr=52-4/ref=sr_52_4_hpc/104-1121852-1492764?v=glance&s=hpc&n=

It has serrated teeth, so I suspect it requires some sawing. A sharp
knife will probably do a better job.

Cheers,

Leonard

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Isn't there a simular device for slicing a whole tomato in one motion?

Jim

There are devices that are claimed by their manufacturer to slice a
whole tomato at once. One of note is the Vegomatic. It has a couple of
sets of parallel blades that can be turned parallel (for slicing) or
perpendicular (for cutting a potato in to "fries"😉.

Many year ago (mid-late 60s), when this thing first came out, a friend
of mine was working at Sears, which sold the Vegomatic. One of his
chores was to demonstrate the thing. He had seen it demonstrated and
felt sure he could do so. One of the demonstrations was to slice a
tomato. He placed the tomato on the blades, grabbed the plunger and
pushed down firmly.

Unfortunately, in observing the demos, he had failed to notice an
important detail. To slice something like a tomato with this thing,
you need to slide to item back an forth a bit on the blades so initial
cuts are made through the skin. His failure to do this resulted in a
chest high cloud of tomato pulp spattering the spectators. I doubt
this enhanced his career with Sears.

There are others that are still available including this thing

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00012K6O2/qid=1104933260/sr=5
2-4/ref=sr_52_4_hpc/104-1121852-1492764?v=glance&s=hpc&n=

Quoted message said:

It has serrated teeth, so I suspect it requires some sawing. A sharp
knife will probably do a better job.

Cheers,

Leonard

I recall one that used wires instead of blades. The tomato was held
stationary as the framework holding the wires was pivoted like a door
through the tomato. I saw it in a hamburger joint 40 years or so ago.

Jim