But I wanted a circular pancake
November 30, 2016 6:23 AM Subscribe
A simple but ingenious pancake-making machine.
Other mechanical street-food marvels:
* Making banana chips quickly
* Kebab conveyor
* Popcorn cannon
Some people want more elaborate pancakes. Creating a pancake-making machine isn't quite as easy as it looks.
Humans still have the edge with some elements of street food preparation.
Other mechanical street-food marvels:
* Making banana chips quickly
* Kebab conveyor
* Popcorn cannon
Some people want more elaborate pancakes. Creating a pancake-making machine isn't quite as easy as it looks.
Humans still have the edge with some elements of street food preparation.
What devilish trick keeps the batter from slopping off the side as it turns away on the first go?
Also, I need a portable one that straps on and feeds pancake slabs straight into my mouth.
posted by chavenet at 6:41 AM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, I need a portable one that straps on and feeds pancake slabs straight into my mouth.
posted by chavenet at 6:41 AM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
I suspect the devilish trick is a person with a spatula-like instrument?
posted by edd at 6:51 AM on November 30, 2016
posted by edd at 6:51 AM on November 30, 2016
Ok the popcorn cannon is either madness or genius, can't figure out which.
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:54 AM on November 30, 2016
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:54 AM on November 30, 2016
I love that the first group of banana chip guys have the same bench sander powered banana slicer as the second guy, but they're doing it by hand with mandolins just because it's more fun.
I've seen those popcorn cannon machines used for making puffed rice and puffed pasta (because the shapes are interesting) too.
posted by mattamatic at 6:56 AM on November 30, 2016
I've seen those popcorn cannon machines used for making puffed rice and puffed pasta (because the shapes are interesting) too.
posted by mattamatic at 6:56 AM on November 30, 2016
I'm in Brittany for the day and I am going to bet the human made crepes I stuff myself with this evening will be superior.
posted by biffa at 6:59 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 6:59 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
What devilish trick keeps the batter from slopping off the side as it turns away on the first go?
That was my question too. I suspect that it's a relatively thin batter that cooks fast enough to have structural integrity by the time it gets vertical.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:23 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
That was my question too. I suspect that it's a relatively thin batter that cooks fast enough to have structural integrity by the time it gets vertical.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:23 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yikes. I wonder how often one of those popcorn cannon guys get his fingers blown off.
posted by slkinsey at 7:31 AM on November 30, 2016
posted by slkinsey at 7:31 AM on November 30, 2016
What devilish trick keeps the batter from slopping off the side as it turns away on the first go?
If God stopped thinking about the pancake batter, even for a second, it would fly off into space. I know this because at night, when I fold down the umbrella on my bicycle cart and put away my pancake-scissor-sharpening tools, I light a candle and read the Gospel of Saint Macarius the Younger.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 7:40 AM on November 30, 2016 [8 favorites]
If God stopped thinking about the pancake batter, even for a second, it would fly off into space. I know this because at night, when I fold down the umbrella on my bicycle cart and put away my pancake-scissor-sharpening tools, I light a candle and read the Gospel of Saint Macarius the Younger.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 7:40 AM on November 30, 2016 [8 favorites]
Yikes. I wonder how often one of those popcorn cannon guys get his fingers blown off.
Well, no more than 10 times, tops.
posted by briank at 7:49 AM on November 30, 2016 [7 favorites]
Well, no more than 10 times, tops.
posted by briank at 7:49 AM on November 30, 2016 [7 favorites]
When I watch the pastry guy toss them and they land spaced perfectly there's a needle-scratch sound in my head because what just happened, Reality?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:49 AM on November 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:49 AM on November 30, 2016 [4 favorites]
The pastry guy really understands angular momentum. I want to try this but feel like I'm going to wind up picking pastries off the floor...
posted by which_chick at 8:05 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by which_chick at 8:05 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Ooh, this feels like a rare opportunity to show off my laser pancake engraver -- (video of test without safety shield).
My narcissism aside, that popcorn cannon is truly brilliant. A bit deathtrap-y, but definitely brilliant.
posted by metaBugs at 8:08 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
My narcissism aside, that popcorn cannon is truly brilliant. A bit deathtrap-y, but definitely brilliant.
posted by metaBugs at 8:08 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
A bit deathtrap-y, but definitely brilliant.
I just had an idea for a mod for Borderlands 2...
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:28 AM on November 30, 2016
I just had an idea for a mod for Borderlands 2...
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:28 AM on November 30, 2016
Here's how they do it at RAGBRAI, where they make more than 10,000 pancakes each morning.
posted by sixpack at 8:41 AM on November 30, 2016
posted by sixpack at 8:41 AM on November 30, 2016
The pastry guy really understands angular momentum
Not food, but another wizard of space and time
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:52 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not food, but another wizard of space and time
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:52 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Why are they cutting them? The only thing I have ever wanted is an infinite pancake.
posted by aubilenon at 9:36 AM on November 30, 2016
posted by aubilenon at 9:36 AM on November 30, 2016
> What devilish trick
What devilish trick indeed. When you first put pancake batter into a hot pan, it sticks. As it cooks, it dries and unsticks. What this means, then, is that the first wheel is hot enough to solidify the batter in the first quarter turn so it doesn't drip off, but not so hot that the pancake starts to unstick before it's at a point to transfer to the second wheel. It's moving fast enough to create a thin enough layer for that to be true, but not so fast that it hasn't got time to cook the underside.
I sense the need for much experimentation to determine precisely how sensitive pancake batter is to these parameters, and I regret to say that I have but one stomach.
posted by regularfry at 9:59 AM on November 30, 2016
What devilish trick indeed. When you first put pancake batter into a hot pan, it sticks. As it cooks, it dries and unsticks. What this means, then, is that the first wheel is hot enough to solidify the batter in the first quarter turn so it doesn't drip off, but not so hot that the pancake starts to unstick before it's at a point to transfer to the second wheel. It's moving fast enough to create a thin enough layer for that to be true, but not so fast that it hasn't got time to cook the underside.
I sense the need for much experimentation to determine precisely how sensitive pancake batter is to these parameters, and I regret to say that I have but one stomach.
posted by regularfry at 9:59 AM on November 30, 2016
A simple but ingenious pancake-making machine.
Says you, Mr. Goldberg. Simple-but-ingenious is the guy who modified the apple peeler to be a spiral potato slicer and runs it off a cordless drill at Lambtown. This doesn't exactly look like a weekend project, you know? Straightforward but its got fire and rotating parts and lots of welding and key angles. I suspect its a lot of work to make it look so simple.
I'd been concerned about the "simple" being a matter of hurf-durf-street vendor framing but Hackaday calls a startlingly similar machine "simple" as well. The South African guy who put it together seems to suggest he convergently evolved from the aether.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:14 AM on November 30, 2016
Says you, Mr. Goldberg. Simple-but-ingenious is the guy who modified the apple peeler to be a spiral potato slicer and runs it off a cordless drill at Lambtown. This doesn't exactly look like a weekend project, you know? Straightforward but its got fire and rotating parts and lots of welding and key angles. I suspect its a lot of work to make it look so simple.
I'd been concerned about the "simple" being a matter of hurf-durf-street vendor framing but Hackaday calls a startlingly similar machine "simple" as well. The South African guy who put it together seems to suggest he convergently evolved from the aether.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:14 AM on November 30, 2016
Many "simple" machines are fairly simple in execution (even the double drum pancake maker is pretty simple in that I could whip it up in my garage from scavenged material) but the original concept is a brilliant conception.
And then there is all the trial and error to get consistent batter.
So to my mind simple doesn't mean easy; just that the execution requires few (moving) parts.
posted by Mitheral at 10:25 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
And then there is all the trial and error to get consistent batter.
So to my mind simple doesn't mean easy; just that the execution requires few (moving) parts.
posted by Mitheral at 10:25 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is how I imagine Tim Burton's hobbit butler makes breakfast for him every morning.
posted by gwint at 11:47 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gwint at 11:47 AM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Great, I fell into a street food YouTube rabbit hole and now I'm fucking STARVING
posted by the painkiller at 1:27 PM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by the painkiller at 1:27 PM on November 30, 2016 [2 favorites]
is it making socca niçoise? please tell me it's making socca. why isn't it making socca?!
posted by dorian at 2:37 PM on November 30, 2016
posted by dorian at 2:37 PM on November 30, 2016
Seldom has the question been asked: wie wird ein echter Baumkuchen hergestellt?
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:43 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:43 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
wau, so gibt 's 'nen echten geilen Kuchen!
posted by dorian at 5:11 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by dorian at 5:11 PM on November 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
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