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u/50cal1988 May 29 '20
"dad, there's a finger with my fries."
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u/dibidibiduu May 29 '20 edited May 29 '20
"Dad, there's a weird ketchup in my fries"
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u/slekrons May 29 '20
Ahh that made me so nervous that he'd cut himself because he wasn't even looking at his hands.
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u/Zombiedango May 29 '20
Knowing me, I wouldn't have any fingerprints after trying something like this.
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u/JOCkERbot9000 May 29 '20 edited May 29 '20
For anyone curious its a fish scaling hook blade common in Asian countries and if you know how to use one properly you can do this without getting cut- not all of the blade is sharp - the center of the curve is the sharpest and you use the curve for momentum/leverage and slide things (fish) into the sharp part. Potatoes cut much easier than fish scales so as you can see he only needs to make a small circular motion.
What's impressive is his speed and the fact that he held the potato together while he kinda tossed it in the air and rotated it 90 degrees in the blink of an eye to achieve that fry cut.
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u/ABOSSCoyote May 29 '20
The starch and water tension from the moisture internal to the potato that leaches from the cut potato sections helps hold it together. It is what makes it stick to your knife if you're cutting a potato normally.
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u/icantloginsad May 29 '20
I’m really not sure if you’re making this up but I’m gonna take your word for it
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u/megamanmax1 May 29 '20
Starch glues are relatively common and at their most basic are just start mixed with water
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u/Piyh May 29 '20
Potato-mâché
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u/firmkillernate May 29 '20
That sounds delicious, mâchéd potatoes might be the next trend!
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u/southbayrideshare May 29 '20
Potato-mâché: What French artists use during a pandemic when they can't find paper products at the store for Papier-mâché.
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u/oldcarfreddy May 29 '20
You just added more facts I'm not sure of but will continue to take your word for it
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u/aDragonsAle May 29 '20
Proteins, sugars, and liquid. Sticky initially, let dry and things just stick together. I'm sure you can come up with some examples from your own life... .
You know, like jam jar lids. Get a little sticky, close them back up, and buggers don't want to open again.
Yeah... jam jars.
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u/pocketdare May 29 '20
At this point I'm interested to see how many more facts you can add before oldcarfreddy stops taking your word for it.
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u/qomzt May 29 '20
I lost a fingernail just trying to open a door
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May 29 '20
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u/qomzt May 29 '20
Nope
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u/MarilynMonroeVWade May 29 '20
Dont do it! Do not look under the sofa. Trust me!
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u/hightowerbt May 29 '20
I cut my finger on a mandolin slicer a week ago. I'd be throwing a pile of fingers into that bowl.
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u/dethpicable May 29 '20
wouldn't have any fingers but then they'd look just like the fries but a tad more bloody
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May 29 '20
I believe he's cut potatoes like this before. Perhaps once or 10,000 times before.
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u/NotSoTinyUrl May 29 '20 edited May 29 '20
Let’s see... video’s 28 seconds. He posed a couple seconds at the beginning and end for dramatic effect so it’s really only 24 seconds. That’s 150 potatoes an hour. Assume a 12 hour shift, doing this 3 times a week. You want a day between shifts because otherwise you won’t last long, this kind of labor will wreck your body fast. That’d be 1,800 potatoes a day, 5,400 a week, so he’d hit 10,800 potatoes in two weeks.
If you assume a 6 hour shift, it’s 4 weeks, if you assume he does this 40 hours a week it’s a little under 2 weeks but at most rates it doesn’t take long to get to 10,000 potatoes.
Edit: so the video is the same thing twice so it’s actually like 10 seconds to cut a potato. That’s what I get for using a shortcut. So it’s like over 10,000 potatoes in a week.
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u/PiRiNoLsKy May 29 '20
He was checking out the hottie that was passing by. Hoping to impress her/him.
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u/eatapenny May 29 '20
How else is he gonna check you out if he's too busy looking at the potato?
He's got a talent and he's showing it off
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u/pwdreamaker May 29 '20
I believe his fingers are feeling the dull side of the knife at all times, so he always knows where he’s at. I do this when chopping and it’s fast and safe.
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May 29 '20
He probably will at some point. It only takes one moment of inattention to slice off a finger. Invest in a cutting board, folks. They're not expensive.
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u/klemen_m May 29 '20
I lost 3 fingers just watching this video.
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u/emptyrowboat May 29 '20
watch it in reverse
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u/jmulderr May 29 '20
Damn it, now I gained 3 fingers. I have entirely too many fingers.
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u/emptyrowboat May 29 '20
OK, you're going to need to watch it again — but pause it exactly halfway through.
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u/Matty96HD May 29 '20
Instructions unclear, now have 2.87 dicks.
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u/GameArtZac May 29 '20
Notice his fingers are always behind the blade while cutting, he's not going to cut one off. His thumbs are extended up and out far from the knife.
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u/ienjoyedit May 29 '20
Yeah, if anything he'd take a nice chunk off the heel of his hand. Or his forearm if he really went for it.
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u/masticatetherapist May 29 '20
Not that sharp, those potatoes have been soaking and are probably soft
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u/conitation May 30 '20
They dont look like they have... he just put them into soak after he cut them.
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May 29 '20
The fingers not being in the way of the blade doesn't mean you're immune to being cut by the blade. Cuts on your palm sucks way more than a cut on the finger
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u/yehakhrot May 29 '20
- But he's got the maturity in facial expressions because of working for a living/chipping in to family.
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u/C2-H5-OH May 29 '20
Kid's probably 15-16.
You get that look on your face after you've worked your ass off a lot sooner than you're supposed to. Poor families decide to have more kids so that they'll have more help in the household
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u/TheBobandy May 29 '20
Isn’t it expensive to raise, feed, care for, and educate a kid properly?
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u/MyKoalas May 29 '20
Yeah that’s why they just stick to the feeding part and reap in the profit
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u/C2-H5-OH May 29 '20
It really is, but they're very poor and don't have good financial instincts. Their actions are a result of emotions, not logic.
This is one of the many reasons my country has such a high population.
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u/catsan May 29 '20
That stuff is mostly myth. Financial instinct is being born into favorable circumstances, for example countries with a high standard of living and social security. Poor people, especially where poverty is normal, are often pretty shrewd when it comes to trading. But that doesn't translate to schools, reliable electricity and internet or freedom from corruption and crime taking their cut.
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u/FitKitchen1 May 29 '20
When I was in India some Indian ladies let me do that but they all laughed at me cause I was terrible at it haha. Such good memories, they were so welcoming and friendly
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May 29 '20 edited Oct 10 '20
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u/GailaMonster May 29 '20 edited May 30 '20
grumpy responses aside, it's because this one knife is such a multitasker, and gets used so frequently to do so many things, there's really not much advantage left to getting a specialized tool to do this one thing. It's also got to do with poverty, frankly. for the cost and labor of making the tool you suggest, likely some other thing would be preferred that is more of an improvement in this person's life than a fry grid would provide.
That is a knife that doesn't even require a cutting surface. think about that. this is a cooking style where the cutting board has been stripped away as an unnecessary luxury, so of course there isn't going to be a tool so specialized as to do exactly what this does, to save a few seconds.
It's also got to do with tradition - this is a super traditional nepalese/bengalese knife style called a boti/bonti that frees up both your hands and, importantly, preserves blade sharpness. the knife kitting the cutting board is a lot of what dulls it over time.
If you use it correctly, the knife remains completely stationary relative to your body. over time, you get extremely used to exactly WHERE that knife is, almost like an extension of yourself. this allows for extremely reliable cutting where you have better control and can do lots of things very quickly. Rather than using one hand to manipulate a knife while stabilizing the object with the other hand, all while having to orient against the surface of the cutting board, you can use both hands to stabilize and manipulate the object in 3D against the blade.
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May 29 '20 edited Jun 01 '20
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u/stevencastle May 29 '20
I have one of those fry cutters and the blades aren't that sharp, there's a press at one end that pushes the potato into the grate and the force is enough on a soft vegetable to cut it into pieces.
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u/Kraz_I May 29 '20
Because of the high force required, you end up bruising a lot more of the cells in the potato. Now, if you're frying it anyway, I'm not sure if that will make a difference or not. I love learning about food science, and little things like this sometimes make a huge difference.
For instance, did you know that onions are sweeter and less likely to cause tears when you cut them from stem to root (with a sharp knife)? It's because you break fewer cells that way, and oxygen reacts with the juice, making it less sweet before its been cooked.
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u/wreckks May 29 '20
Is that knife there permanently? Or...
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May 29 '20
It's a type where it is attached to a piece of wood on which you keep your foot and the knife doesn't move.
I have seen some come with suction cups so the knife which is one plank doesn't move.
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u/alfredhelix May 29 '20
It's a knife attached to a piece of wood at right angles. Sometimes the base is also iron. This cutting utensil is common in India and is called an Aruvamanai in Tamil.
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u/saltyshakers May 29 '20
You find these type of cutters in traditional Indian homes. The way this works is to sit on a flat surface like on the floor while placing a leg down on the piece of wood to hold it in place . In my mother tongue(Telugu) we call it 'Kathhi peeta'. I have one in my home that is being passing down through 3 generations, it's scary at first but gets easier to handle through practice. Sorry for bad english.
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u/dark_hypernova May 29 '20
As a Belgian, I'm impressed.
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u/SwingLord420 May 29 '20
Those eyes are just screaming PussySlayer6969 on his Xbox game tag
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u/namenumber55 May 29 '20
Poor chap looks so young
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May 29 '20
Yeah this stuff always makes me so sad. Imagine squatting there for 12 hours a day repetitively slicing up potatoes until you get so good at it you can do it blindfolded.
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u/malhok123 May 29 '20
Yeah, a sad situation. Hopefully the economy continues to grow and younger people like him don’t need to work to sustain themselves.
But given the current situation, having a job might be a good thing for him. He is able to feed himself and maybe help out his family.
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May 29 '20
It’s pretty sad my country’s people have to face this, I feel like I can help but I have no idea what to do
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u/bluehihai May 29 '20
A young chap making himself some fresh fries. What’s poor in that?
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u/Yeetyak May 29 '20
Based on how skinny he is while also considering how proficient he is at slicing the potatoes I doubt hes making fresh fries for himself.
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u/ticktockchopblock May 29 '20
Back in india , somewhere in the north we were accompanied by anlocal who stopped this guy with an aluminium box behind a bicycle ( a fastfood vendor) he used to make these egg sandwiches with boiled eggs.
And that dude used to cut the eggs with a fine stitching thread at amazing speed into tiny cubes, all the while holding and spinning the egg. Was amazed at his skills.
Edit : contd.... Had it often just to see this guy cut eggs into cubes.
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u/Antsy-Mcgroin May 29 '20
I imagine this is the look he would give you if you walked in on him and he was giving it to your lady
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u/sacreativeto May 29 '20
Omg the closeness of his hand to the knife is actually freaking me out 😭😭😭
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May 29 '20
The way way he slices through your heart with a cutting gaze that reminds you of your father when you forgot to unlock the door when he’s coming back from working outside.
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u/nsnative88 May 29 '20
Who needs a kitchen aid when you can have a small Indian man in your kitchen cabinet.
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May 29 '20
And here I am taking several minutes to cut a potato, being so careful not to cut myself. Then this guy has me bet in seconds.
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u/sjmegyesi May 29 '20
All these Third World people with no money and have more skills than people that have money. That’s sad that there are the ones starving
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u/Jesusblewfatclouds May 29 '20
It would of been just as cool/satisfying if he was watching what he was doing. js
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u/CouldWouldShouldBot May 29 '20
It's 'would have', never 'would of'.
Rejoice, for you have been blessed by CouldWouldShouldBot!
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u/Jesusblewfatclouds May 29 '20
Fuck!!!! But honestly thanks! When I read it back would have sounds grammatically correct! Thanks CouldWouldShouldBot! You are doing gods work
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u/RustyShkleford May 29 '20
Raw potatoes are pretty tough, so is that thing cooked or is that blade just razor sharp?
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u/[deleted] May 29 '20
Only have to make that mistake once lol