5:09 Hahaha, never knew that watching a man impatiently slapping a pot that causes a whirlwind of potatoes, would be the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Then the pondering over the fact that the potatoes aren't spinning, and speculating it could be your own doing, due to selecting too large potatoes, only to passive-aggressively end by stating, they seemed normal size to me. Most British thing I've ever seen, made me feel right at home and homesick all at once. If you read this mate, you're a legend, love the channel. I only found you last week, already smashed through a shed load of your content. Quality is amazing, never seen a single video that wasn't funny and educational in equal measures. Thanks for the content, I don't know why you make it, but it makes people happy and smarter, and right now due to the pandemic stuff, I haven't been able to get back home and have already been living in Lithuania for a year and a half. This channel has been the perfect way to shrink the world inside my head, it's like injecting Bovril into the soul.
The little Pifco potato tumbler peeler is based on an industrial machine used in restaurants and such. Those are quite messy, as well. The foam, however, can be used to thicken up soups and gravies, since it's basically potato starch. I love your reviews and experiments.
The industrial versions of the Pifco peeler i used 30 years ago were about the size of a washing machine drum, fully plumbed in with running water and drain and worked perfectly... the castrated thing you have is useless.
When i was a kid i worked in a resturant that served instant mashed potatoes. I asked the manager why. He said because nobody wanted to peel that many potatoes by hand, the mechanical potato peeler had broken years ago. In the back of the storage room I found the commercial peeler. After I replaced the faulty power switch we moved the machine back into the prep room. I replaced the water and drainage lines. The 30 year old machine worked flawlessly. The customers noticed immediately. Believe it or not real potatoes cost us less than the powered instant mashed potatoes. To make A long story short, I quit a few days later because my friends wanted to drive to the beach to see a rock concert and the manager wouldn't give me the weekend off. Those where the good old days.
@@randyralls9658 so basicly you saved him hundreds of dollars a year, fixed his stuff and he was too cheap to give you a day of... I would've screwed his machine back up!
Yeah. I just discovered this guy and can tell I'm going to have a problem...a binging problem. Reminds me of the Secret Life of Machines guy and no, not because they are both British.
@@jrea424 Obviously I wash them, and I only buy Maris Piper and Red Rooster as well, chips still taste better without skins IMO. But whatever floats you boat)
The pifco is ideal for someone, who wants to keep their diet: Just switch i off after 2 minutes of working, take top off, and there you have it - "ugh! i'm not hungry anymore..." Peeling must be precise. That one represents chaos.
He's just an ordinary Brit. It might seem odd given that everyone watches American things where everyone exaggerates their everyday speech trying to sound as if they said something funny.
@@SGaming700_ catsup is different to ketchup, at least the stuff I tasted in the US was different. Ketchup is a lot sweeter and less tangy than Catsup but other than that they are very similar. I think the main difference is Catsup doesn't have sugar in it where as Ketchup has quite a lot of sugar.
Julian Stockmeier I’ve been to UK about 5 times with family, 95% of the people that live there have met that have lived in the UK all their life have horrible teeth. Idc what you say, I’ve seen it first hand. So yes, I will speak about those people like they are all the same. I’m not saying EVERY person I met there has bad teeth..but the vast majority do
@@Averagestoner Actually, on average the level of dental health in the UK is quite good. We don't have bad teeth at all. It's just that we don't generally choose to spend vast amounts of money on COSMETIC dentistry. In America, it's a cultural norm that people's teeth are demanded to be perfectly straight and white. But it's not that Americans' teeth are naturally good: it's that they spend lots of money on these cosmetic improvements. Their DENTAL HEALTH is no better than that of British people.
To be fair, this is a consumer version of an actual useful industrial appliance used in big kitchens. When I was a kid, I lived in the apartment above the restaurant where my mom worked, so I'd get to run around the place before it opened sometimes. I remember watching the prep chef peel potatoes in a machine like this, but it was all steel and from the 1970s. I never was able to really see how it worked, but it was insanely dangerous (like most good tools) and he was able to peel literally bags of potatoes while simultaneously prepping something else. He could get through a few bags of potatoes in no time. I very clearly remember him telling me to never, ever open it or go near it while it was on!
@@AureliusR Yes it was a job I did when I was at school, the wavey spinning disk that peeled the potatoes was coated with rough sand like substance as used in engineers paper but rougher.
My grandmother had one of these for home use that actually worked well. It was about the size of a stand mixer in terms of counter space but round obviously.
I've run the local repair cafe for years, and it always interests me to see all the junk you can use in your kitchen. That Pifco thing is truly a gem. Firstly its huge. Who has room for a single purpose thing that big. Next the mess was amazing. How to turn a 3 minute peeling task into a complete kitchen cleaning! The fryer is neat, but noisy and takes too long, not to mention expensive. Here in Vancouver they are almost $200. A neighbour gave me an essentially new Tfal deep fryer that she lost the stupid magnetic cord for. I noticed that in Europe they use a hard wired cord for the same fryer, and the thing was simple to convert that way. I now make fries, or chips, that equal the best British chip shops in quality. Nearly every gadget in my house has been found, repaired, or hot rodded by me at zero cost which I find satisfying. I rarely buy new, because its mostly junk these days.
too right. I have already passed 50, and i have noticed just how much fat there is on oven-ready chips (which i rarely eat). The oven chips in goose fat are even worse, but they taste better (i eat no more than one bag a year). I think I might explore the Tefal Acti-fry thing. Looks promising. I could always watch a video while waiting for the chips to fry!
The remark was very exaggerated. Modern production techniques to some degree follow the health advice trends, especially regarding temperature vs. acrylamide and such, and a lot of oil isn't actually that bad if it is healthy. It has calories your body will use if you don't go overboard with the carbs. Personally, making them myself would be appealing because then I know where the ingredients are coming from.
This reminds me of when I worked in a chip shop, we had a big one (called a rumbler) took a 25kg bag of potatoes and had this metal grater all over it and a water pipe that flushed thought the whole process so no starchy foam. Also had a chipper which was electric aswell and would chip a bad in 10 mins all this equipment was very old but worked great (pardon the pun)
Ya I used one of those. LMAO If you forgot the potatoes in there for too long you ended up with little tiny baby potatoes...Ask me how I know..lol Got in trouble for that one. I mean the 50 lb bag cost a whole 10 dollars. "OMG it is the end of the world" I told my boss. The boss didn't find that funny so I told him to "Kiss my Potato" It was time to go anyhow. LOL -John
We're well into 2020 now. I appreciate why Mat likely doesn't do more kitchen gadget videos, but I still find them a nice break from his regular audio equipment videos, like how *LGR* has a sister channel called *LGR Foods* for when Clint feels like filming in the kitchen. "I hope you're hungry now, because I am." -- Clint Basinger
Sack the PIFCO genius who made an automatic "time -saving" potato peeler which takes 12 times as long to clean the device than it would take to peel the potatoes by hand ....... aha ha ha! I am genuinely laughing out loud. Your laconic style also makes it great
I tend to like those more rustic looking fries with bits of potato skin. Since I grew up and out of my childish tastes when it comes to food I also eat baked potatoes whole, the skin is a great addition especially when it's nice and crispy. I can't praise the potato enough, and even the varieties like red, russet and yukon gold add interesting variety and choice to it (obviously there are a lot more to choose from, but those are my local favourites). Long live potato
I’ve been watching Techmoan for years and have never seen this video. I laughed so hard watching the Pifco machine I thought was was going to hurt myself. In the future, I will don a raincoat whenever I find suction cups on a new appliance. 🤣
PIFCO started off as a lighting company, the name is for "Provincial Incandescent Fittings Co." :D And then became one of the first ever re-badging companies of cheap stuff :)
+TheChipmunk2008 Why, thank you for that - I never knew - excellent stuff - I'm loving this vid and the comments section - but don't know why I clicked on it - ha ha ha !
Really don't know why, but I'm in love with his soothing and smooth voice... Made my day ONCE AGAIN! (Would love to see more about odd and/or retro data storage formats like dataplay!) Greetings from Berlin!
I'm always a little envious when I hear about UK-spec cooking appliances, knowing that they can draw up to 3,000 watts. The outlets in most USA kitchens can actually supply 20 A for 2,400 watts, but most appliances sold here are limited to 1,800 watts so they can be used on a standard 15 circuit. I recently saw a house that had been occupied by an English couple and they wired a 240 V socket in their kitchen (using the 2 120 V phases and no neutral) so they wouldn't have to live with our wimpy, slow kettles, toaster-ovens, etc.
My mother used to have a hand cranked version of the Pifco potato peeler - the Danish made "EVA kartoffelskræller". I remember she said that it is not good for big potatoes and they have to be relatively regular in shape for it to peel them properly.
+organfairy that and not too new potatoes as far as I remember, my job was cranking that peeler when I was a kid, think my grandma still has her EVA :-)
+organfairy Ah that reminds me, my mother briefly had a hand-cranked potato peeler, like most kitchen gadgets it was used a couple of times, turned out to be more trouble than doing the job by hand and was soon forgotten. It also made the surface of the potatoes all rough which made them odd to eat.
Great video once again! I have one of those potato peeler bowls and have the same problems. Time it takes to set it up, hold it in place when spinning so it does not jump up on you, spin it for quite a while and still not clean potatoes so need to do the rest manually. After that clean it and the kitchen. To do it manually takes less time, at least for me, and less mess.
I have a Tefal Actifry and I was reasonably happy with the chips it cooked but someone told me he uses frozen chips so I tried them and the result was superb. I put either frozen 'thick' chips or thinner frozen 'fries' in the Actifry and they come out perfect - crisp on the outside and fluffy inside. Also, as they are pre-cooked at the factory they require only a few minutes to cook at home. I would heartily recommend trying this method.
Great pebble sighting! :D I'd expect that you'd probably wear your HP or Nixie tube watches more often, but I'm very happy that you probably still keep it around.
I'm a bit late here, but I spent a year making fries by hand in a burger place that makes their fries by hand. You don't want a sideways dicer. You want a vertical dicer, and you've got to put your back into it. Don't pull each potato out, just put the next one in. It'll push the other potato out. I used to cut 50 lbs of potatoes in about 2 minutes during rush periods. I recommend baking them. You can use spray canola oil to get that crispy golden coat, or just put canola oil into a squirt bottle. Of course, if you want the common American white fry with a crispy layer, you soak in vinegar and water before cooking. You can use your dicer for other things, too. At a popular burger and hot dog drive in, we used it to dice onions for a hot dog topping. Of course you can use it on any crunchy vegetable. I've never tried it on a soft vegetable.
Years ago (40?) my Parents had that tumbling potato peeler. It actually worked very well but quit after about a year, and until today I had never seen another! The single potato device I have had for at least 2 years and I love it! Mine came with the power cord. The thing you like the best I have never seen! I prefer my counter. Top fryer!
Same company, sometimes its a matter of trademark copyrights in certain countries. Just like the Dot Com grabbers, when they see a decent product come to market in a foreign country someone will register the name in the USA and hold it "hostage" if that product makes it to the US shore. Either the manufacture changes the name of the item slightly or they pay a ransom to the individual who registered the name.
I am 70 and have been scarfing french fries like a madman since I was a kid and my thumping gizzard is still working great. Use peanut oil and they won't cause a seize up. If you are allergic to peanuts canola oil works. I add two Big Macs and away I go!
my aunt was born with a deformed hand and had a manually operated version of the Pifco peeler (40 years ago). She managed quite well (it had suction cups to hold it firmly to the table). So great for disabled people.
"don't be too surprised that different countries have different words for the same thing" hahaha ... yeah ... like "mega drive" and "genesis" :-D anyways, is there a big difference in taste or crunchyness between frying with hot air and deep frying it the "classic" way by submerging the stuff in boiling fat ? I would love to make fried stuff at home but using a regular fryer is too much work - you know, cleaning the fryer and pan, changing and getting rid of the whole pan-load of old fat regularly and whatnot just for some fresh hot fries every once in a while - not really my idea of fun - and oven-frying is NOT really giving the desired result either. can you use this air frying machine for other stuff too ? fish fingers for example ?
I bought an air fryer once that had a paddle that moved the food around. Bad move for fish. The fish broke apart. If you get one that just has the food sitting in a basket, it should be fine with fish.
I like and have the first pealing machine which in the USA came with a power cord. Yes one must do the odd trim here and there, but when one needs a lot of potatoes peeled and your helpers a young children, it’s a God send! Absolutely Love it! My parents had the foamy kind years ago, sometimes the potatoes were Much smaller when they came out, but it worked well enough for the few years of hard service we gave it, with home made mashed potatoes being the only way at that time, (70’s) we tried to buy a replacement but none were available and we gave up. I won the other one at work 4 years ago and then won a spare! Very happy! I have a nice large deep fryer so no need for the chip cooker. I use peanut oil, and people go wild for my “chips” Good Day my teacher!
+Techmoan Have you seen all those "sous-vide" devices on Kickstarter and possibly now Amazon? Hipsters seem to love those, might be interesting to review :)
+Techmoan I know that the more specialized a device gets, the more unusual it's operation. I'd personally recommend reviewing some egg poaching devices.
When I was young (talking 60 yrs ago) My mother had a fries slicer that was made of cast metal instead of the formed metal. It looked like it might of been from around 1940.
Very much enjoy your entertaining commentary. I use a deep fryer quite often. I had a T-Fal brand unit, but the lettering indications for the lever for the oil drain wore-off. This one is an 'All-Clad' brand - stainless-steel unit. The oil-draining reservoir at bottom of these new fryers is a good addition. Once the oil has cooled a switch (lever) allows the oil to drain down into a plastic reservoir, which slides out. The cooking bowl can then be cleaned, and the oil can be either re-introduced, or discarded.
In my house we dont even peel potatos for fries/chips, we just wash them off and chop them up for fries/chips, and fry them in a deep fryer. You get more iron and fiber having the skin on, also I hate peeled potatos, I like that bitter part of the potatos, the skin.
+Matt Brine Bitter? I never noticed skin being bitter. But yeah, the whole concept of peeling potatoes is weird, you're loosing all the vitamins and wasting time.
edised71 I am very sensitive to chemicals (many fruits and veg indeed make my lips burn when not peeled,) but I think our Canadian Prince Edward Island potatoes are clean/fine, never had any reaction. Ha, finally I can think of an upside to Canadian food.
4:33 The Chinese have a machine like that for chickens. (Seriously. Put a live chicken in there and it comes out de-feathered and ready to cook. Well, at least Cantonese-style, hah.) They should call that thing the Peeling Dalek. 7:58 You're quite the chipper guy, eh? 10:28 I am skeptical about the oil distribution performance, but maybe it is actually a masterful design with lots of R&D.
Many years ago we had a water powered potato peeler. This basically connected to the cold water tap and had a small Pelton wheel which rotated an internal bowl that had a very rough surface. You stood it in the sink so that the 'mush' was automatically washed down the drain. It vibrated and was noisy in a very similar way to the one in the video, but did not have a central column to jam up the potatoes. It worked very well. The downside was that if you left it running too long you either ended up with pea sized potatoes or none at all as the whole lot ended up being washed down the plughole! The lid being a bit opaque did not help in this respect. It was quite a fun gadget as long as you had enough water pressure.
I use a Philips hot air fryer which only uses a teaspoon of oil and it's pretty good actually. It really browns oven chips and you don't have to turn them over because it circulates air evenly over and around the chips. Takes less time than a conventional electric oven, fan oven or gas oven too.
I've just said something similar not realising you'd already mentioned! I've got a pretty cheap air fryer which is ace for home chips and oven chips - actifry chips never look appealing in the demonstration videos!
+Biscuits McGee I'm guessing you dealt with recently immigrated peoples. Although chips by itself is what we call potato chips, we do call breaded fish and french fries fish & chips in normal French conversation. Lots of English words are used in everyday conversation, i.e. outside of French class.
That spinner peeler is a scaled-down version of an industrial peeler. Shocked it works at all in a home. The chipper slicer is likewise very similar to machines used in restaurants that make fries from fresh potatoes. The even bigger industrial version has the same blade setup but the potatoes are shoved by water streams rather than a handle. But otherwise, that chipper's method is identical to how commercial fries are cut. Meanwhile, the old battery power peeler has been around since the 70s, pretty much unchanged. Because it's dead simple and it works fairly well. Good finds, all of these
Dunno' if they're called something different anywhere else, but here in America, at least, those thinner slices, made with the alternate cutting plate, are called "shoestring" cut. The oil, and any seasonings you add after cooking, tend to penetrate deeper into shoestring fries, thus leaving each individual fry a lot more flavorful.
Also, that first peeling machine, the one that you need to finish it off afterward...I saw somebody else do a review of it, and they raised an interesting point. If you were to use it repeatedly on some sort of vegetable, you could make decent veggie pasta. Not its intended use, sure, but who cares? :P
I am disabled with multiple sclerosis and peeling potatoes by hand is quite painful. I think I would enjoy that first rotary peeler to help my situation. Thanks for the review. Very interesting!
The pifco works perfectly if you fit a standard GLASS pan cover instead of the cheap green plastic one, I am on my second Pifco. Cook the chips with a Breville Air frier in 18mins. Cut the chips with a Lakeland ratchet chip cutter. All work perfectly
14:00 "if you ever want to have chips in your house and you don't want to be using a chip pan because it's not 1975, and you don't want to use oven chips because you want to live beyond about fifty" This guy has been great since the beginning.
5:30 less potatos when big ones, or just smaller potatos, works much better. These things (albeit a bit larger and better) are used in industrial and large professional kitchens as well. This one has a crappy lid, it should close tight. The foam is normal. It is due to the starge that get's released and "whipped up" by the circular motion of the tumbler. The industry will use anti foam products to eliviate that issue 8:17 Same deal, home use ones are crappy, the ones for snackbars (or whatever they are called in your country/region) are much better.
The Pifco reminds me of an industrial/commercial potato peeling machine I encountered in my one day adventure in the fast food business 50 years ago. If you needed to peel a 50 lb sack of spuds at one time, it was great, otherwise I’ll stick with Oxo Soft Grip peeler. Can’t justify the space for a dedicated potato cutter, so my very versatile Borner V-slicer mandolin does an excellent job. I do use an air fryer, not the T-Fal but a simpler design. It is handy for lots of cooking chores.
I tried making chips with a Tefal acti-fryer a few times. They didn't come out good at all Either came out dry and hard or uncooked. Never got any that came out crispy but soft in the center. Best chips i've made used the method of Boil in salt+vinegar -> dry -> deepfry -> freezer -> quick deepfry -> serve
I got one of those actifry machines a while back, it's pretty neat although the fact that it has to have the spinning paddle thing in the middle makes it a bit inconvenient for some foods that people might want to put in airfryers, I've seen recipes for cakes and things like heating pizza in there but they obviously wont fit. Fries are pretty good as you might expect since it's the main thing that they always advertise and for that the spinning part does mean they are more even and you don't get soggy fries in the bottom I kinda wish they sold an addon for it that had a flat bottom since the motor part is pretty low once you remove the pan so it could be done, although the fan only blows from one side so I don't know. Either way a pretty solid purchase and I got more use out of it than I expected
This guy's got just as good quality vids from 2013 compared to 2019.
Not difficult when you have a time machine and can send your past self updated tech and best practice...
Sort of like how your goatee is just as cool now as it was in 1996!
and he don't look older 2020. maybe we all need to eat the same :-)
Facts
Huh did not notice the year, it was just recommended to me. Great quality for 2013
The PIFCO Potato Bukkake Machine.
@@bobsagget823 you watched the video
@@bobsagget823 you're a bit of a bitch
Skidoosh ur a sick man lmao
.... *New* improved... with less washing up.
Bukkake machine!! That made me laugh my head off.
Your characteristically dry reaction to that PIFCO potato peeler bouncing around and spitting crap all over the place is bloody hilarious. 😂😂😂
5:09 Hahaha, never knew that watching a man impatiently slapping a pot that causes a whirlwind of potatoes, would be the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Then the pondering over the fact that the potatoes aren't spinning, and speculating it could be your own doing, due to selecting too large potatoes, only to passive-aggressively end by stating, they seemed normal size to me. Most British thing I've ever seen, made me feel right at home and homesick all at once.
If you read this mate, you're a legend, love the channel. I only found you last week, already smashed through a shed load of your content. Quality is amazing, never seen a single video that wasn't funny and educational in equal measures.
Thanks for the content, I don't know why you make it, but it makes people happy and smarter, and right now due to the pandemic stuff, I haven't been able to get back home and have already been living in Lithuania for a year and a half. This channel has been the perfect way to shrink the world inside my head, it's like injecting Bovril into the soul.
I only realised yesterday he is a mile away from me!
I am called Steve, sir. But I wish I was called Royceefus
The little Pifco potato tumbler peeler is based on an industrial machine used in restaurants and such. Those are quite messy, as well. The foam, however, can be used to thicken up soups and gravies, since it's basically potato starch. I love your reviews and experiments.
The industrial versions of the Pifco peeler i used 30 years ago were about the size of a washing machine drum, fully plumbed in with running water and drain and worked perfectly... the castrated thing you have is useless.
When i was a kid i worked in a resturant that served instant mashed potatoes. I asked the manager why. He said because nobody wanted to peel that many potatoes by hand, the mechanical potato peeler had broken years ago. In the back of the storage room I found the commercial peeler. After I replaced the faulty power switch we moved the machine back into the prep room. I replaced the water and drainage lines. The 30 year old machine worked flawlessly. The customers noticed immediately. Believe it or not real potatoes cost us less than the powered instant mashed potatoes.
To make A long story short, I quit a few days later because my friends wanted to drive to the beach to see a rock concert and the manager wouldn't give me the weekend off.
Those where the good old days.
@@randyralls9658 so basicly you saved him hundreds of dollars a year, fixed his stuff and he was too cheap to give you a day of... I would've screwed his machine back up!
Throwing potatoes into the washing machine 🤔
Thanks for the idea!
@@randyralls9658 - What an asshole. Did you even get a bonus for fixing the expensive machine?
@@randyralls9658 That is the wonderful life and here we are today
That pifco device is a true bit of comedy
Indeed, had a good laugh at the foam party there :D
I could not stop laughing.
Its like a poor Wallace and gromit invention
I thought you were supposed to hold the top down like a blender
It really does behave like there is something wrong with it.
I have to admit you could make paint drying interesting.
great video!
Yeah. I just discovered this guy and can tell I'm going to have a problem...a binging problem. Reminds me of the Secret Life of Machines guy and no, not because they are both British.
Craig Chastain He kind of reminds me of James May.
Why would you admit that, anything might happen as a result? True what you say though, lol! :)
Actually, some acrylic exterior paint has a bluish look before drying to a dark red.
omg so true. I love this dude
I always leave the peel on, gives them a bit if a rustic look.
Yeah and they also taste worse.
@@suzesiviter6083 well they give them a nice soft crunch and they taste good
@@suzesiviter6083 not if you wash you potato and you use a good Maris piper or red rooster
@@jrea424 Obviously I wash them, and I only buy Maris Piper and Red Rooster as well, chips still taste better without skins IMO. But whatever floats you boat)
Good idea, they say most of the vitamins are just below the skin.
The pifco is ideal for someone, who wants to keep their diet: Just switch i off after 2 minutes of working, take top off, and there you have it - "ugh! i'm not hungry anymore..."
Peeling must be precise. That one represents chaos.
The calmness you use when you review is very funny. Keep it up.
He's just an ordinary Brit.
It might seem odd given that everyone watches American things where everyone exaggerates their everyday speech trying to sound as if they said something funny.
Part of it is also because he's narrating after the fact.
6:01 You'll peel potatoes in half that time than you would if you run that machine, wash it then dry it.
It doesn't reduce the amount of work, just transfers it.
I love how he always tells off the mean spirited comments in such a polite way lol
That damn English gentlemen accent just pulls you in, and now I want some chips and catsup.
Techmoan is from Wigan so he has a proper Northern accent. It just makes me homesick for fellow Northern folk.
Brian Nado wtf is catsup
@@Luke-1296 it's ketchup but in a different pronunciation
@@Luke-1296 it's the opposite of updog
@@SGaming700_ catsup is different to ketchup, at least the stuff I tasted in the US was different. Ketchup is a lot sweeter and less tangy than Catsup but other than that they are very similar. I think the main difference is Catsup doesn't have sugar in it where as Ketchup has quite a lot of sugar.
"I've got more fries than I could ever eat in a day." ~ Said no American ever
“I’m going to go brush my teeth.” ~
Said no European ever
@@Averagestoner Actually, we have very good teeth in Britain. We just don't see the need to unnaturally whiten them.
1Thunderfire I’ve seen otherwise
Julian Stockmeier I’ve been to UK about 5 times with family, 95% of the people that live there have met that have lived in the UK all their life have horrible teeth. Idc what you say, I’ve seen it first hand. So yes, I will speak about those people like they are all the same. I’m not saying EVERY person I met there has bad teeth..but the vast majority do
@@Averagestoner Actually, on average the level of dental health in the UK is quite good. We don't have bad teeth at all. It's just that we don't generally choose to spend vast amounts of money on COSMETIC dentistry. In America, it's a cultural norm that people's teeth are demanded to be perfectly straight and white. But it's not that Americans' teeth are naturally good: it's that they spend lots of money on these cosmetic improvements. Their DENTAL HEALTH is no better than that of British people.
Seeing his face in these videos is jarring because I always think he should look like a yellow lego man
Lego Quentin Tarantino
🤣
2 minutes to peel 3 potatoes. Truly, we are living in the age of convenience.
To be fair, this is a consumer version of an actual useful industrial appliance used in big kitchens. When I was a kid, I lived in the apartment above the restaurant where my mom worked, so I'd get to run around the place before it opened sometimes. I remember watching the prep chef peel potatoes in a machine like this, but it was all steel and from the 1970s. I never was able to really see how it worked, but it was insanely dangerous (like most good tools) and he was able to peel literally bags of potatoes while simultaneously prepping something else. He could get through a few bags of potatoes in no time. I very clearly remember him telling me to never, ever open it or go near it while it was on!
@@AureliusR Yes it was a job I did when I was at school, the wavey spinning disk that peeled the potatoes was coated with rough sand like substance as used in engineers paper but rougher.
My grandmother had one of these for home use that actually worked well. It was about the size of a stand mixer in terms of counter space but round obviously.
I love your sarcasm, and videos too of course
Look up ashens
Fish & Chips the Techmoan way.
It’s great because he’s not even that sarcastic most of the time. Those comments must’ve gotten to him.
Are you being sarcastic?
I've run the local repair cafe for years, and it always interests me to see all the junk you can use in your kitchen. That Pifco thing is truly a gem. Firstly its huge. Who has room for a single purpose thing that big. Next the mess was amazing. How to turn a 3 minute peeling task into a complete kitchen cleaning! The fryer is neat, but noisy and takes too long, not to mention expensive. Here in Vancouver they are almost $200. A neighbour gave me an essentially new Tfal deep fryer that she lost the stupid magnetic cord for. I noticed that in Europe they use a hard wired cord for the same fryer, and the thing was simple to convert that way. I now make fries, or chips, that equal the best British chip shops in quality. Nearly every gadget in my house has been found, repaired, or hot rodded by me at zero cost which I find satisfying. I rarely buy new, because its mostly junk these days.
>batteries
>for a device designed to be solely used in a room full of plug sockets
Bravo
Please make more of these silly kitchen appliances videos.
I'd love to....but there have been no interesting kitchen gadgets released for years.
Have you ever reviewed one of those Goblin Teasmade?
+Techmoan then you are clearly not looking close enough 😂
Watch American TV in the middle of the night/early morning. Tons of ridiculous kitchen appliances. From what I remember the UK was not very different.
How about some vegetable spiralizer reviews? I would love that!
"And you don't want to be eating oven chips, because - you want to live beyond about 50."
I'm entirely convinced this is the best channel on TH-cam.
too right. I have already passed 50, and i have noticed just how much fat there is on oven-ready chips (which i rarely eat). The oven chips in goose fat are even worse, but they taste better (i eat no more than one bag a year).
I think I might explore the Tefal Acti-fry thing. Looks promising.
I could always watch a video while waiting for the chips to fry!
The remark was very exaggerated. Modern production techniques to some degree follow the health advice trends, especially regarding temperature vs. acrylamide and such, and a lot of oil isn't actually that bad if it is healthy. It has calories your body will use if you don't go overboard with the carbs.
Personally, making them myself would be appealing because then I know where the ingredients are coming from.
tefal thing needs slowing down
This reminds me of when I worked in a chip shop, we had a big one (called a rumbler) took a 25kg bag of potatoes and had this metal grater all over it and a water pipe that flushed thought the whole process so no starchy foam. Also had a chipper which was electric aswell and would chip a bad in 10 mins all this equipment was very old but worked great (pardon the pun)
Ya I used one of those. LMAO If you forgot the potatoes in there for too long you ended up with little tiny baby potatoes...Ask me how I know..lol Got in trouble for that one. I mean the 50 lb bag cost a whole 10 dollars. "OMG it is the end of the world" I told my boss. The boss didn't find that funny so I told him to "Kiss my Potato" It was time to go anyhow. LOL -John
I wanna see Chef Techmoan return! It's 2019, put your pinny back on ;) Pleeeeease!
We're well into 2020 now. I appreciate why Mat likely doesn't do more kitchen gadget videos, but I still find them a nice break from his regular audio equipment videos, like how *LGR* has a sister channel called *LGR Foods* for when Clint feels like filming in the kitchen.
"I hope you're hungry now, because I am." -- Clint Basinger
@@Christopher-N I wanna see Techmoan and LGR cooking together ...
little known fact: *the pifco machine was invented by the father in gremlins*
The Peltzer Potato Peeler
Sack the PIFCO genius who made an automatic "time -saving" potato peeler which takes 12 times as long to clean the device than it would take to peel the potatoes by hand ....... aha ha ha! I am genuinely laughing out loud.
Your laconic style also makes it great
Yeah. The goal of such a machine is to save time and labor. It absolutely does not do that!
I wonder how many of those have been sold and how much the company has made or lost on them.
The goal of such a machine is to separate a fool from his money.
I tend to like those more rustic looking fries with bits of potato skin. Since I grew up and out of my childish tastes when it comes to food I also eat baked potatoes whole, the skin is a great addition especially when it's nice and crispy. I can't praise the potato enough, and even the varieties like red, russet and yukon gold add interesting variety and choice to it (obviously there are a lot more to choose from, but those are my local favourites). Long live potato
Chad_K u must protect motherland
I got the feeling that Pifco should have rubber lining on the lid.
But that could cost an extra 3 cents in manufacturing!
That and heavier lid lol or tight clamps
I got the feeling that he was supposed to use much smaller potatoes, like those little red ones.
Nah, I would probably have a rubber gasket on it.
I got the impression that Pifco should be Shitco. I'm not familiar with them though. Maybe they make appliances that are viable and actually work.
I’ve been watching Techmoan for years and have never seen this video. I laughed so hard watching the Pifco machine I thought was was going to hurt myself. In the future, I will don a raincoat whenever I find suction cups on a new appliance. 🤣
Finding out exactly what "chips" are after almost four decades is what made me subscribe to your channel just now. I thank you.
PIFCO started off as a lighting company, the name is for "Provincial Incandescent Fittings Co." :D And then became one of the first ever re-badging companies of cheap stuff :)
+TheChipmunk2008 Why, thank you for that - I never knew - excellent stuff - I'm loving this vid and the comments section - but don't know why I clicked on it - ha ha ha !
That Pifco peeler was so excited that it was in a Techmoan video, it literally came over his worktop.
Kitchen porn ?
Really don't know why, but I'm in love with his soothing and smooth voice... Made my day ONCE AGAIN! (Would love to see more about odd and/or retro data storage formats like dataplay!) Greetings from Berlin!
The YT time machine has just taken me back 9 years! Labor saving devices which cost and create more work, love it.
I'm always a little envious when I hear about UK-spec cooking appliances, knowing that they can draw up to 3,000 watts. The outlets in most USA kitchens can actually supply 20 A for 2,400 watts, but most appliances sold here are limited to 1,800 watts so they can be used on a standard 15 circuit. I recently saw a house that had been occupied by an English couple and they wired a 240 V socket in their kitchen (using the 2 120 V phases and no neutral) so they wouldn't have to live with our wimpy, slow kettles, toaster-ovens, etc.
My mother used to have a hand cranked version of the Pifco potato peeler - the Danish made "EVA kartoffelskræller". I remember she said that it is not good for big potatoes and they have to be relatively regular in shape for it to peel them properly.
+organfairy that and not too new potatoes as far as I remember, my job was cranking that peeler when I was a kid, think my grandma still has her EVA :-)
+organfairy Ah that reminds me, my mother briefly had a hand-cranked potato peeler, like most kitchen gadgets it was used a couple of times, turned out to be more trouble than doing the job by hand and was soon forgotten. It also made the surface of the potatoes all rough which made them odd to eat.
True, kitchen gadgets are normally a waste. Especially peelers. I've lived hell until I got a new OXO potato peeler. No gadget I tried worked 100%
It feels like I wasted my time watching this, yet I wouldn't change a thing
I want to make potato ribbons with the spinning peeler and fry them and dress them with salt and paprika :)
Then go forth and do it my friend
You eat the wrapper potatos are made with? Ew!
@@byteme9718 he means with the actual potato XD
@@mischiefthedegenerateratto7464 Yes, that's what I meant. The skin.
@@byteme9718 no I mean that the actual potato itself he wants to swirl with this thing then probably fry it
Great video once again! I have one of those potato peeler bowls and have the same problems. Time it takes to set it up, hold it in place when spinning so it does not jump up on you, spin it for quite a while and still not clean potatoes so need to do the rest manually. After that clean it and the kitchen. To do it manually takes less time, at least for me, and less mess.
I have a Tefal Actifry and I was reasonably happy with the chips it cooked but someone told me he uses frozen chips so I tried them and the result was superb. I put either frozen 'thick' chips or thinner frozen 'fries' in the Actifry and they come out perfect - crisp on the outside and fluffy inside. Also, as they are pre-cooked at the factory they require only a few minutes to cook at home. I would heartily recommend trying this method.
Great pebble sighting! :D
I'd expect that you'd probably wear your HP or Nixie tube watches more often, but I'm very happy that you probably still keep it around.
5:55 Gaskets? We don't need no stinkin' gaskets!
I like the skins on my fries/chips!
You have good taste and are eating healthier :).
*Pro Tip:* Don't like your own comments.
themotownboy1 **casualy walks away**
Gross!
@Zero Cool Exactly. So why not leave the skins on? Just scrub them so they're clean.
I'm a bit late here, but I spent a year making fries by hand in a burger place that makes their fries by hand.
You don't want a sideways dicer. You want a vertical dicer, and you've got to put your back into it. Don't pull each potato out, just put the next one in. It'll push the other potato out. I used to cut 50 lbs of potatoes in about 2 minutes during rush periods.
I recommend baking them. You can use spray canola oil to get that crispy golden coat, or just put canola oil into a squirt bottle. Of course, if you want the common American white fry with a crispy layer, you soak in vinegar and water before cooking.
You can use your dicer for other things, too. At a popular burger and hot dog drive in, we used it to dice onions for a hot dog topping. Of course you can use it on any crunchy vegetable. I've never tried it on a soft vegetable.
Years ago (40?) my Parents had that tumbling potato peeler. It actually worked very well but quit after about a year, and until today I had never seen another! The single potato device I have had for at least 2 years and I love it! Mine came with the power cord. The thing you like the best I have never seen! I prefer my counter. Top fryer!
Good honest reviews with pro's and cons. Delivery good considering its unscripted. Much better than sellavison ads.. keep it up mate !!
I noticed something strange. The European Tefal brand and the USA T-fal brand are spelled differently. It is the same French company behind both.
r0kus that is not strange, that's just localization. many companies use different brand and/or product names in different countries.
Same company, sometimes its a matter of trademark copyrights in certain countries. Just like the Dot Com grabbers, when they see a decent product come to market in a foreign country someone will register the name in the USA and hold it "hostage" if that product makes it to the US shore. Either the manufacture changes the name of the item slightly or they pay a ransom to the individual who registered the name.
DuPont demanded the name change because it was too similar to Teflon (Tefal stands for TEF-lon and AL-uminum.)
sd31263 Thanks for the info
I’ve also seen Tefal actifriers branded as SEB actifriers in France, interestingly enough!
I'm shocked none of those gizmos had the RONCO brand slapped on them.
I am 70 and have been scarfing french fries like a madman since I was a kid and my thumping gizzard is still working great. Use peanut oil and they won't cause a seize up. If you are allergic to peanuts canola oil works. I add two Big Macs and away I go!
my aunt was born with a deformed hand and had a manually operated version of the Pifco peeler (40 years ago). She managed quite well (it had suction cups to hold it firmly to the table). So great for disabled people.
i'm irish and i can peel a potato with my teeth. i really don't need any of that stuff.
Yah but you're always cutting up the soap.
Just don’t eat any of those Irish carrots they’ve got potato blight.
But you do need potatoes
LOL, THAT was a brilliant way to not having to bother with sharing your potatoes.
I need that foamy thing in my life. It'll make peeling patatoes an occasion. As long as somebody else cleans up.
"don't be too surprised that different countries have different words for the same thing" hahaha ... yeah ... like "mega drive" and "genesis" :-D
anyways, is there a big difference in taste or crunchyness between frying with hot air and deep frying it the "classic" way by submerging the stuff in boiling fat ?
I would love to make fried stuff at home but using a regular fryer is too much work - you know, cleaning the fryer and pan, changing and getting rid of the whole pan-load of old fat regularly and whatnot just for some fresh hot fries every once in a while - not really my idea of fun - and oven-frying is NOT really giving the desired result either.
can you use this air frying machine for other stuff too ? fish fingers for example ?
I bought an air fryer once that had a paddle that moved the food around. Bad move for fish. The fish broke apart. If you get one that just has the food sitting in a basket, it should be fine with fish.
I like and have the first pealing machine which in the USA came with a power cord. Yes one must do the odd trim here and there, but when one needs a lot of potatoes peeled and your helpers a young children, it’s a God send! Absolutely Love it! My parents had the foamy kind years ago, sometimes the potatoes were Much smaller when they came out, but it worked well enough for the few years of hard service we gave it, with home made mashed potatoes being the only way at that time, (70’s) we tried to buy a replacement but none were available and we gave up. I won the other one at work 4 years ago and then won a spare! Very happy! I have a nice large deep fryer so no need for the chip cooker. I use peanut oil, and people go wild for my “chips” Good Day my teacher!
Very elegant sarcasm. I love it. My gran used to use a hand turned rotary potato peeler. Of course, we were tasked to "help" if we went over.
Do you have plans for more kitchen gadgets?
+Bender Rodriquez I would if anyone brought anything interesting out.
+Techmoan Have you seen all those "sous-vide" devices on Kickstarter and possibly now Amazon? Hipsters seem to love those, might be interesting to review :)
+Techmoan I know that the more specialized a device gets, the more unusual it's operation. I'd personally recommend reviewing some egg poaching devices.
Dont' be too surprised that different country's have different words for the same things, it is not that amazing.. LOL
When I was young (talking 60 yrs ago) My mother had a fries slicer that was made of cast metal instead of the formed metal. It looked like it might of been from around 1940.
Very much enjoy your entertaining commentary. I use a deep fryer quite often. I had a T-Fal brand unit, but the lettering indications for the lever for the oil drain wore-off. This one is an 'All-Clad' brand - stainless-steel unit. The oil-draining reservoir at bottom of these new fryers is a good addition. Once the oil has cooled a switch (lever) allows the oil to drain down into a plastic reservoir, which slides out. The cooking bowl can then be cleaned, and the oil can be either re-introduced, or discarded.
We have something similar to that first peeler, except that you turn it manually. I have always preferred just using a good sharp peeler by hand.
Watching this video in 2021... Because it's Techmoan.
Dec 2024 here
Why not just go to a cafe? Sorry, I could not resist poking fun. Very good video. Excellent review.
In my house we dont even peel potatos for fries/chips, we just wash them off and chop them up for fries/chips, and fry them in a deep fryer. You get more iron and fiber having the skin on, also I hate peeled potatos, I like that bitter part of the potatos, the skin.
+Matt Brine Bitter? I never noticed skin being bitter. But yeah, the whole concept of peeling potatoes is weird, you're loosing all the vitamins and wasting time.
+ᒍᗩᗰᕮᔕ ᑭᗩᗯᔕOᑎ that' s ok if they're organic, otherwise you get all sorts of chemicals on the skin...
edised71
I am very sensitive to chemicals (many fruits and veg indeed make my lips burn when not peeled,) but I think our Canadian Prince Edward Island potatoes are clean/fine, never had any reaction. Ha, finally I can think of an upside to Canadian food.
4:33 The Chinese have a machine like that for chickens. (Seriously. Put a live chicken in there and it comes out de-feathered and ready to cook. Well, at least Cantonese-style, hah.)
They should call that thing the Peeling Dalek.
7:58 You're quite the chipper guy, eh?
10:28 I am skeptical about the oil distribution performance, but maybe it is actually a masterful design with lots of R&D.
Many years ago we had a water powered potato peeler. This basically connected to the cold water tap and had a small Pelton wheel which rotated an internal bowl that had a very rough surface. You stood it in the sink so that the 'mush' was automatically washed down the drain. It vibrated and was noisy in a very similar way to the one in the video, but did not have a central column to jam up the potatoes. It worked very well. The downside was that if you left it running too long you either ended up with pea sized potatoes or none at all as the whole lot ended up being washed down the plughole! The lid being a bit opaque did not help in this respect. It was quite a fun gadget as long as you had enough water pressure.
You are so polite...
"Sorry about the reflection on my glasses"
This video deserve to be hosted in a channel called Chipsmoan :P
Is that a coffee/espresso machine above the counter?
+gottisrt10 Yes - it was a bargain in the clearance section of a DIY store, so I picked it up. It looks pretty neat.
+Techmoan Looks great! Model or manufacture when you can, love your vids, thanks for the reply!
+gottisrt10 It's a Whirlpool ACE010IX
+Techmoan Thanks!
+Techmoan
do you cooking videos mate 😊
I use a Philips hot air fryer which only uses a teaspoon of oil and it's pretty good actually. It really browns oven chips and you don't have to turn them over because it circulates air evenly over and around the chips. Takes less time than a conventional electric oven, fan oven or gas oven too.
this man can make watching paint dry exciting..... just loooooove this man.
hey its SaneEnglishHacker, my fav youtuber
this's kinda interesting also entertaining, you should do a video like this more, anyone agree? lol
watched this and the breakfast burito maker, hurt myself laughing so much!
Enjoyed the show and the sarcasm! The gadgets are just that - more of a case of solutions in search of a problem.
Cant help but think these cooking appliance reviews were a little tongue in cheek. Very well done. Enjoyed.
You should try using an Air Fryer next, and compare the chips from it with the chips from your current fryer. That would be interesting to see!
I've just said something similar not realising you'd already mentioned! I've got a pretty cheap air fryer which is ace for home chips and oven chips - actifry chips never look appealing in the demonstration videos!
Fun fact: The Actifry was one of the very first air fryers.
I ordered fish & chips at a restaurant in Quebec once and got fish and a bag of Lays.
+Biscuits McGee
I'm guessing you dealt with recently immigrated peoples. Although chips by itself is what we call potato chips, we do call breaded fish and french fries fish & chips in normal French conversation. Lots of English words are used in everyday conversation, i.e. outside of French class.
No, I remember she had a thick French accent. We laughed at the way she pronounced "Pepsi".
Goes great with Herring!
That spinner peeler is a scaled-down version of an industrial peeler. Shocked it works at all in a home. The chipper slicer is likewise very similar to machines used in restaurants that make fries from fresh potatoes. The even bigger industrial version has the same blade setup but the potatoes are shoved by water streams rather than a handle. But otherwise, that chipper's method is identical to how commercial fries are cut. Meanwhile, the old battery power peeler has been around since the 70s, pretty much unchanged. Because it's dead simple and it works fairly well. Good finds, all of these
Dunno' if they're called something different anywhere else, but here in America, at least, those thinner slices, made with the alternate cutting plate, are called "shoestring" cut. The oil, and any seasonings you add after cooking, tend to penetrate deeper into shoestring fries, thus leaving each individual fry a lot more flavorful.
Also, that first peeling machine, the one that you need to finish it off afterward...I saw somebody else do a review of it, and they raised an interesting point. If you were to use it repeatedly on some sort of vegetable, you could make decent veggie pasta. Not its intended use, sure, but who cares? :P
I always wondered why the dish was called "Fish and Chips" considering it was always fish and fries...now I know!
I fucking love these videos
"I'm not gonna review a knife,"
Meanwhile in CrazyRussianHacker's channel:
"Let's review a knife that melts the butter for you!"
I am disabled with multiple sclerosis and peeling potatoes by hand is quite painful. I think I would enjoy that first rotary peeler to help my situation. Thanks for the review. Very interesting!
The pifco works perfectly if you fit a standard GLASS pan cover instead of the cheap green plastic one, I am on my second Pifco. Cook the chips with a Breville Air frier in 18mins. Cut the chips with a Lakeland ratchet chip cutter. All work perfectly
Haha, the sarcasm 😂 love this channel
god the tefal potato peeler was so entertaining
+Michael Flatman pifco
The Pifco peeler is good for entertainment value, at least.
14:00 "if you ever want to have chips in your house and you don't want to be using a chip pan because it's not 1975, and you don't want to use oven chips because you want to live beyond about fifty"
This guy has been great since the beginning.
The chipper is great to get a first pass on cutting potatoes. I use one to then easily chop for potato soup. Love that little thing.
Steve Martin: "Those French, they have a different word for EVERYTHING!"
That tefal makes one portion. I am a man that needs TWO portions. *slams hand* ANOTHER!
"I'm not gonna review a knife!"
*Looks nervously toward Ashens*
5:30 less potatos when big ones, or just smaller potatos, works much better. These things (albeit a bit larger and better) are used in industrial and large professional kitchens as well. This one has a crappy lid, it should close tight. The foam is normal. It is due to the starge that get's released and "whipped up" by the circular motion of the tumbler. The industry will use anti foam products to eliviate that issue
8:17 Same deal, home use ones are crappy, the ones for snackbars (or whatever they are called in your country/region) are much better.
The Pifco reminds me of an industrial/commercial potato peeling machine I encountered in my one day adventure in the fast food business 50 years ago. If you needed to peel a 50 lb sack of spuds at one time, it was great, otherwise I’ll stick with Oxo Soft Grip peeler. Can’t justify the space for a dedicated potato cutter, so my very versatile Borner V-slicer mandolin does an excellent job. I do use an air fryer, not the T-Fal but a simpler design. It is handy for lots of cooking chores.
Love from America. The foam was insane, did they lab test that thing?
You are using hte potato peeler wrong, you are suposed to peel towards your thumb and not away as if you were sharpening a stick ....
86Corvus A lot of people do it wrong and cut vegetables away from their thumb.
Why there's a Che Guevara face made of water om te countertop on 7:50 your comunist 😂😂😂
I saw it! 😆
I tried making chips with a Tefal acti-fryer a few times. They didn't come out good at all
Either came out dry and hard or uncooked. Never got any that came out crispy but soft in the center.
Best chips i've made used the method of Boil in salt+vinegar -> dry -> deepfry -> freezer -> quick deepfry -> serve
I got one of those actifry machines a while back, it's pretty neat although the fact that it has to have the spinning paddle thing in the middle makes it a bit inconvenient for some foods that people might want to put in airfryers, I've seen recipes for cakes and things like heating pizza in there but they obviously wont fit. Fries are pretty good as you might expect since it's the main thing that they always advertise and for that the spinning part does mean they are more even and you don't get soggy fries in the bottom
I kinda wish they sold an addon for it that had a flat bottom since the motor part is pretty low once you remove the pan so it could be done, although the fan only blows from one side so I don't know. Either way a pretty solid purchase and I got more use out of it than I expected