We are getting close to the point where we hope to actually use our Budd built Lackawanna dining car in service. We have a couple of chefs and food safety people looking at the kitchen and they have raised a question. There is a deep fryer on the car and they all wonder how safe that is with the potential for hot oil to get sloshed out of it while the train is moving. It appears like it is original to the car but perhaps it was just a good retrofit. Does anyone have any knowledge of deep fryers on dining cars? If so any ideas on what was done to use them safely?

Tim

Is there any kind of fill-to mark that would indicated that they kept it low? Is it covered?

Steve

Can't tell if there is a fill mark. The unit is really quite the mess. Definitely no cover.

Please don't use that deep fryer. Just because you have it does not mean you have to use it. You can do better. If you have fast food equipment then you will serve fast food meals. Your passengers will prefer something special...not Applebee's bar food.

Aside from the quality of food...and the danger...there is the awful odor that comes with deep-fryers. Even if you have a vent fan strong enough to suck all the smoke out you will then be spraying it all over the place outside. People coming and going will be greeted (and coated) with that foul odor of deep fryers.

So please rethink that deep fryer. Please.

Besides...what would Ms. Pheobe say?

That raises an interesting point. Surely the ELDCPS must have menus from various eras. What item(s) would have required the deep fryer?

Steve

I say, I say, suh...are you sayin' they ain't goin' ta be no fried chickun? An' no fried okre, eithuh? I say, suh, that would be an utter disgrace, and a disservice. Proper fried chickun ain't no fast food, suh, an' I take exception to your insinuation!

Sorry...couldn't help it...

Seriously, Tim, since safety seems to be the big concern, if you don't really need it, seal it up or remove it, whichever satisfies the food safety people. Besides, we all know, thanks to the food police, that deep fried foods are not good for us, in spite of the legions of Southerners who grew up on it and lived to ripe old age...pass me those hot waings, please...

Good fried chicken is pan fried, not deep fried. Industrial fried chicken maybe.....

There's probably documentation in old Pullman training materials and cookbooks out there somewhere that, thanks to early 20th Century Scientific Management principles, describes pretty specifically the process of cooking everything on the menus. Might be another fine thing for ELDCPS to reproduce as a fund raiser?

dave

To answer the question about menu items - the "fried chicken" is oven baked. I think most of the items could be pan fried. The only item I see that needs to be fried are the corn fritters.

We just wondered because the fryer looks like it was original equipment or incredibly good retrofit. I need to get original drawings but they are owned by Bombardier and are both difficult and expensive to obtain.

I'll try to dig out the photos of the car in Greenwood and see if I can see a deep frier in the kitchen.

dave

OK, got a few kitchen pics - is the frier located near the range or near the sinks on the exterior side?

dave

On Niles Canyon Railway's "Train of Lights" (Thanksgiving thru after Christmas, 4-5 nights/week), we make hot cocoa and hot apple cider on a propane-fired restaurant stove in S.P. 1975 "All Day Lunch" car (60' "Harriman" coach built 1914, small kitchen added for news agent in 1930s(?)). The cocoa and cider are made in 5-6 gallon pots. We use the railroad chef's trick of putting a long-handled medium-size pot inside the big pots. We also never fill the pots too close to the top. These measures prevent dangerous sloshing. Slack run-in and run-out on a long train (last year's ToL was 14 cars) is always the most severe test of your anti-slosh system. A similar anti-slosh system could be used with a deep-fat fryer or whatever.

Another safety preaution is having kitchen staff wear long sleeves. (That's why chef's jackets always have long sleeves). All of our uniform aprons are 100% cotton for comfort and fire safety. We also bought special funnels for transferring hot drinks from the pots to the dispensers.

- Doug Debs

The 10" anti-backsplash funnel is sold by a homebrewing supplier: http://www.homebrewing.com/equipment/funnel-with-anti-splash-10.php

- Doug Debs

Tim,

I'd say if its original or something that EL (or predecessor) did to it, I'd tend to keep it even if it wasn't used. If nothing else it would seem to be a unique feature in the world of railroad dining cars. I would tend to agree that it would surely pose a safety risk. Perhaps a nice cover could be fabricated providing some additional counter space while allowing you to maintain the original equipment for display?

ETA

Dave,

The car in Greenwood, SC is a former Erie modernized Pullman heavyweight. It is EL 746, we own 741. Right now we are working on former Lackawanna "Phoebe Snow" diner 469 which is a Budd car. We also have Lackawanna 470 which is in theory identical to 469 but went through service with the Straits Circus train. That diner is in Kansas City and I haven't had a chance to get photos of the kitchen to see if it has the fryer as well.

I guess there are worse problems than having to compare your 3 diners.

Tim and others:

There exist fryers in the 21st Century designed for compact quarters. Go to a real restaurant supply house or even to some better department stores and you may find self-contained fryers designed for household use, for small batches of fries or donuts. Heck, last fall/Christmas several store chains were offering electric TURKEY fryers!

The impression I have is that fryers in "mobile" settings such as carnival trailers have/had splash-guard edges to the fat vessels, which helped to contain any splashes but made cleaning a bear. But looking through what railroad-cooking books I have (the same ones you must have, Tim), I find little call for massive quantities of deep fat frying such as made famous by certain fast-food chains, and more "oven-frying" as described above.

Additionally, the downright best fried chicken in my area is the product of pressure-fryers--which takes care of the splashing issue in another way.....