I would have A LOT of fun cooking in these cars when the time came. Been a cook since I was old enough to work and have been a railroad fan since I was young. This would be a fun time.

A deep frier, or the stove top equivalent was a fairly normal piece of kitchen gear.

Here are some relevant sets of instructions from the PRR Dining Car Manual. Unfortunately I do not have an Erie, DL&W or E-L equivalent:

FRENCH FRIED: Cut large peeled raw potatoes into long sticks (½ inch thick,
cut off uneven ends) wash and place them into cold water. Take out in about
1 hour, let drain and dry. Now blanch potatoes in deep grease. When partly
soft, remove them. Drain off the fat and keep in baking pan, lined with kitchen
towel. When order is received take sufficient blanched potatoes and fry
them in very hot grease until dry and of good golden color. When done remove
from fat, drain surplus fat on towel and season with salt.

JULIENNE: Finely shredded potatoes, the thickness of a match, fried in deep grease, the same as French Fried.
NOTE: Do not use a wire basket when frying Julienne Potatoes, but sprinkle
them into the hot fat or otherwise they will stick and cake together.

LONG BRANCH: Cut large peeled potatoes into long sticks (¼ inch thick) fried
in deep grease the same as French Fried.

SARATOGA CHIPS: Potatoes cut into round slices as thin as paper, then fried in deep beef suet grease until very crisp and brown.
CAUTION: Chip potatoes must not be fried in wire basket but must be sprinkled into
the hot fat, or otherwise they will stick together and make a poor appearance.


The caution against using a wire basket for julienne and Saratoga chips implies the presence of a deep frier of the functional equivalent. A number of other recipes specify deep fat.

Nothing I have read seems to call for industrial quantities, its all done one or two orders at a time which lessens the amount of hot fat needed.

GME

Authentic or not, you do not want to be liable (in today's sue happy society) for the injuries sustained from a splash of hot oil in a large quantity. Both my parents had restaurants with deep fat fryers, even adding frozen food too rapidly can cause any water in the frozen food to become steam which will propel hot oil from the well of the fryer, most cooks know and respect the fryer. I would hate to see what would happen during a mildly hard coupling, remember accidents still happen even with the best attempt at rules compliance. My recommendation is to remove it an use the space for something else that will be more useful.

Mike Tillger

Mental image of huge, wise and philosophical men in Monk's habits.

I'm sure they'd enjoy the french fries........

dave

In Britain, of course, it's the fish friar and the chip monk.

Sorry, just spent the weekend at a Belgian beer festival with Trappist beers (no joke).