Space food: Why Mars astronauts won't have to hold the fries (video)

[Admin]

Astronauts with a taste for fried food will be able to indulge during journeys to the moon and Mars. New research shows that frying works in microgravity.

Space food: Why Mars astronauts won't have to hold the fries (video) : Read more

 

[Mergatroid]

That would be deep frying, not frying. Frying is with a pan and a little bit of oil or butter on the bottom. Deep frying is immersing the food in hot oil.
Why would anyone in their right mind want to take a container of boiling oil into a spacecraft? I can just imagine an accident with a huge glob of boiling oil floating around the craft.
Not what I would call smart.

 

[billslugg]

Fry oil goes bad in a week or so. Big waste disposal problem. I think an air fryer is a better solution.

 

[Coinneach]

Pretty sure you wouldn't want a chip pan fire in space, but imagine the possibility of a deep fried Mars bar ... on Mars.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Air frying does not have the same heat transfer rate as deep fat frying, and creates a smooth skin on the potato surface, instead of the rough texture created by the sudden bursting of water into steam in the pores of the potato near its surface.

While this experiment seems to show that microgravity does not relegate the potato in hot fat to being "air fried" through a blanket of surrounding steam, I still think I would pass on this technique if I were the astronaut. Yes, there is probably no law against flushing used oil into space so that it would not have to be kept in a container until they could find an oil recycling place on Earth willing to take it. But, it does seem like a hazard and a lot of work.

Next idea, please.

 

[Classical Motion]

I love fried food. Pan or deep. Air frying is a bust for me. When I was a young man, the navy ship I was on....the turbine oil and the main reduction gear oil was over 25 years old. It was cleaned and recycled on ship. Can that be done with cooking oil? This problem must be studied and solved. For the health and comfort of the astronauts. I'll bet McDonald's could figure something out. Cheeseburgers in space.

 

[billslugg]

Oil can be cleaned and reused. Basically you distill it and discard all but a certain temperature range. Gearbox system must be continually topped off. Never any need to drain the system and refill.
My crystal ball does not show deep frying or broiling in space. Hot oil flying around? I don't think they want to take the risk. And yes, huge disposal problem. Microwaving in sealed pouches is probably going to be there for a long while. Cooking of food exposed to the cabin atmosphere is fraught with problems. Thin layer of foil inside a pouch in a microwave can get hot enough to brown meats and veggies. Got to get that Maillard reaction thing going.