Water Jets cutting food
February 27, 2015 8:25 AM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble



 
"Water Jet Cutting Sweet Corn on the Cob"

Now do regular corn on the cob!

This is like some old school David Letterman shit. Like when he put the beans and franks in the Hydraulic compressor.
posted by bondcliff at 8:30 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


> come over

I think you just invented a new iOS game.
posted by archagon at 8:32 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Does anyone have any information about the benefits or drawbacks of using a water jet? Economically, environmentally?
posted by Fizz at 8:32 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Saw VII: Waterpik Boogaloo
posted by Auden at 8:32 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


Didn't the main character in Count Zero have a weird dream about this?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:38 AM on February 27, 2015 [8 favorites]


I can't be the only one worried about soggy food.
posted by Kitteh at 8:38 AM on February 27, 2015 [30 favorites]


Um, how do you think hot dog buns get that slit in them?
posted by sexyrobot at 8:38 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


But can it still slice a tomato?
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 8:39 AM on February 27, 2015 [4 favorites]


The thing that always distresses me about this is like, so now you have a wet sandwich? That's not good! Soggy cake? EVEN WORSE. AUGH!
posted by majuju at 8:40 AM on February 27, 2015 [4 favorites]


"Watersaber" just doesn't quite have the same ring to it though, does it.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 8:41 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


The thing that always distresses me about this

Always? How many times in your life have you been confronted with food cut by water jet? Do you live in some superhero's cave or lair or something?
posted by bondcliff at 8:41 AM on February 27, 2015 [29 favorites]


My understanding had been that lasercutting food items was really commonplace (maybe I'm wrong about that?). I would have guessed that using a water jet would result in adding too much moisture to bread items - as the water cuts through an item it gradually looses focus and cutting power - but apparently I'm totally wrong. I guess it makes sense that it might be less damaging than the hear generated by a lasercutter.
posted by ianhattwick at 8:43 AM on February 27, 2015


Always? How many times in your life have you been confronted with food cut by water jet? Do you live in some superhero's cave or lair or something?

It's more likely than you think. From the baked goods video description:

"For decades, water jets have been used as a manufacturing process to cut variety types of food cutting, including pizza, cakes, meats, fish, candy bars, french fries and all types of frozen food. "
posted by jedicus at 8:43 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Do you live in some superhero's cave or lair or something?

Um, yes?
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:43 AM on February 27, 2015 [13 favorites]


Bae caught me slicin'.
posted by codacorolla at 8:45 AM on February 27, 2015 [10 favorites]




now you have a wet sandwich

ugh wet sandwiches are the worst. Nails on chalkboard, putting on a staticy shirt, all better than when mom or dad put the tomatoes IN the sandwich they made last night for your lunch the next day.

including pizza

what the what

Is this pizza pre-cut? Why and how would you cut a pizza with a water jet? You have a round knife wheel thingy you can just roll right over the thing in like 2 seconds
posted by Hoopo at 8:47 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


The hell is wrong with that steak?
posted by supercres at 8:47 AM on February 27, 2015


There is a certain comfort in the knowledge that we can all bond together in acknowledging that soggy food is the worst. THE WORST.

(Food formerly hot eaten cold is the other. EWWW.)
posted by Kitteh at 8:50 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


No no no, cold soggy pizza the next morning is the best!
posted by mcrandello at 8:55 AM on February 27, 2015 [4 favorites]


Didn't the main character in Count Zero have a weird dream about this?

Seriously, how does Gibson do this? There's a dream scene with a mom cutting pizza with a water jet, it's just a little bit of color - no real bearing on the plot. I last read Count Zero maybe five years ago, and it's the first thing I thought of when I saw the first video.

Food formerly hot eaten cold is the other. EWWW.

Next day breakfast pizza, therefore you are wrong.
posted by Dr Dracator at 8:56 AM on February 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


There is a certain comfort in the knowledge that we can all bond together in acknowledging that soggy food is the worst. THE WORST.

(Food formerly hot eaten cold is the other. EWWW.)


I'll agree that soggy food is not pleasant but we're going to have to discuss how certain foods eaten cold are better.

Such as morning pizza.
posted by Fizz at 8:58 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


YOU ARE ALL GROSS AND WRONG

(except about soggy food)
posted by Kitteh at 8:59 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


you can actually just make your own food waterjet at home by dipping a sandwich in a basin of water

#lifehack
posted by leotrotsky at 9:01 AM on February 27, 2015 [9 favorites]


YOU ARE ALL GROSS AND WRONG

I have legit childhood memories about having day after cold morning pizza and flat dr. pepper straight from the fridge.

It's a wonderful thing.
posted by Fizz at 9:02 AM on February 27, 2015


What weapon was used? We can't tell, its a clean cut, too clean...
John Belushi could have done something with this.
posted by Oyéah at 9:02 AM on February 27, 2015


Dear Yahoo Answers...
Q: Can a water jet cut off a finger?

Best Answer: some of the new water jets can cut steel so a finger would be no problem at all.

Source(s):
Twenty years as a Doctor of Traditional Naturopathy
posted by Iridic at 9:09 AM on February 27, 2015 [14 favorites]


But wait, there's more! If you order the Wow-Ta-Jett 3000 in the next thirty minutes, we'll send you tne My-Oh-Cryo pizza cooler ABSO-LUTELY FREE!(*) That's right! No need to wait until morning to enjoy cool, congealed pizza: now it can go from fry-me to slimy in under a minute! And that's not all! We'll throw in the Chernobyl EZ-XL Hi-NRG Gamma Fotonik Food Preserver - a $39.95 value (**) - that'll keep your soggy, frozen, maltreated foodstuffs in PRECISELY the state you love 'em for up to TEN THOUSAND YEARS!

(*)liquid helium not supplied
(**)offer invalid in territories signatory to the 1954 Atomic Materials Limitation Treaty
posted by Devonian at 9:11 AM on February 27, 2015 [5 favorites]


The third link: what is the narrator's accent? His pronunciation of 'water' seems quite unusual.
posted by biffa at 9:14 AM on February 27, 2015


"In Japan, the hand can be used as a knife!"
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:17 AM on February 27, 2015


Pepperoni shrapnel.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:17 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


The third link: what is the narrator's accent? His pronunciation of 'water' seems quite unusual.

That sounds like maybe Philadelphia/Baltimore to me? "wudder"
posted by dis_integration at 9:18 AM on February 27, 2015


LIMITLESS PETTIFOURS

I also really like that there's a thing in the world called a "demonstration cake."
posted by harperpitt at 9:18 AM on February 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


Isn't this how they manufacture the unibody MacBook Pro/Air?
posted by Brainy at 9:21 AM on February 27, 2015


Does anyone have any information about the benefits or drawbacks of using a water jet? Economically, environmentally?

For cutting stone, the advantage is that the blade never wears out. I didn't know they used it for food, but from the description on the video, the big advantage there is no cross-contamination -- the blade is always clean.
posted by tavella at 9:22 AM on February 27, 2015 [4 favorites]


Someone left the cake out in the rain.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:22 AM on February 27, 2015 [5 favorites]


lasercutting food items was really commonplace

I hope not; all the experiments we've done have led to food with a disgusting char along the cut edge. Cutting thin beef jerky? Not so bad. Slicing a sugar cookie in two? SO AWFUL
posted by phooky at 9:25 AM on February 27, 2015


"woortoor"

"wudder"


Oh man my sister's ex from Philly once asked me for "water ice" with that weird Philly pronounciation

I was so confused. Like, so...you want ice made of water? Boy are you in luck! That's the only kind that exists, and I have some in my freezer! How do you take it, like maybe a little egg cup?
posted by Hoopo at 9:35 AM on February 27, 2015 [5 favorites]


If you do planetary astronomy and work too long on the outer solar system, you tend to refer to water as "molten ice."
posted by BrashTech at 9:42 AM on February 27, 2015 [7 favorites]


If you do planetary astronomy and work too long on the outer solar system, you tend to refer to water as "molten ice."

Yes, but astronomy considers the entire universe to be made out of 1) Dark Energy, 2) Dark Matter, 3) Hydrogen, 4) Helium, and 5) Metals.
posted by eriko at 9:58 AM on February 27, 2015 [8 favorites]


HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I COULD OVERTHINK ABLATIVE BEAMS.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:03 AM on February 27, 2015 [51 favorites]


I'll agree that soggy food is not pleasant but we're going to have to discuss how certain foods eaten cold are better.

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold but not so great if it's also soggy.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:05 AM on February 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


The Klingons have another saying:


"Gagh is a dish best served soggy...and squirmy."
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:13 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


So I'm wondering: how does the effectiveness of this drop off over the distance to the target object?

Not that I want to give anyone ideas, but how hard would it be to amp up a SuperSoaker and turn the squirt gun fight down at the neighborhood pool into a bloodbath?

Imagine just a single short pulse in some kind of one-shot device. It might be the perfect assassination weapon. And, like the mythical ice-bullet, it wouldn't leave much evidence.
posted by doctor tough love at 10:18 AM on February 27, 2015


Does anyone have any information about the benefits or drawbacks of using a water jet? Economically, environmentally?

We use a water jet at my engineering job daily. Benefits are a very clean and precise cut. Drawbacks are speed (it's slower than our turret punch or a laser cutter) and price (it's kinda expensive to run). Ours uses garnet as an abrasive, and the cost of refilling that adds up. The water is filtered and re-used. The pump takes a lot of electricity to run. We typically use it on material over 5/16" thick, or material that's too brittle (ceramic, granite) for the turret punch. I'm guessing these jets don't use garnet (the material is so soft it doesn't need it).
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:18 AM on February 27, 2015 [13 favorites]


Nothing says tasty sandwich like cutting it between two gray mystery blocks on some extruded polystyrene.

Could be the next status item in the kitchen.

ITS A SINGLE SERVING COFFEE MAKER AND SANDWICH WATER CUTTER ALL IN ONE NO MUSS NO FUSS. CUT YOUR SANDWICH THAN RECYCLE THAT WATER I SAY RECYCLE THAT WATER BACK UP TO THE TOP, UP TO THE TOP FOR YOUR FRESH BREWED COFFEE. OF COURSE YOU LOVE YOUR COFFEE WITH AN AROMA OF DILL, ANCHOVY COFFEE, MUSTARD AND SALAMI ESPRESSO
posted by sylvanshine at 10:19 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


So I'm wondering: how does the effectiveness of this drop off over the distance to the target object?

A lot. Our jet nozzle is typically .125" away from the material or less. On thicker material it can be a problem because the kerf of the cut will drift, so your .05" cut at the top of a 1" plate is .095" at the bottom.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:20 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


CNC water jet machine to cut the food. Amazing! What else the water jet cutting can not do?

Speak English, apparently.

Other things water jet cutting cannot do:
-start fires
-press a panini
-sick guitar solo
-know love
-unbreak this heart
-say it'll love me again
-undo this hurt it caused
-uncry these tears
posted by backseatpilot at 10:22 AM on February 27, 2015 [21 favorites]


Is there some actual reason to do this instead of using... this is just a crazy idea I had just now... a knife?
posted by Sing Or Swim at 10:36 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


I don't often buy waterjet cutting apparatus, but when I do, I'm gonna be buying it from Mohammed Hashish.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:36 AM on February 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


Ok, I just walked over and snapped a couple pics of our jet in action. Pic Pic Pic

The tennis ball is over the nozzle to control the spray a bit. We also typically cut slightly under water for the same reason. After I took the first pic, our operator raised the material a bit so you can see it in action a little better. That sandy red material that's on the plate is the garnet, which acts as an abrasive. It's operating at about 60,000 psi (60ksi) right here, but can safely operate up to about 90ksi.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:36 AM on February 27, 2015 [18 favorites]


Is there some actual reason to do this instead of using... this is just a crazy idea I had just now... a knife?

Precision. Speed. Automation. And water jets pierce much better than a knife, so if you need a hole in the center you cut that first, then you cut the perimeter.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:48 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


manufacturing engineers gonna manufacture
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:53 AM on February 27, 2015 [9 favorites]


but I thought the subject of this post was manufacturing engineers gonna cut sandwiches
posted by kiltedtaco at 10:58 AM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


LOL it's good to see spikelee here to answer authoritatively before I was forced to answer somewhat second-hand. I gotta ask, are you tempted to put food in your waterjet despite the maintenance costs?
posted by muddgirl at 11:00 AM on February 27, 2015


No no no, cold soggy pizza the next morning is the best!

My four-year-old agrees. He's basically already in college and doesn't even know it.
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:14 AM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


My dad worked for a few years at a plant that used water jets to cut candy bars and loved telling the story about the guy he worked with who tried to got something sticky on his hand and tried to use the water jet to rinse it off. Didn't end well.
posted by burden at 11:31 AM on February 27, 2015


Is there some actual reason to do this instead of using... this is just a crazy idea I had just now... a knife?

This isn't aimed at home kitchens, or even commercial kitchens. It's for mass production, where the mixing, shaping, cooking, and packaging of food items is almost 100% automated. (Did you think someone was assembling your frozen pizzas by hand?)

One benefit of a water jet over a knife (I imagine): a knife has to be drawn horizontally through the food—and if you've ever cut a gooey/crumbly/ piece of food by hand, you know that the shear force can cause it to smear, crumble, or simply get pulled out of shape. The water jet, on the other hand, pierces through the food along a single dimension, so you get no smearing or misshaping.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 11:41 AM on February 27, 2015


ugh wet sandwiches are the worst

Au jus must be joking.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:44 AM on February 27, 2015 [4 favorites]


I'll send the links to my children. Title of the mail: Father's Day 2015. With a strict regime of newspaper delivery, baby sitting and stocking up at the supermarket, they will make it just in time for the down payment.
posted by ouke at 11:49 AM on February 27, 2015


This gave me the gibblies precisely because of that scene from Count Zero:

"Then Bobby got the picture, and the universe reversed itself sickeningly. The lamp was suspended from the ceiling, the ceiling was mirrored, and he was the doll. He seemed to snap back on a long elastic cord, back through the red honey-combs, to the dream room where the black girl sliced pizza for her children. The waterknife made no sound at all, microscopic gnt suspended in a needle-stream of high-speed water. The thing was intended to cut glass and alloy, Bobby knew, not to slice microwaved pizza, and he wanted to scream at her because he was terrified she'd take off her thumb without even feeling it."
posted by andorphin at 12:02 PM on February 27, 2015




A tres leches cake is soggy. It is delicious.
posted by linux at 12:33 PM on February 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


Am I the only one who immediately thinks "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to get annoyingly soggy! HAHAHAHAhahahaaaaaa! Oh, and die. You'll definitely die."

I am? Hokay, letting myself out now.
posted by sapere aude at 12:40 PM on February 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


Seriously, how does Gibson do this?


It's Gibson's reality, we're just living in it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:51 PM on February 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


Au jus must be joking.

I mean there are some rare exceptions. One exception that works almost every time is gravy. Bread can be soggy if its cuz gravy's on it. A slice of wonderbread, though? No salvaging that once it gets soggy.

That one doesn't look all that tempting to me but after reading how it's done I imagine the beef tastes a lot better than it looks (grey and overdone). I think I'd like it better if I got it right after they splashed it with the liquid, so it still hadn't soaked all the way through the bread and made it all mushy.
posted by Hoopo at 1:21 PM on February 27, 2015


I want a water-jet cutter. For cutting steel, not food. But still, major tool lust.
posted by Blackanvil at 1:25 PM on February 27, 2015


This is the best use of "bae" that I've ever seen.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 1:52 PM on February 27, 2015


well then, you're in luck
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 2:26 PM on February 27, 2015


MORE GRAVY BREAD FOR ME
posted by Juliet Banana at 2:27 PM on February 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Roman Tramezzini are soggy. It took me years and years to even try one, because who on earth enjoys soggy sandwiches. But they are amazing.
posted by mumimor at 3:20 PM on February 27, 2015


Mohammed Hashish always travels with Mustafah Bomenim to take the customs heat off.
posted by asok at 4:32 PM on February 27, 2015


That's the best thing since sliced... oh right.
posted by w0mbat at 5:22 PM on February 27, 2015


Must be Monday, then.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:58 PM on February 27, 2015


(Did you think someone was assembling your frozen pizzas by hand?)

Yes, singing oompa loompas or some other humanoid species that delights in factory made food.
posted by krinklyfig at 12:30 AM on February 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


People keep talking about "soggy". In one video linked in a comment here, the guy says "no wetting of the product", and I can believe that. For the cut to be uniform and clean all the way through, the velocity of the water can't be significantly reduced from the top to the bottom of the material, that is, the cakes or whatever don't really slow the water down at all. It's traveling so fast it comes out the other end, and if none of it slows down, none of it soaks into the cake. If the water had slowed down enough to wet the cake, the cut would be irregular and jagged near the bottom of the cake, because slow water doesn't cut well.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:14 AM on February 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


People keep talking about "soggy".

Your introduction of "logic" and "evidence" into this joyous discussion of endampinated baked goods is impolite, sir, at best! Impolite!

Although it can be allowed that it shows grit.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:48 AM on February 28, 2015


I have legit childhood memories about having day after cold morning pizza and flat dr. pepper straight from the fridge.

It's a wonderful thing.
posted by Fizz at 9:02 AM on February 27 [+] [!]


Eponycontradictory!
posted by the sobsister at 6:54 AM on February 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


I got this video in the relateds, which I thought was pretty great. It shows a high-volume bakery that is waterjet cutting, among other things, delicate multi-layered pastries with custard fillings that will squeeze out if you take a knife to them (see 1:10 in the video). They have grated cutting surfaces to avoid the soggy bottom problem mentioned earlier, and the water stream looks to me to be way finer and less 'wet' than those in some of the op videos.
posted by polymath at 12:52 PM on February 28, 2015


This is like some old school David Letterman shit.

Because it is coming from a company, it makes me think of Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" videos, without the (polished) presentation. Of course you wouldn't really use a water jet to cut food, because the industrial-grade water jet cutters run $40,000 or so, but you wouldn't really try to blend buckyballs, but it looks pretty badass.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:49 PM on February 28, 2015


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