Arcane Gazebo

The Physics of Death Burger

If only my research were so easy to explain:

Some science with your fish and chips?

You’d think it was straightforward: the more you shake salt and vinegar over your chips, the more seasoned your chips become. But you’d be wrong.

Retired astrogeologist Dr Allan Mills, of the University of Leicester, was drawn to the subject while watching his assistant season his chips.

His inquiry into the physics of salt cellars has uncovered a surprising finding: shaking salt from a large chip shop-style dispenser actually slows down the flow and dispenses less salt.

Meanwhile, shaking the vinegar bottle does mean that more comes out and is evenly dispersed, but only because without shaking almost none would reach the chips at all.

One of the most valuable things I learned at Cambridge is that vinegar on chips French fries is really good, especially when the fries are hot. The place to go for this in Cambridge is one of the two trailers in Market Square that sell burgers &c. One of them bore the somewhat inscrutable slogan "This is the trailer of LIFE", and was therefore known as "Life Burger"; the other trailer was then naturally called "Death Burger". Interestingly, Life Burger seemed to have more vegetarian options while Death Burger was heavier on the meat and the grease.

Needless to say, my preference was for Death Burger.

Posted by Arcane Gazebo at October 9, 2004 8:00 PM | Tags: