Spyder Pyresphere�s Guide To...

FAST FOOD

Burgers, tacos, pizza...three of many individual �food groups� which the average human beings eats on a regular basis. And the number one suppliers of these greasy treats are fast food joints. Though many claim their food is �fresh�, the bulk of most fast food joints precook and preassemble their food, thus giving the purchaser a slight taste of cardboard in their mouth due to the �float time�.

So how does one dodge around the cardboard without paying a few extra bucks? Well, that�s what I�m here for. I worked fast food for about two years, and the inside secrets are a little easier than you�d think.

Fries

The side of sides. The king of potatoes. And it�s almost included in every order imaginable, including taco joints. But if you�re like me, every now and then you end up with a lukewarm batch of deep fried potato strings that taste like (you guessed it) microwaved cardboard. Or even worse, they taste like they�ve been chipped out of the center of a saltlick, instantly drying up your tongue to the effect of a raisin.

Everyone loves them. No one wants the bad ones. So how do you avoid the crap shoot? One simple addition to your order, that�ll be guaranteed to perk up the cooks.

�One small fry. No salt.�

No salt is the bane of all fry cooks. After having an entire batch of fries sitting there for 5 minutes, they�re desperate to offload the remainder of their stock. But the term no salt is an instantanious cue to immediately drop a brand new batch of fries just for one order. The reason? Immediately after pulling a batch of fries from the fryer, all fries are salted to the company�s standards. This means any order that wants no salt must be an individual batch, ensuring you a steaming hot carton of fries coming your way.

And what if you like salt on your fries? Well, here�s the clentcher. I know you don�t usually take a look at the condiments table in your local fast food place, but I guarantee you if you take a few seconds, you�ll notice some small white packets about the size of half your pinky. These are salt packets. USE THEM. Tada! (Some places don�t have these, and instead have the salt shakers at the tables. If you�re on the go, just ask for some salt packets. They�re probably hidden behind the counter. And it�ll show them how fresh you think their fries are!)

Burgers

There are two kinds of burgers in the fast food world, no matter how many names or meats are used. They are the assembled and the preassembled. Assembled means the ingredients are precooked and set aside in their own heating containers until their individual holding times are up. Then they are placed in the waste basket. Any burgers ordered between these times are put together using these ingredients, taking about 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes to make.

Preassembled means the burgers are already put together and waiting on a hotplate for any orders that might occur. Specialty orders are made in the same way as described above in the �Assembled� manner, but most burgers are just placed on the �Ready to Go� area.

So how do you ensure that your burger is hot and fresh, despite all the hold timers (which on average is about 20 minutes). There are a couple of steps to take with this, no matter what kind of burger you�re ordering. Here�s an example:

�One whopper. No ketchup. Well done. Don�t toast the bun.�

Breaking down this order, I start by ordering the burger itself. Then we get to the tricky part. No ketchup removes one of the vital items from the burger that can easily be replaced manually after you�ve received your order. This forces them to assemble a burger for you, instead of giving you a preassembled one. However, this does not guarantee you�re getting a hot meat patty.

Well done means they will either run the patty through the charbroiler for longer, or more like, place it back in the charbroiler to cook it more. Either way, their will ensure you�re getting a hot patty. Just watch your mouth when you bite in.

So why the Don�t toast the bun line? Well, you may not be aware of this, but buns are precooked and held just like any other item. The average timer on those are 5 minutes, and once that�s up they tend to be soggy. By forcing them to give you a non-toasted bun, you�re guaranteed a non-soggy, fresh bun. (And I personally like them non-toasted anyway).

Pizza

If you HAVE to have pizza, don�t be stupid about it. There are two things to avoid when ordering from a pizza joint.

�Budget� Pizzas (Those averaging about $5.)

Specials

Both of those kinds of pizzas are more than likely premade pizzas that are sitting on a heater somewhere, waiting to be ordered. This is mainly because they are in such high demand, most businesses tend to cut down on cook times by making them in batches and holding them over for orders. Your best bet for a hot, fresh pizza is to order personalized pizza. Look to spend around $11-$20 on a good pizza. Otherwise, it�s just baked cardboard.

Tacos

Tacos are really tough to get fresh sometimes. Much like burgers, their ingredients tend to be precooked and waiting to be assembled. But the problem with this is, there is no special way to order your taco meat, meaning you can�t easily trick them into giving you a fresh batch.

If you�re looking for something hot and fresh from a fast food place, AVOID TACO JOINTS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. They not only tend to have the least choices for fresh items, but they also have the highest health problems. If you really must have Mexican food, go to a sit-down restaurant. Trust me on this one.


I know that fast food isn�t the best place to obtain a meal from. In fact, it�s one of the leading causes of obesity in this country. But sometimes it�s done out of necessity, or even out of want (in the case of some teenagers). This guide is in no way promoting fast food as a legitimate meal. However, if you ever have to eat fast food, you might as well get everything hot and fresh.

I'm very shocked with this information.

I think I always knew but never actually knew how to avoid it.

I've printed this out.

Thank you.

At least it helped ONE person.

I'm going to have to call into question the Pizza section, seeing as how I work for Round Table Pizza.

We do not make pizzas ahead of time, no matter how popular. Each and every pizza is made to order and we WILL catch flak from the manager if it is not ready within a certain time, screwed up, or the customer sends it back (though usually this is either when we missed putting on a certain ingredient or they're just being stupid by claiming they ordered something else).

Granted, this might be because our pizzas are top-quality. We aren't your normal Pizza Hut or Dominos. You order pizza here, you get what you paid for. High quality, overpriced, done to your standards pizza.

Quoted^(ref) Frostburn (on 6 August, 2007, 10:04 PM PDT) —

I'm going to have to call into question the Pizza section, seeing as how I work for Round Table Pizza.

We do not make pizzas ahead of time, no matter how popular. Each and every pizza is made to order and we WILL catch flak from the manager if it is not ready within a certain time, screwed up, or the customer sends it back (though usually this is either when we missed putting on a certain ingredient or they're just being stupid by claiming they ordered something else).

Granted, this might be because our pizzas are top-quality. We aren't your normal Pizza Hut or Dominos. You order pizza here, you get what you paid for. High quality, overpriced, done to your standards pizza.

I can vouch for this; Round Table is the Navy SEALS of Pizza.

I have heard horror stories about Taco Bell's meat.... I am ever so reluctant to eat there. Then again, fast food has lost almost all appeal to me now...

Considering I've worked with Spyder...yes this is all true, and believe me....there's more. I've also worked for regular no-rush resturaunt. In my opinion, it's worth the wait and the extra money. The only real let down is soup because it's cooked in massive amounts, you run the risk of getting whats in the bottom of the pot for however long it's been there.

Let's talk about buffets!!

Quoted^(ref) Frostburn (on 6 August, 2007, 10:04 PM PDT) —

I'm going to have to call into question the Pizza section, seeing as how I work for Round Table Pizza.

We do not make pizzas ahead of time, no matter how popular. Each and every pizza is made to order and we WILL catch flak from the manager if it is not ready within a certain time, screwed up, or the customer sends it back (though usually this is either when we missed putting on a certain ingredient or they're just being stupid by claiming they ordered something else).

Granted, this might be because our pizzas are top-quality. We aren't your normal Pizza Hut or Dominos. You order pizza here, you get what you paid for. High quality, overpriced, done to your standards pizza.

Well, originally I didn't want to NAME NAME's...

But I'm referring to two places.

PIZZA HUT and LITTLE CAESERS(sp?).

Don't go to wendys after midnight. All the stuff is old and has probably been sitting there for hours.

Little Caesars is nasty IMO, but I like Pizza Hut. There was a store here that served me a pizza and there was a bandaid in it. Screw that buddy gimme my 10 bucks back @.@

A... band-aid....? Oh god. Ew. I would demand my money back and then some. Gross. Dx

Good thing I remove my topings and eat them last, I found it under the cheese.

And cardboard pizza? Had that at my old elementary school, once, the cheese was CHRISPY WTF!

And I also have a story about burgers. I once ordered a double cheese from mc donalds and when I bit into it the meat was STILL frozen in the middle, it made me sick. They refunded us though >_>

Yeah, fast food hates me, wanna hear my story about a worm I found in a pastry?

Ew! Frozen burger! And no... keep the worm to yourself.

I like Taco Bell for the crunch wrap supreme. I get it only once every other month or so.

Taco Bell makes me nervous now.. >.>

Ya, after that E.coli thing I don't like taco bell.

I HATE jack in the box. I got food poisoning there once.

SUBWAY! o-o What do you think about SUBWAY Spyder? Is it good or bad... I eat there a lot, o-o.

Getting everything spicy on the list.

I don't see why Subway would be too much of a problem as long as the crew does their job and ditches the old food.

I enjoyed reading this Spyder. =O I have to occasionally grab fast-food on the way home from work and.. now I'm informed of what goes on there.

People would always come in and ask for unsalted fries when I worked at Mc.Donalds. It does insure that you get a fresh batch.



And the salad also tastes disgusting since it too is preassembled and frozen. :/