Tacup Iron Prototype
date: label: date made
content: 1959
label: date made
content: 1950s
notes: label: Description
content: Charles Elmer Doolin, founder of the Frito Company, was an inventor with a restless mind. In 1932 he bought the recipe for Fritos (“little fried things”) for $100 from Gustavo Olguin, the owner of a small restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. The following year Doolin began large-scale production of Fritos in Dallas and Houston, using a hybrid corn from his experimental farm. He continued to expand production while developing a nationwide ad campaign. By 1947, Fritos were being produced in factories across the United States.
label: Description
content: In addition to making Fritos and Cheetos (production of which began in 1949 in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City), Doolin continued to tinker with other recipes and food products. One of his ideas was the “Tacup,” a taco shell shaped liked a small, round tart. He built this prototype of a “Tacup” iron, which consists of two tart molds that fit one inside the other and are connected by handles that operate like tongs. A tortilla is pressed between the molds to form the scalloped-edged shell, which is then dipped into hot oil. Holes in the bottom mold exposed the tortilla to the hot oil, enabling it to cook evenly. Doolin designed a machine based on this prototype, receiving a patent for it in 1959. The Tacup, filled with various taco ingredients and Mexican flavors, was first introduced in the Dallas area at a chain of Dairy Marts. By 1955 visitors to Disneyland in southern California could order a “Taco in a Tacup”at Doolin’s restaurant, “Casa de Fritos.”
label: Description
content: See Kaleta Doolin. Fritos Pie: Stories, Recipes, and More (Stephenville, TX: Tarleton State University Southwestern Studies in the Humanities), 2011.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
label: See more items in
content: Food
label: See more items in
content: FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Kaleta A. Doolin
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2012.0078.03
label: catalog number
content: 2012.0078.03
label: accession number
content: 2012.0078
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cooking iron
label: Object Name
content: iron
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 1/2 in x 22 in x 4 1/4 in; 8.89 cm x 55.88 cm x 10.795 cm