Air Fryer Recommendations

[Ferdinand]

I'm having a look at one of these, as a general rapid cooking device for the kitchen.

 

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations?

 

Household size is up to two.

 

Thanks

 

Ferdinand

[SteamyTea]

I know nothing about them, are they just a small, hot oven?

How do they cope with the Mallard reaction?

Do they just become extra kitchen clutter.

[markc]

I have this one and it’s brilliant, Acti fry (with rotating paddle) is a pain.

Most used thing in my kitchen. I live on my own and fiancée visits. Just so much quicker and easier for small portions than using the oven

[Ferdinand]

On 17/09/2022 at 11:44, SteamyTea said:

I know nothing about them, are they just a small, hot oven?

How do they cope with the Mallard * reaction?

Do they just become extra kitchen clutter.

 

If you don't use them they become utility room clutter 🙂 .

 

I'm trying to find out whether I would use it. The R4 piece you linked before compared them to a fan over with an ultra strong fan, which seems a good analogy. Which! apparently have 14 different recommendations, and they now come with many different programmes.

 

They deal with the Mallard reaction by you making sure that the Mallards are dead. I have one in my freezer waiting, and hopefully it won't react.

 

Taste reports seem good.

Ferdinand

 

(*) *innocent face*

[SteamyTea]

4 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Mallard

(expletive deleted)ing autocorrect evens (expletive deleted)s it up when manually changing words.

Maillard, 140 to 165°C.

 

Your lucky to have birds, most have died down here, as much as I dislike seagulls, not having them feels odd, shall soon get used to it though.

[Ferdinand]

31 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

(expletive deleted)ing autocorrect evens (expletive deleted)s it up when manually changing words.

Maillard, 140 to 165°C.

 

Your lucky to have birds, most have died down here, as much as I dislike seagulls, not having them feels odd, shall soon get used to it though.

 

The air temperature is design to be warm enough so that the Maillard reaction happens.

 

I'm presuming, but that would surely be the basis of the claimed crispiness, which was the usp of the air fryer initially.

 

Quote

 In an air fryer, the medium of convective heat transfer is air rather than liquid oil, and the hot air rapidly circulating within the chamber is responsible for removing moisture from the surface of food.  However, air carries less heat per unit of volume compared to most frying oils, so it must be moved at a faster rate to achieve the same effect as deep frying [6] and reach the temperature necessary for the Maillard reaction to occur, 140-165°C.

https://sciencemeetsfood.org/air-fryers/

 

Ferdinand

[Simplysimon]

got a ninja 🥷 but for 4 was a bit small, still got it as wedon't get rid of anything! then got one rom lidl which is bigger and has a rotisserie option foes lovely chips and cooks a 1.2kg chicken in 40mins. well worth getting one, a lot cheaper to run.

[George]

We got a combination microwave when we lived in the static caravan (didn't much like the gas cooker that was installed).

 

A combination microwave has a grill and a fan (which blows air over the heating element to replicate an oven). As far as I can tell, that is essentially what an air fryer does - blow air over a heating element.

 

Add in the magnetron and a combination microwave is an incredibly versatile cooker. So... yeah, my recommendation is get a combination microwave! 

[Susie]

I have a Ninja Foodi Max multi cooker. Originally fat fryer although old and still working was very smelly and opening windows for ventilation was too cold. Also we wanted an alternative for when Rayburn gets switched off for slow cooking. Today we had jacket potatoes for lunch, microwave first then finished on air fryer setting.  Ours is not small and is heavy so now it’s left out all the time, but it gets used a lot.  On our new build (still in planning) it will be in the pantry with the microwave and bread machine (that’s used every 3 days).
I would make a list of what you want it to cook then find a model to that fits. We both work from home, and I try to cook most nights. But even if not cooking from scratch like tonight we had chips in the bottom and chicken Kiev on top all cooked in 23mins from frozen with no preheat. The Ninja wasn’t cheap though so need to use it to get payback on reduced energy cost. 

I have cooked a chicken in it for 3 people max and veg in the steamer but no Yorkshire puddings or stuffing so not a full roast. 
 

[SteamyTea]

Just now, George said:

So... yeah, my recommendation is get a combination microwave

What I have.  Seems to do most of what I need it to do, and can microwave and oven cook at the same time.

Not sure how energy efficient it is, and never baked a cake in it, or made a soufflé, but works well.

[Radian]

9 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Not sure how energy efficient it is, and never baked a cake in it, or made a soufflé, but works well.

We've been using our combi microwave/fan oven/grill, whenever possible, in preference to our Rangemaster oven since April and it's very clear that it uses less energy. I suspect that the difference in the mass of steel being brought up to cooking temperature makes the biggest contribution. As a baseline, cooking times are similar but the power input is around 2/3. But then using a combination of microwave to get things started, and grill to finish them off, can reduce cooking time even further.

 

Having said that, we're also swallowing the current waves of hype surrounding air-fryers. It's too tight a squeeze to get three portions of battered fish and chips in the microwave and while I doubt there's a big enough air-fryer out there that could do this, I'd be very interested if there was.

[SteamyTea]

5 minutes ago, Radian said:

It's too tight a squeeze to get three portions of battered fish and chips in the microwave

Just go to the local chippy, ask for haddock as it is usually cooked to order.

 

[dpmiller]

^ do that a couple of times and you could've paid for an air fryer...

 

We've a Panasonic flatbed combi and it's a super thing. It will do all three modes simultaneously (has a proper oven element) and it's inbuilt programs for pizza and jacket spuds are very good indeed.

[Radian]

57 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Just go to the local chippy, ask for haddock as it is usually cooked to order.

 

 

I don't get on well with the oils they often use in commercial deep fat fryers. I could quickly pass any blindfold test of this.

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, Radian said:

 

I don't get on well with the oils they often use in commercial deep fat fryers. I could quickly pass any blindfold test of this.

Palm oil usually, has been known to be called Orangutan tears.

[Radian]

2 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Palm oil usually, has been known to be called Orangutan tears.

I don't know, but either my tolerance of it has diminished or whatever 'tricks' they use to get the most out of it have been ramped-up. At home I get the same problems with rapeseed oil. Confusingly,  grapeseed oil is a different matter. I get on fine with that.

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, Radian said:

grapeseed oil is a different matter. I get on fine with that.

Red or White, alcohol % and vineyard make a difference.

[Ferdinand]

Great feedback, thanks.

 

I have a worktop pizza oven which is also great for things like reheating Yorkshire puds (eg frozen ones), pasties, oven chips and similar.

 

It has a kettle type element above, and pizza stone below.

 

As it happens the £50 microwave from Curry's just conked too, as did the kettle and the toaster recently. So shopping incoming.

 

Now to think.

Ferdinand

[Susie]

8 hours ago, Radian said:

Having said that, we're also swallowing the current waves of hype surrounding air-fryers. It's too tight a squeeze to get three portions of battered fish and chips in the microwave and while I doubt there's a big enough air-fryer out there that could do this, I'd be very interested if there was.

I can’t fit chips and fish in for 3 people and mine is big. Ninja do one that’s two drawers/baskets but not sure how big. 

[Radian]

37 minutes ago, Susie said:

I can’t fit chips and fish in for 3 people and mine is big. Ninja do one that’s two drawers/baskets but not sure how big. 

 

That's helpful thanks. You said you've got a Ninja Foodi MAX 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker which has a 7.5L capacity. I started looking at twin drawer ovens with 9L capacity.

 

[Marvin]

Roast for 2 today:

 

 

Better than a single bin one which we have also had. Big enough for small cake tin. Lovely chips.

3 racks included. Very small amount of cleaning of drip tray. 

 

Heats up and blows the heat about: 60W when just blowing, 2000W when heating. Uses about 1.5kWh for a cake and dinner for 2 about 1kWh.

 

Different to using an oven and takes experimenting with to get right. 

 

SWMBO well happy.

 

 

 

[Susie]

3 hours ago, Radian said:

 

That's helpful thanks. You said you've got a Ninja Foodi MAX 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker which has a 7.5L capacity. I started looking at twin drawer ovens with 9L capacity.

 

I did look at the twin drawer one but decided as we love our meat a big lump of slow cooked pork would fill a drawer and as it’s mostly the two of us (I freeze some meat for quick meals), one layer of chips 350g and something else on top cooks well but that’s two fish not 3 you would have to layer 3 fish and turn frequently.  It’s suppose to cook 500g of chips. Have a look at specific recipes in your chosen Ninja or whatever make to get a feel of what it can cook. I’ve done bread buns in it making the dough in bread machine putting half in fridge and baking 4 buns for lunch it proves and bakes nice. There’s still things I’ve not done yet like rice as I use a steamer also but glad I bought it just wish it wasn’t so big and heavy. Oh and make sure you have room to open lid I have it pulled to front of worktop because of overhead cupboards so the 2 drawer would be better but hopefully it still working when we move house and I’m not having any overhead cupboards. 
 

[SteamyTea]

7 hours ago, Susie said:

love our meat a big lump of slow cooked pork

Does that not contradict the whole ethos of an air fryer?

[Susie]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Does that not contradict the whole ethos of an air fryer?

My air fryer is a multi cooker, as well as air frying it also slow cooks, steams, pressure cooks, bakes, and more some I’ll never use like dehydrate and yoghurt settings. 

[SteamyTea]

Just now, Susie said:

My air fryer is a multi cooker, as well as air frying it also slow cooks, steams, pressure cooks, bakes, and more some I’ll never use like dehydrate and yoghurt settings. 

Right, fair enough.

Sounds a bit like my Combination oven, I am sure it can do a lot more than I use it for.