Air Fryer Recommendations

[Radian]

10 hours ago, Susie said:

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. 

Yes, we've discounted any top-loaders for this same reason. I don't really like round ones either, takes up the same effective footprint on your worktop but gives less volume for food.

[Radian]

13 hours ago, Marvin said:

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

 

if it's the Xpress Pro 5-In-1 or Xpress Pro Combo 10-in-1 then yours has a capacity of 11L according to the Tower website. That's one of the bigger capacity ovens I seen. But looking at these promo photos, I still don't think it'd take three portions of fish and chips.

 

 

A 15cm pizza? That's funny. What I can't find is the size of the wire trays? If they're in the region of 150mm square then it's not going to cook for three people. And as I said, it's one of the larger appliances of this type.

[Jenni]

On 18/09/2022 at 09:34, dpmiller said:

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.

 

Do you mind sharing the model please? I'm struggling to find a flat bed combi with jacket potato button, and really miss a previous machine that would oven and grill simultaneously, sounds like yours is perfect. 

[dpmiller]

10 hours ago, Jenni said:

 

Do you mind sharing the model please? I'm struggling to find a flat bed combi with jacket potato button, and really miss a previous machine that would oven and grill simultaneously, sounds like yours is perfect. 

it's an NN-CF760, but looking at the current range you'd probably need to go up to one of the steam units to get a comparable spec?

[RandAbuild]

We bought a Ninja (single drawer) 3 months ago and it's fantastic. Cooks almost anything you would put in the oven. Warms up in 3 minutes (against 10 for our main oven), 1500 watts against 3000 and cooks in less than half the time. Easy to clean. Good for 2 people - would struggle to feed more.

 

We use very little oil, so it's not really a fryer. It's reheats too, but a good tip is to protect the top of quiches or crumbles as the fan-driven hot air can burn if you're not careful

[Radian]

On 22/09/2022 at 09:25, RandAbuild said:

Cooks almost anything you would put in the oven.

 

I was just wondering about what you do for things that are 'gloopy' like lasagne or even just hunters chicken where you slaver barbeque sauce over a ham wrapped chicken breast? In the conventional oven these would go in a Pyrex dish.

[Ferdinand]

A really useful thread. Thanks all.

[Ferdinand]

4 hours ago, Radian said:

 

I was just wondering about what you do for things that are 'gloopy' like lasagne or even just hunters chicken where you slaver barbeque sauce over a ham wrapped chicken breast? In the conventional oven these would go in a Pyrex dish.

 

Not having an Air Fryer yet, I might foil bake it in the pizza oven (*) and open up for the last 10 minutes or crisp the top under the grill.

 

Or even microwave then grill-crisp.

 

F

 

* One of these: https://pizzaunited.co.uk/products/optima-pizza-express-napoli-pizza-oven

[Radian]

I guess the reason it's called an 'air fryer' is to direct you away from composite food items like I've been asking about and towards anything that could be dropped into a fat fryer basket. Anything discreet like a chip or fish finger is perfect, as is a whole chicken. But anything that needs containment like lasagne isn't what it's meant for. Wrapping in foil might work for wrapped chicken breast and I've heard people using foil to prevent scorching of toppings so it might be a good work-around.

[Ferdinand]

12 minutes ago, Radian said:

I guess the reason it's called an 'air fryer' is to direct you away from composite food items like I've been asking about and towards anything that could be dropped into a fat fryer basket. Anything discreet like a chip or fish finger is perfect, as is a whole chicken. But anything that needs containment like lasagne isn't what it's meant for. Wrapping in foil might work for wrapped chicken breast and I've heard people using foil to prevent scorching of toppings so it might be a good work-around.

 

The first time I met foil baking was in Delia's One is Fun for white fish.

 

The pizza oven has a circular grill element in the top, and a pizza stone beneath, so for me the technique is to preheat the stone, then let ir run on the thermostat whilst the stone cooks something through (eg frozen cornish pasty) with occasional interventions from teh element to keep it up to temp, then to have 60-90s at the end from the element to crisp it.

 

It does oven chips beautifully.

 

F

[Radian]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

The pizza oven has a circular grill element in the top, and a pizza stone beneath

Oh, so you 'cook' the stone first then stick the food on and grill from above. Very clever.

 

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

then to have 60-90s at the end from the element to crisp it

That's the tricky bit I suppose - where it does a pizza in a few minutes, oven chips might take longer and possibly burn?

[Radian]

Alright, just how loud are these things in use? I was browsing some reviews and somebody said they could hear it through two fire doors! 😱

[Susie]

On 24/09/2022 at 10:33, Radian said:

 

I was just wondering about what you do for things that are 'gloopy' like lasagne or even just hunters chicken where you slaver barbeque sauce over a ham wrapped chicken breast? In the conventional oven these would go in a Pyrex dish.

It all depends on the size of dish and air fryer I can fit a 9 inch deep round tin in mine or cook in the pot without the fry basket. 

[Susie]

On 25/09/2022 at 12:14, Radian said:

Alright, just how loud are these things in use? I was browsing some reviews and somebody said they could hear it through two fire doors! 😱

I was also a bit worried about this after reading reviews but found that compared to the deep fat fryer that had the extractor on full it’s no louder but initially as it lower down than extractor and closer to you it was noticeable. After using it a while now nearly a year I don’t notice it at all.  Also unlike fat fryer I’m happy to leave it unattended and be in another room just as I would with the oven. 
 

[Radian]

10 hours ago, Susie said:

It all depends on the size of dish and air fryer I can fit a 9 inch deep round tin in mine or cook in the pot without the fry basket. 

But surely any container would defeat the airflow around items being cooked? I can understand it working with cake mixes though as the outside of the baking tin is the outside of the cake.

[Susie]

On 28/09/2022 at 08:56, Radian said:

But surely any container would defeat the airflow around items being cooked? I can understand it working with cake mixes though as the outside of the baking tin is the outside of the cake.

The dish was for things like lasagne or shepherds pie I some times use a trivet thingy to put a little space under dish as well. I have a oven type mode with bottom heat and fan on top so the dish has the heat blown around it like a fan oven but from the top rather than the rear. 

[martinxu]

I am more concerned about the difference between a convection oven and an air fryer. If I don't consider health issues, I will choose an air fryer, which is not expensive.
But I'll take the health factor into consideration, the plastic liner of the air fryer contains a carcinogen - Teflon, which is the last thing I need.
I would consider a combi oven maybe it should be called an air fryer, I saw it on amazon and I think it works great because it's so easy to set up, now I don't even use my big oven anymore (too power hungry) . I would recommend it HYSapientia.

[SteamyTea]

19 minutes ago, martinxu said:

the plastic liner of the air fryer contains a carcinogen - Teflon

Is that falsehood still doing the rounds, oh dear.

[martinxu]

It has to be said that this is not a lie, air fryers are made of plastic, and the process of cooking with plastic can produce a lot of unhealthy factors. But this is just my personal suggestion。

[joe90]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Is that falsehood still doing the rounds, oh dear.

Evidence?

[joe90]

2 hours ago, martinxu said:

would consider a combi oven maybe it should be called an air fryer, I saw it on amazon and I think it works great because it's so easy to set up, now I don't even use my big oven anymore (too power hungry)

I used to have a desk top little oven and it was great, thinking of getting another one as a huge oven must use a lot of power (mind it helps heat the kitchen in winter 🤔)

[SteamyTea]

17 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Evidence?

https://www.healthline.com/health/teflon-cancer#about-teflon

 

https://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/teflon-pans

 

https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2021/09/does-teflon-cause-cancer

 

 

I think you will find it is the manufacturing of Teflon that there are health risk concerns, not the final product.  But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

My car is a health risk, especially if I drink the battery acid, or the fuel, or try to eat the windscreen.

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by SteamyTea

[Iceverge]

19 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

or try to eat the windscreen.

 

Reduced risk there. It wouldn't fit in the air fryer.....

Edited October 21, 2022 by Iceverge

[joe90]

41 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I am not, so from your links above the “nasty” chemical has not been used since 2013, every day is a school day and that is why I like this forum, not only building topics.

 

43 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

My car is a health risk, especially if I drink the battery acid, or the fuel, or try to eat the windscreen.

 

But it’s not used fir cooking food! 🤷‍♂️

[SteamyTea]

14 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I am not, so from your links above the “nasty” chemical has not been used since 2013, every day is a school day and that is why I like this forum, not only building topics.

 

But it’s not used fir cooking food! 🤷‍♂️

Can be. Often put a bit of uncooked fish on my mates exhaust manifold.

He says it reminds him of his ex wife.