BS: who owns an air fryer?

Subject: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: leeneia
Date: 05 May 19 - 10:03 PM

I have been reading about the cooking appliance called an air fryer. I realize that it is a small convection oven with a special shape. It looks handy.

Do you own one? Do you like it? What brand is it?

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 May 19 - 10:26 PM

I got one. the power air fryer.

very good if you're dieting. you can do chips without fat or oil.
it doesn't dry food like a microwave. quicker and less fuss than the oven.

i think they've made some improvements since i got mine.

ihaven't done any of the stuff in the recipe book.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 May 19 - 10:39 PM

What shape? I've used a bowl-type convection oven for many years (the hot air is blown around from the lid, the "oven" is a large glass bowl it fits over.)

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: IanW
Date: 06 May 19 - 03:03 AM

We have one it’s brilliant. We use it constantly. Heats things up much faster than the electric oven. We used our first so much it’s warn out and we are now onto our second.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: vectis
Date: 07 May 19 - 09:19 PM

I have just got one and it is brilliant. Frozen oven chips and roast spuds come out much moister than cooking them in an oven.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 May 19 - 09:59 PM

And yet it IS an oven. Air fryer, humph. Oxymoron. Cooks with hot air = oven. Cooking with hot grease = frying.

But great marketing!

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: BobL
Date: 08 May 19 - 04:19 AM

So it's essentially a fan oven, only table-top size?

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Jos
Date: 08 May 19 - 06:32 AM

I cook oven chips in a deep fat fryer. Try it.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 May 19 - 07:16 AM

Frozen oven chips are an abomination and are bad for you. Why bother. Instead:

Turn up the oven to at least 230C.

Scrub spuds but don't peel. "Salad potatoes" are the best, but at a pinch any spud will do.

Cut spuds into chip-sized bits.

Parboil for seven minutes in well-salted water.

Drain in a sieve and allow to stand for a couple of minutes uncovered.

Put back in pan, cover with lid and shake to roughen all the edges.

Spread chips out on an oven tray (overcrowding is disastrous) that has enough groundnut oil on it to coat the chips plus a little bit extra.

Place into hot oven for 20 minutes, tossing them around in the oil half way through.

Result: gorgeous healthy chips that haven't absorbed too much oil at all (a lot of it will still be in the tray when you've plated up the chips).

Recommended accompaniments: fried eggs or omelette with baked beans, or baked fish with mushy peas.

I'm not going to pretend that I've got chips when they've been made without any fat.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Jos
Date: 08 May 19 - 08:09 AM

I used Sainsbury's Maris Piper chunky chips.
[Many other varieties are indeed covered by Steve Shaw's first sentence.]

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 May 19 - 06:49 PM

Your Sainsbury's chips ingredients:

Potato (91%), Wheat Flour, Sunflower Oil, Cornflour, Rice Flour, Salt

What place does flour occupy in a discussion of chips? Three kinds?...

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 May 19 - 06:50 PM

Sorry, last line shouldn't have been in italics.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Jos
Date: 09 May 19 - 12:22 PM

I see your point - I assume it's to produce a crisp coating when cooked in an oven, where the chips are not immersed in fat.

(I'm not keen on baked beans, and I think mushy peas are vile. But eggs, omelette or baked fish are fine. I assumed the italics were for emphasis.)

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 May 19 - 01:21 PM

Fried eggs, chips and baked beans constitute manna from heaven. The baked beans may be replaced by black pudding and bacon. A hash brown (or, better, a rosti) and mushrooms are optional. Possibly a pork sausage. The grilled half-tomato oft included is not my idea of fun. I'll use large tomatoes, or tinned plum tomatoes, to make a sauce or soup. My idea of tomatoes as a side dish is to use the best quality cherry tomatoes you can get. Put them into a small baking tray with seasoning, extra virgin olive oil and a handful of torn basil leaves (if you have dried basil, throw it away, though you could use dried oregano). Coat the tomatoes then put into a hot oven for no more than four minutes. They keep their shape but they soften and release all their flavour. Superb with a steak or a home-made burger (which I make with minced steak and nothing else whatsoever: no egg, no seasoning, no mustard and definitely no onion; two and a half minutes per side in a very hot frying pan then a crucial ten minutes' resting).

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Jos
Date: 09 May 19 - 02:07 PM

I'm with you on the burger made with minced beef and nothing else. And with the bacon - I cook the mushrooms in the bacon fat.
Bacon and egg yolk is one of those combinations that seem to produce an extra, third flavour. Cheese and onion is another - like mixing blue and yellow and getting green.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 May 19 - 02:30 PM

Agree with all that. The mushrooms often served in caffs or restaurants are all too often grey, thick, rubbery unseasoned abominations sitting in a little pool of rather nasty liquid. I like mine sliced thin, or hacked into smallish chunks, well seasoned and sautéed in hot butter or (as you say) bacon fat. A slice of bread then fried in the fat is very good. I use dried porcini soaking water and the finely-chopped porcini in casseroles and pot roasts, but I never use ordinary mushrooms for that, and I honestly can't see the point of button mushrooms. It's very disappointing when a stack of mushrooms I'm frying almost disappears in a pool of sludge in the frying pan. I've taken to buying the organic ones from Sainsbury's which never seem to do that.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 09 May 19 - 05:14 PM

You appear to be quite the gourmet, Steve.

I have always thought that the finest chips (= French fries for our transatlantic cousins) were made using beef dripping. I cannot remember the actual temperatures, but you cook them for X minutes at the lower temp, to blanch, and then for Y minutes at the higher temp.

My understanding is that cooking chips this way is actually healthier than the chip shop method of deep frying in oil.

I do like your method of oven cooking the chips ... makes sense to me. I will definitely try that, and I look forward to any other culinary tips you choose to post on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 May 19 - 08:28 PM

I agree about the beef dripping. When my mum had a chippie in the 1950s that's what she used. The Three Fishes at Whalley does chips that way, as does Rick Stein's chippie in Padstow.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Jos
Date: 10 May 19 - 05:01 AM

Aren't French fries those thin straight things like long crispy matchsticks? Very different from chips made of potato chunks the size of your thumb with plenty of recognisable potato in the middle.

Don't some chip shops use the double frying method simply for convenience, having a supply of blanched, part cooked chips ready to fry quickly at a high temperature when needed?

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Jos
Date: 10 May 19 - 05:02 AM

And I should have added that when I fry my oven chips it is in beef dripping.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 May 19 - 10:53 AM

Jos, those are matchstick [French] fries. Yon French fries can be thick or thin.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: leeneia
Date: 11 May 19 - 12:44 PM

To get back to air fryers, here's a link to a video where the speaker mentions that her Zen air fryer gets so hot in the back that it melted the plastic plate over a wall outlet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYvsTBqJnU0

I'm interested in buying an air fryer, but not one with a quirk like that. That's why I asked catters what brand they own. I'd like to know if other brands have strange characteristics.

As I see it, an air fryer would cut fat in my diet, cut grease from spattering skillets, add less heat to the kitchen than an oven, and be easy to clean. (I believe that I would use it to cook meat, mostly.)

Do you catters who own one agree with that? What brand do you own?

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: G-Force
Date: 13 May 19 - 09:29 AM

You're right; chips are an abomination, but lovely. Our compromise is to only eat them on special occasions. However, I think oven chips are pretty dull so if we're going to have them they had better be good. We therefore add extra salt and oil and do them in the oven. All that grease may kill us but at our age we won't be dying young anymore!

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 10:44 AM

I just got something for $mas to replace both my microwave and toaster oven, and it is part air fryer. That is, convection oven. Sigh.

Recipes?

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 01:01 PM

Just about anything you would bake will do ok in there, just finish sooner. Look for convection oven recipes.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Jan 25 - 04:35 PM

Virgin no more!

Chicken wings. Took a lot longer than I'd have thought but I wouldn't have made them otherwise. Yum.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 25 - 08:12 PM

I keep either under- or overcooking things. Everything takes way longer than the recipes say.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: The Sandman
Date: 17 Jan 25 - 08:22 AM

I own a hair dryer but not an air fryer

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Jan 25 - 01:29 PM

Potatoes are easy in air fryer.
Many frozen meals (like chicken wings) now have air fryer settings on the package.
   I have used this salmon trick a number of times.
Putting non-stick foil at the bottom is great for a number of things. Makes cleaning easier.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 12:41 AM

I took a close look at my little toaster oven this evening (it sounds like these air fryer devices are simply smaller convection ovens). I baked chicken thighs on the low rack but wanted to brown them a bit on top so switched to broiler and realized the oven only runs the fan during the bake operation. When broiling I think the fan running would mean less chance of scorching if you're not careful. If that is the way the air fryer operates I can see why they are popular.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 09:39 AM

if we fry the air -no good will come of it.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 03:22 PM

SRS
the differences

I use a very small Ninja air fryer.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:00 PM

We have a medium sized, oven shaped air fryer with an oven function as well. Very useful, but a couple of recipes remain a mystery. Still working on that. It doesn't help that most recipes for air fryers refer to the basket type and not the oven type. When I'm roasting veges I usually roast them with the oven setting and airfry them for a few minutes at the end to make the outside a bit crispier.

A tasty dish we discovered a couple of years ago uses the red variety of Australian Sweet Potatoes. An image is shown on the bottom left of that page with the caption "Gold skin, orange flesh, Varieties: Beauregard".

Sweet Potato fries

The recipe works in the air fryer, but also the good old fashioned "fry it in oil" method. We use olive oil so it is sort-of healthy - well healthier than other oil/frying alternatives. :-D

They are seriously yummy, especially with garlic aioli. One of my favourite dishes now, even on its own and not just as a side dish.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:49 PM

Helen, that Good Housekeeping video comparing the devices is interesting. (I let it keep going and also got tips on loading the dishwasher - I do it correctly - and on deep fryers - I have a little funky old one to make occasional falafel.) I cook with pans and oil, and because of the keto aspects of the diet, the oil is actually an important part of a recipe. So using one of these to avoid oil would be counter-productive. But I can see why they're so popular.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:20 PM

SRS, the air fryer recipe for sweet potato fries still uses oil. It just takes away the huge oil hit of deep frying but I seem to have more consistent success with frying. I'm working on it.

I was trying to remember the other name that the orange sweet spuds are known as in Oz. I just scrolled to the bottom of the first page I linked to and it is there: kumara, with the explanation that that is the Maori (i.e. First Nations people of New Zealand) name for it. It is known by both names here.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 01:25 AM

Hi Stilly, where was the Good Housekeeping video? Was it on one of the pages I linked to or somewhere else in this thread?

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 03:08 PM

It was right there on the page you linked to.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 03:38 PM

Glad to be of service to others without knowing it! :-)

I have an ad blocker so it didn't show up for me.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 24 Jan 25 - 03:42 PM

And a pop-up blocker.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 03:30 PM

"Who owns an air fryer?"

the person who purchased it!

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Haruo
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 03:43 PM

I have an air fryer but have never taken it out let alone used it. An old (70~71) highschool classmate was downsizing and gave it to me a few months ago. So even though I have one, I'm on leenea's side of the question.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 05:35 PM

Helen, I also have those ad and popup blockers but was able to see it. Maybe try using a US IP address if you have VPN. It was a helpful video.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 25 Jan 25 - 08:31 PM

Thanks Nigel. I have been reading a silly joke book recently and that one is probably in there somewhere. :-D

Stilly, I bought this very cheap book when we first got the airfyer/oven.

Best Ever Airfryer Cookbook

I don't know if it is available anywhere outside Oz, and it does give cooking instructions for a basket-style airfryer but it has some good recipes and the temperature settings and cooking times are a good guide.

I made an index of the recipes and we have tried out some of them with success:

Bread/pastry        Sweet potato chips
Bread/pastry        Garlic bread
Bread/pastry        Mushroom pastry parcels
Bread/pastry        Chicken nuggets
Bread/pastry        Bacon & eggs
Bread/pastry        Salted breadsticks
Bread/pastry        Strawberry tarts
Bread/pastry        Hash browns
Bread/pastry        Sour cream dipping sauce
Bread/pastry        Spinach & cheese rolls
Bread/pastry        Potato rosti
Bread/pastry        Chicken pot pies
Bread/pastry        Coconut prawns
Bread/pastry        Mozzarella & salami rolls
Bread/pastry        Tomato dipping sauce
Bread/pastry        Chicken Kiev
Bread/pastry        Crumbed veal schnitzel
Bread/pastry        Fish burgers
Bread/pastry        Herbed potato wedges
Bread/pastry        Crispy wonton strips
Bread/pastry        Beer battered fish
Bread/pastry        Crunchy fish balls
Easy        Macaroni cheese
Easy        Simple chicken breast
Easy        Mini quiches
Easy        Potato pizza
Easy        Pigs in blankets
Easy        Garlic prawns
Easy        Sun dried tomato pesto
Easy        Chicken Parmigiano
Easy        Salmon & green beans
Easy        Broccoli & salmon casserole
Easy        Garlic chicken pizza
Easy        Pizza quesadilla
Easy        Cheeseburgers
Easy        Cheesy sloppy Joes
Easy        Jacket potatoes
Easy        Cheese crackers
Easy        Zucchini croquettes
Easy        Tomato ginger sauce
Lunchbox        Spinach muffins
Lunchbox        Mini pizzas
Lunchbox        Cheesy pastries
Lunchbox        Salmon Wellington
Lunchbox        Ricotta & spinach rolls
Lunchbox        Tomato toast
Lunchbox        Chickpea salad
Lunchbox        Pumpkin pirozhki
Lunchbox        Corn fritters
Lunchbox        Lamb bahn mi burger
Lunchbox        Cheese & bacon scrolls
Lunchbox        Zucchini & carrot muffins
Lunchbox        Leek & mushroom tart
Lunchbox         Cauliflower meatballs
Lunchbox        Yoghurt tahini sauce
Lunchbox        Potato croquettes
Lunchbox        Chicken & vegetable pies
Lunchbox        Spanakopita
Lunchbox        Scotch eggs
Lunchbox        Caesar salad
Lunchbox        Italian salad
Lunchbox        Corned beef sandwich
Lunchbox        Philly cheesesteaks
Meat        Roasted chicken thighs
Meat        Dill pickle sauce
Meat        Korean chicken
Meat        Crumbed barramundi
Meat        Lamb burger
Meat        Chicken & mushroom cass
Meat        Spicy pork ribs
Meat        Sticky wings
Meat        Chicken meatballs
Meat        BBQ pork ribs
Meat        Stuffed meatloaf
Meat        Garlic chicken
Meat        Swedish meatballs
Meat        Lingonberry sauce
Meat        Shepherd’s pie
Meat        Chicken tacos
Meat        Fish cakes
Meat        Empanadas
Meat        Blackened salmon
Meat        Hot dogs
Meat        Steak sandwich
Meat        Lamb chops
Meat        Pork belly
Meat        Cheese & herb meatballs
Meat        Bacon wrapped chicken bites
Meat        Pork & sage sausages
Meat        Chicken & parsley meatballs
Veggies        Bacon wrapped zucchini fries
Veggies        Chilli lime radishes
Veggies        Cauliflower arancini
Veggies        Garlic & thyme sweet potatoes
Veggies        Rosemary roast potatoes
Veggies        Cauliflower bites
Veggies        Stuffed pumpkin
Veggies        Bacon wrapped stuffed mushrooms
Veggies        Miso eggplant slices
Veggies        Eggplant schnitzel
Veggies        Yoghurt sauce
Veggies        Honey glazed carrots
Veggies        Mint yoghurt sauce
Veggies        Beetroot chips
Veggies        Mediterranean vegetables
Veggies        Stuffed capsicums
Veggies        Cauliflower fritters
Veggies        Spicy zucchini boats
Veggies        Sweet potato w. quinoa salad & spicy chickpeas
Veggies        Onion rings
Veggies        Roasted red cabbage
Veggies        Roasted garlic
GF        Cornflake cookies
GF        Seeded bread
GF        Cauliflower crust pizza
GF        Polenta fries
GF        Crumbed rack of lamb
GF        Honey muffins
GF        Chicken & vege patties
GF        Garlic broccoli
GF        Parmesan chicken wings
GF        Ranch dip
GF        Quinoa crusted chicken
GF        Zucchini loaf
GF        Tomato pie
GF        Sesame crusted chicken
GF        Crispy crumbed tofu
GF        Chocolate banana muffins
GF        Banana bread
GF        Choc chip cookies
GF        Crispy chicken tenders
GF        Stuffed chicken breasts
GF        Cheesy chicken bites
Snacks        Mini cheese scones
Snacks        Peanut butter loaf
Snacks        Banana muffins
Snacks        Choc sesame cookies
Snacks        Granola bites
Snacks        Cinnamon pecans
Snacks        Popcorn
Snacks        Cinnamon pecans
Snacks        Cinnamon rolls
Snacks        Pumpkin seed crackers
Snacks        Pizza buns
Snacks        Carrot cake cookies
Snacks        Crumbed cauliflower bites
Snacks        Sweet potato egg boats
Snacks        Vege pizzas
Snacks        Cheese puffs
Snacks        Potato & sausage skewer
Snacks        Nutty carrot muffins
Snacks        Mushrooms & cheese on toast
Snacks        Apple chips
Snacks        Asparagus parcels
Sweet        M&Ms cookies
Sweet        Peach & cherry pies
Sweet        Biscotti
Sweet        Pumpkin cake
Sweet        Peach & cinnamon pies
Sweet        Sandwich cookies
Sweet        Ricotta fritters
Sweet        Caramelised nuts
Sweet        Cinnamon doughnuts
Sweet        Strawberry cobbler
Sweet        Choc cookies
Sweet        Strawberry kolaches
Sweet        Baked pears with ricotta
Sweet        Apple rings
Sweet        Choc brownies
Sweet        Pear walnut pizza
Sweet        Strawberry pastries
Sweet        Crumble cake

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 09:33 PM

Amazon had the little Dash air fryer at the top of the sale list - and it says it has a non-stick coating. PTFE. So I looked up PTFE. And found this:

Are Teflon and PTFE the same thing?

Essentially, the only difference lies in the name. PTFE is the shortened name of the chemical polytetrafluoroethylene, and Teflon is the trade name of the same polymer. If you are looking for a highly flexible, non-stick material that is chemical, electrical and thermal resistant, look no further than PTFE.

So nope. Not gonna start cooking on Teflon.

Subject: RE: BS: who owns an air fryer?
From: Helen
Date: 29 Jan 25 - 01:37 AM

SRS, the oven-style airfryer is good. Not a speck of Teflon in sight. Just a metal oven with different settings. We can use whichever trays we like.

I made a beef and Guinness stew last week and then used the leftover stew for pies. I put frozen puff pastry in little cast iron pots, the same size as ramekins, really good for making garlic prawns, etc. I pre-cooked the base of the pastry in the pots - weighted down with ceramic pie beads - added the stew and then put the pastry on top and cooked the pie tops to a lovely crispy finish.

My trick with beef & Guinness stew is frying some cubes of carrot and orange coloured sweet potato and then adding the pre-fried onions, garlic and stewing beef cubes. Add about a cup or so of Guinness/stout and enough beef stock to cover, a pinch of salt and then stew it slowly for a couple of hours.

My other secret trick is to sprinkle the beef with about a tablespoon of Ras el Hanout, Mediterranean spice mix before frying it. There are lots of different variations of that spice mix. I bought the last packet from a Middle Eastern grocery shop. Yum!