Smithy

Hello and welcome, deewelch! What do you like to cook?

That is so like our shopping expeditions! Even when we aren't hungry, there are always the off-schedule temptations. I'm glad I'm not alone in enthusiastic spontaneity.

I picked up a Holsem 3.4 quart air fryer during last week's Amazon Prime marathon. For $66 and a no-hassle 30-day return policy I figured it wasn't much of a risk. Last night was the first test. I posted more about the package size and contents here. As for the dinner itself, Chicken Kiev (from a local meat market) and Tater Tots were the first two tries. The Kiev took some 20-25 minutes at 350F to cook; then I set those into a warming oven while the Tots cooked at 400F. Although I shook the Tots in the basket once or twice, they still stuck together in the middle. More stirring, or a smaller batch, would be appropriate. These photos aren't as good as they should have been, but they're all I have left from the night except happy taste memories. Tests will continue. I loved the lack of mess and lack of oil. If other results are as good this, I'll be getting rid of my garage-sale special deep fat fryer, which I very rarely use.

I bought a couple of temperature controllers (still to be tested) and a self-contained mandoline (that's going back) but the big prize was my new Holsem 3.4 quart air fryer. I managed to persevere through the web crashes and lightning deal wait-lists, and got it for $66. It arrived this week. At first sight I was quite alarmed. Anything this big wouldn't have room in the kitchen. Fortunately, the box had a lot of padding: and the unpacked product is of a more manageable size. It's still pretty big, but if we like it well enough we'll be able to make room for it. The recipe booklet that comes with it has some good-looking recipes, but I found the back cover amusing: Does anyone else take this to mean that the digital version isn't convenient? A lot of stuff was packed into that box. The web site says that the silicone mini-cupcake molds can be used for eggs. Quail eggs, maybe. I don't think even a small chicken egg would fit. Rather than try any of the booklet's recipes, I had picked up some ready-to-go Chicken Kiev and a package of Tater Tots for the first test. The user's manual says to limit the amount of weight in the basket; typical weights are 500g or 600g. There won't be any whole chickens cooked in this thing, but a Cornish Game Hen would fit. I cooked 2 Chicken Kiev servings at 350F for 20 or 25 minutes (until they were done; my timing was sloppy) and then set them aside in a warm oven until the Tots were done. Overall, the dinner was successful. This particular fryer last night had a tendency for the basket to pop out of the carrier tray when removing the assembly to shake or dish out the food. If it doesn't latch more securely it may have to go back. Otherwise, it was easy to use and the lack of mess was a delight. We'll be testing it out during the 30-day no-hassle return period. I'll post further results on The Air Fryer Topic, and try for better photo quality while I'm at it!

I also have lovage growing, next to the house. It reproaches me every time I step outside, because I forget to use it. "Celery on steroids" is a good description.

The sandwiches and salad look good. Too bad about the Tater Tots! It sounds like we both had problems with our cooking mojo last night.

Welcome, Hughie! Are you interested in only the food safety aspect of bacteria - as in spoilage, or do you also experiment with fermentation? There are quite a few pickling and brewing enthusiasts in these forums. You can also find information about sourdough bread making. What do you like to eat?

As I noted earlier, our heat wave broke today. I already had plans for the aforementioned broccoli salad and Caprese salad, however. Broccoli salad, before and after tossing: Caprese salad, with Sappori tomatoes I found at the grocery store: Even my darling, the meat-eater, thought these were plenty. He thought so even before I managed to torch the bratwursts into flavored sawdust.

Good luck! You seem to be having the opposite experience of my darling, who learned to camp and became seasoned campers before they ever experienced bad weather. By then they'd learned some basics like digging a trench around the tent in case it rains, even without rain in the forecast. Since he and his first wife had their children along, the food situation was different from yours. I haven't been able to think of things they did that would help you, except things already suggested.

You certainly do, given that you're partly responsible for my $66 toy experiment.

Too bad about the bread! That looks like a proper English - er, Canadian - breakfast. (Makes my avocado and hummus roll-up seem sad.) I can't decide whether the crispy bacon or the lovely tomatoes look better, but as much as I love eggs they'd fall to 3rd place - with or without the toast.

Our heat wave has broken (whew) but in the next night or two I still plan to make our favorite broccoli salad. You probably know the one: raw broccoli cut into small pieces, very small bits of sweet onion, chopped walnuts, crumbled crisp bacon, craisins or barberries - or the original, raisins, if you're of that persuasion - tossed together with a dressing of mayo, milk, vinegar and a touch of sugar. Note that the only cookery required is frying the bacon to the crispy stage, and that can be done any time. The only problem with this salad, IMO, is that it doesn't last long around our household even when I make a huge batch. Come to think of it, there's a secondary problem: I always need to cook more bacon than the salad requires, to make sure there's enough after all the snitching sampling for quality control.

Does the air fryer help with this craving, without heating up the kitchen?

They're calling it a day and a half, and since it began at 3 p.m. EDT I take that to mean it goes through tomorrow. However, many of the deals don't last the full time. I kept getting that crash page - several dogs are highlighted - and having to log back in, but persistence paid off. My air fryer will be here this week, along with a bunch of other loot that I could probably live without but that will be entertaining. Then the boxes will be useful for packing up things to be donated or sold, to make room (oh, the good intentions!) for the new loot.

I had my eye on the HOLSEM Air Fryer with Rapid Air Circulation System, 3.4 QT Capacity at $66.49, but didn't understand it was a Lightning Deal. They ran out before I put one in my cart. I'm on the waitlist, but I think I've essentially saved $66 and change.

Nice that its screen rotates and is backlit. If I had any room left on my refrigerator, I might also like the magnetic attachment.

Chai, Chaat & Chutney: a street food journey through India, by Chetla Makan, is presently $0.99 in the Kindle version on Amazon.com.

I'd also give thought to salads like tuna salad and chicken salad - in sandwich form or atop greens. @Jaymes's cornbread salad is a wonderful thing, if you've made cornbread when it was cool, but you'd need to figure out a meat to go with it. Mix in salami or bacon? Serve it on the side with smoked chicken? Similarly, @kayb's tomato cobbler sounds like a fine summer dish that you could make earlier in the day, and accompany with said smoked chicken.

With those gorgeous tomatoes, I'd forget about cooking at all. I'd slice some of those tomatoes, layer them with slices of mozzarella, slices of a good salami (maybe you could substitute a good deer summer sausage, if you have it), juliennes of basil, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Bread to soak up the juices would be good, so if you had the stamina you could bake some in the CSO. We've been sweating through a hot spell, and even my darling - who usually insists on a chunk of meat, even if it's a grilled sausage or hot dog - thinks this Caprese salad is a real treat. I just wish we could do it with good local tomatoes. They aren't in quite yet, but the basil's going gangbusters.

That is what I mean. Please tell more about its design and use. Thanks for all the other answers! I look forward to seeing them in play. Even though you're suffering in the cocktail department.

PID controller? Or a transformer/power supply? If I'm reading it right you're running at least one EZtemper.

I'll play! Are those replacement power cords in the photo immediately above this? One looks like it has a microphone jack on it. What's up with those? In the top photo, do you also have scallops? Those are harder to find than shrimp, I think. I look forward to seeing what you do with them. The cute little bowls at the lower right of that top picture, with the baby skewers, make me think of bowls for dipping sauce. Are those mangoes so neatly packaged in a box, next to the whipping cream? I split the pictures up to make the questions clearer. More photo quotes follow. It's a good thing rotuts can't reach you to chastise you in person for the spiral-bound notebook. Personally, I think it's a great cover design.I also think the cover of "East" is irresistible. At the back of the loot is a beautiful piece of wood: olive wood? It looks tapered and not really like a cutting board. What is its purpose? The three whitish plates in front and to the left of the wooden plank look like Japanese server ware of some sort...for sushi, perhaps? Immediately in front of the wood, at the right, is a little cast iron thingie that looks like a mold of some sort. Is it? For what? Could you give a closeup of it? Incidentally - is the cooling rack in this photo and another also new? It looks a nice size. I'm looking forward to seeing what y'all get up to with all those cookbooks. That just looks like good food. Have you had the Kumatos before? I have been disappointed in them the once or twice I've tried them, but they're popular enough that I may have gotten bad batches. I go for Camparis whenever possible, except during Fresh Real Local Tomato Season (coming soon to these north woods, I hope). At the back and right of the picture is a metal gizmo with a black plastic tab that sticks up - a salad dressing dispenser? A closer view of that would be nice. It looks like a nice haul all around!

Ah yes, The Eternal Raisin Debate. 🙂

Is that a sauce atop the chicken breast and pasta, then? And at what temperature did you sous vide the pounded and stuffed breasts? Those tomatoes look glorious.

How were the texture and flavor? Is this treatment (time and temperature) going into your collective notebook of treatments for beef shank?