Anna N

One russet potato scrubbed but not peeled and hand cut. (I am always surprised at how many fries one large russet will make!) This was good. This, however, is not deep fried fries. If that is what you want then you will need to put up with the mess and danger of a pan of hot oil. I expect this could have been accomplished just as well in a convection oven such as the Breville Smart Oven. I rinsed the raw fries in a couple of bowls of cold water before soaking them for 30 minutes. I dried them off and then in a bowl tossed them with some grapeseed oil. I estimate about a half a teaspoon. I used my hands to do the tossing trying to make sure each and every piece was coated with oil. They then went into the air fryer and I set the temperature to 400°F and the time to 20 minutes. Somebody had suggested that instead of attempting to properly toss them in the air fryer basket one should tip them out into the clean bowl previously used to oil them. It seems to work very well. I did this at the 10 minute mark. After 20 minutes I was still not happy with the colour and I could see some dry areas where I had not managed to get the oil. So I did a very quick spritz of oil, Tipped them back into the bowl and then back into the air fryer for a further 3 minutes. So total time was 28 minutes. if I follow the same procedure next time, using just a little more oil in the beginning, they should take care of themselves needing only a toss at the half way mark. I think for this appliance you need to work your way through trial and error to get to your own sweet spot.

I did not spritz them but I did toss them with a little grapeseed oil. I was battling a head-butting, four-legged creature who was determined to help! Made it a bit challenging.

More experimentation. Frozen burger and roasted fresh green beans. Cooked together for 14 minutes at 400°F. Won’t earn even a single Michelin star but it made a perfectly fine dinner for me without much effort or much clean up.

It was actually the “etc” that amused me! As though I would automatically know what else needed to be added.

Just gotta love “purple perilla, etc. Thanks for sharing.

Wow! We need a “green with envy“ button.

That looks so good. Simplicity itself. Corn cooked that way always turns out so good without any fuss or muss.

Yes an electrical connection. Very large mai tais?

Death by boredom! Bet she’d rather go out with a mai tai in one hand and a hot wire in the other. Or perhaps a mai tai in both hands.

The smoke would present a major problem. I wonder how much putting some water in the basket would mitigate this.

Then you will no longer haunt my nightmares!

But at least it should’ve congealed in the cold. Better than Heparin I would think.

You know even as I was spraying it I recalled that someone had made this clear. Even so I ignored it! Thanks for further clarification on fries from raw potatoes. They will have to be cut by hand using very sharp knife. I would love to give it a go right now but I’m getting full from my experiments!

This I will declare a complete success on all counts. These drumsticks were barely any larger than the drumettes of some wings I have seen. Simplest preparation ever. I dried them off, spritzed with some olive oil and sprinkled with some salt. Into the air fryer at 400°F for 18 minutes and turned at the halfway mark. The skin was crispy and the flesh tender and juicy. I do not think supermarket drumsticks could turn out any better no matter which cooking method.

Out of concern for your continued presence on this earth, I am prepared to be one of those who raise the spectre of pathogens in homemade garlic oil. It is well beyond “it may go off”. It’s about the likelihood of the growth of botulism spores. But current science seems to suggest that as long as it is refrigerated you are probably safe. “Garlic in oil is very popular, but homemade garlic in oil can cause botulismif not handled correctly. Unrefrigerated garlic-in-oil mixes can foster the growth of clostridium botulinum bacteria, which produces poisons that do not affect the taste or smell of the oil. Here.

And fries from scratch are on my to-do list. I have two lovely russet potatoes. I am OK with it taking a long time as long as it requires very little attention. Most of the recipes seem to be along the same lines. I have also read all the way through this thread a number of times to get ideas. In the next day or two I will make the attempt.

I caved and bought the Kindle edition of the ATK air fryer cookbook. I regret doing so. While it is admirable to promote from-scratch cooking, when you are testing an appliance designed especially for rapid and easy meal production, it seems mulish to avoid the subject. ATK avoids any instructions on how to handle frozen fries or frozen burgers. My guess would be that more of these are prepared in the air fryer than anything else. This was my first attempt at frozen french fries: I did spritz the basket and fries with a little oil. I suspect a little too much oil. These were not ever going to win Fry of the Year award. But being unwilling to deep-fry and finding that fries do not travel well, these were adequate.

So sometimes I can be quite dense! I thought you were making some kind of hot sauce until I finally remembered your not too distant accident.

I am of the compost bin crowd. You have said you want to reduce your consumption of potatoes so I don’t quite see the point in all the work needed to conserve these “far from peak of perfection”spuds. Ditch them. Make sure the calories you consume are the best they can be! The earth will thank you for the additional compost.

So very sad.

Today @Kerry Bealpicked up lunch for us from a Peruvian restaurant called el inka. For Kerry some calamari and Ceviche Vegano — Avocado, cucumber, aji amarillo, lime juice, red onions Peruvian corn, sweet potato cilantro* For me — calamari and bistec a lo Pobre — 10 ounces grilled flank steak, chimichurri, rice, fried egg, canary beans**, sweet plantains. According to Google el inka means ruler or lord. *I suspect that the green sauce shown with my plate was actually the sauce that would’ve turned Kerry’s sweet potato into potato cilantro! It was quite delicious when poured over my rice. ** non-regretfully consigned to the compost bin because there were no canaries in the vicinity. Unfortunately the calamari was almost unnaturally tender but also regretfully flaccid. Not a sign of crispiness or crunch.

Yep. That is my usual way. But this is all about pushing the limits. It’s also about not having grease everywhere when physical challenges make cleaning a Herculean task and Covid makes it difficult to find cleaning people. 😀 It is certainly not likely to become the de rigueur method of dealing with duck breasts. But look at what failure of imagination has done on the world stage!

Wow! That should set you up for the day. It would set me up for the week! Looks quite delicious.

What a beautiful sunset photograph! Thanks as always for sharing.

Very few of the dishes you post escape me without at least a “like” and very often a “delicious”. A few I might skip where you use ingredients that appear in my non-food list (beans chickpeas, etc.), but not otherwise. But I gotta say this one is challenging. Now perhaps if I could just have a bite……….