Air Fryers

[mgaretz]

One of the secrets is to spray a light coating of oil on the breading (I haven’t tried a liquid batter, but I have done the flour, egg, flour (or panko) dip) before putting in.  The oil conducts the heat nicely to the breading. Typically I don’t bother with the three phase dip (unless it’s something like onion rigs). For chicken and pork I just use the moist meat and coat with panko, put on a wire rack and then into the air fryer. 

[weinoo]

13 hours ago, Captain said:

There is No such thing as an Air Fryer....  It's just mini oven.😣

I keep trying to tell some friends who are interested in one that yeah, it's an oven. And not a great one, at that.

[heidih]

14 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

They can promise anything in vague terms. No consequences.

Yes the photos imply but the words are not promising anything concrete. Like so many "as seen on TV" miraculous products which will be at landfill or Salvation Army soon. 

[Toliver]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

I would love to know how they manage to get the whole chicken into the air fryer.  

I think a shoehorn may be involved.

[mgaretz]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

I would love to know how they manage to get the whole chicken into the air fryer.  

I could easily get one into the BSOA. 

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

I could easily get one into the BSOA. 

Of course you could! But having once owned a Phillips air fryer I am very doubtful that you could put one in there!

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

And for folks who have had an air fryer for awhile, are you still using it much? 

Had one for a while. It never quite matured out of the toy stage and into the appliance stage. Passed it on to my bachelor son who has managed to get a lot of use out of it and would probably not give it up willingly.
 

Adult granddaughter is now eyeing one. 

 

I think its value depends very much on the sort of things you generally eat.  
 

Edited to add

I just looked at the model you received and it certainly looks much more versatile and roomy than the unit I had! 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Anna N (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My anova does a decent job of whizzing around hot air.  However when it comes to frying I prefer hot oil.  As long as you have a dedicated frying vessel that you don't have to wash each time and a reliable thermometer, real frying is neither difficult nor messy.

 

I used to fiddle with the Paragon mat or probe (both of which are excellent).  Now I just heat the Paragon on max till the oil temperature reads 180-190C.  Then I add my food.  I judge doneness by color.  This is not rocket science.

 

Were I preparing large batches I might be persuaded to air fry in the anova,

 

[Okanagancook]

I have a Phillips which I use fairly frequently.  The best part is how easy the clean up is.  For example we had burgers done in the air fryer and we just wiped it out with a paper towel and put it in the dishwasher, no splatter on the stove and I did the buns in the CSO.  I also make appetizers like samosas, spring rolls, sausage rolls, etc. In it.  No deep frying yet they come out nice and brown and crispy inside of 10 min.…really handy. The capacity works for the two of us but for a family of four you would need a larger machine.  
I move it from the pantry counter to the kitchen counter to use.  Not a big deal. 
I love mine but as noted above depends on what kind of cooking you do.  Lately due to health issues I am looking for ease of preparation…one day I will get back to cooking more elaborate meals.

Hope that helps.

[Anna N]

The two-basket airfryer piqued  my curiosity so much that I spent far too many hours watching YouTube video reviews and researching recipes.
 

The very reason that the two-basket model appealed was making a protein and a vegetable at the same time and having them both ready for service. But this seemed to defeat the reviewers for the most part.  The fries were done before the turkey burger which was practically cremated. It struck me that every time you tried to do two things at once you would need to experiment to get the timing right. (You would most certainly need to get one of @rotutsgraph-paper books with a red cover to keep records.)

For example (and I’m making up these times) If you were just to prepare frozen french fries in one basket your timing might be 10 minutes. If you were to put chicken wings in the other basket you would have to markedly extend the time for the fries.

So using both baskets reduces the power to each. But the suggested times given in the literature accompanying the machine didn’t seem to be very helpful.

[Smithy]

59 minutes ago, Anna N said:

The two-basket airfryer piqued  my curiosity so much that I spent far too many hours watching YouTube video reviews and researching recipes.
 

The very reason that the two-basket model appealed was making a protein and a vegetable at the same time and having them both ready for service. But this seemed to defeat the reviewers for the most part.  The fries were done before the turkey burger which was practically cremated. It struck me that every time you tried to do two things at once you would need to experiment to get the timing right. (You would most certainly need to get one of @rotutsgraph-paper books with a red cover to keep records.)

For example (and I’m making up these times) If you were just to prepare frozen french fries in one basket your timing might be 10 minutes. If you were to put chicken wings in the other basket you would have to markedly extend the time for the fries.

So using both baskets reduces the power to each. But the suggested times given in the literature accompanying the machine didn’t seem to be very helpful.

 

Do the reviews suggest, then, that the two basket chambers aren't really independent of each other? The Amazon page to which @FauxPaslinked claimed that they are independent. That looked appealing. On the other hand, I can believe they might not be truly independent, based on experience with my household oven. It has a divider that slides into the chamber to make an upper and lower oven with different temperature set points and cooking modes. It adds versatility but the two chambers still affect each other.

[TdeV]

Does anyone have experience with both an Air Fryer and an Anova Oven?

I'm wondering what makes the difference between a regular convection oven and an Air Fryer.

[FauxPas]

28 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Do the reviews suggest, then, that the two basket chambers aren't really independent of each other? The Amazon page to which @FauxPaslinked claimed that they are independent. That looked appealing. On the other hand, I can believe they might not be truly independent, based on experience with my household oven. It has a divider that slides into the chamber to make an upper and lower oven with different temperature set points and cooking modes. It adds versatility but the two chambers still affect each other.

 

I'm wondering if it's partly the electrical limitations of a countertop appliance. You can only draw so much power from a standard outlet. For example, you can only broil on one side, not on both. And cooking times are reduced for anything that uses both chambers instead of just one, so I assume the cooking temps are basically reduced. 

[Anna N]

56 minutes ago, Smithy said:

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Expand  

 

Do the reviews suggest, then, that the two basket chambers aren't really independent of each other?

To the extent that you can use one or the other on its own they are independent. Once you try to use them both together with each requiring a different temperature and/or time then they are inter-dependent. This assumes that you want both items ready to serve at the same time. You can still modify the time and temperature of each basket in an attempt to nudge them in the direction of being ready together. But that seems to me to negate any convenience you might’ve had. 

[Anna N]

45 minutes ago, rotuts said:

does this suggest different temps  for each basket ?

 

or same temp , different start times to get both done at the same time ?

If basket one will take 10 minutes at 390°F and basket two will take 28 minutes at 350°F then the control designed to have them both ready at the same time will “hold” the shorter time basket and not begin cooking until the 28 minutes has counted down to 10 minutes. 
 

edited to add

 

@FauxPasAnswered this question much more elegantly. Not sure if we were posting at the same time or if I just missed reading her post. 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Anna N (log)

[FauxPas]

2 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

I move it from the pantry counter to the kitchen counter to use.  Not a big deal. 

 

And this is part of my hesitation; this model is quite large and heavy. Over 8 kgs (18 lbs) and (rounded) non-metric dimensions are 16" L x 14" W x 12" H.  That's almost the size of my Cuisinart CSO and I don't have permanent counter space for it. I'd have to really think about where to store it, the only available space right now is a cabinet above the fridge and my husband would have to do the storage and retrieval every time it was used if it was up there!  And it would have to be making some very good eats indeed for him to do that on a regular basis. Else, I would have to really rearrange storage in the pantry to find room for it, and I'm not keen on that. 

 

I don't do a lot of fried foods right now, I guess. As @JoNorvelleWalkersays, you can do real fried without a lot of hassle if you are organized for it, but I never seem able to get around the idea of dealing with leftover oil. 

 

My friend raved about cooking sausages in the fryer, but I'm ok with cooking them in the CSO (I've given up on trying to keep it clean, so don't care about the spatter) or in a frying pan (range is induction, so I can spread some paper towels around to minimize the splatter. 

 

My husband is happy cooking burger patties on the grill outside and then he does the clean-up so I'm not going to change that scenario. 🙂 

 

I wondered about the dehydrate function on the air fryer, but need to find some reviews of that function. 

[rotuts]

@Anna N 

 

thanks for looking into this w ref's.

 

I can see the baskets dimensions ...

 

for those w an air fryer  they use frequently :

 

how do the dimensions of these baskets translate to:

 

amount of food on the plate , using each basket

 

at its optimum ' fill '    ( ie  not necessarily

 

the maximum allowed / bin  )    the amount that gives the best results

 

 

[palo]

I have both the APO and an Air Fryer (6.5 qt)

 

I use both

 

The APO for large items, items for a long cook, items I want to cook with steam, bread etc. - I don't do SV

 

The Air Fryer for quick, small items (fries, wings, burgers etc)

 

The APO is like a regular oven on steroids - does everything well.

 

The Air Fryer doesn't need preheating, it's good to go - small space, fan driven heat.

 

Cooking multiple items - wings 20 min/ fries 10 min. - set timer for 10 minutes, put in wings - after 10 min add the fries and reset the timer for 10 minutes has worked for me - if there is a large temp difference adjust the time - instead of 10 min @ 425 try 15 min @ 350

 

Using an air fryer doesn't need to be more complicated than a stove top burner.

 

The APO though has a bit more of a learning curve

 

p

 

 

[rotuts]

for some reason

 

the Duo intrigues me a lot more than

 

a Uni.

 

also for me these days. if I had one

 

Id have to keep it on dedicated  counter space.

[palo]

IMHO the two basket concept leaves me underwhelmed - an unnecessary and over-hyped complication - one of the air fryer's main attributes is its simplicity.

 

p

[rotuts]

@palo 

 

I think you are correct .

 

then you see a pic

 

of perfect fried wings  next to perfect FF's.

 

[rotuts]

the FF w FCkW

 

at the same time 

 

got me thinking of the size of each basket :

 

enough for ' 2 ? '   ie maybe just me ...

 

so , enough for 2 ? 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

the FF w FCkW

 

at the same time 

 

got me thinking of the size of each basket :

 

enough for ' 2 ? '   ie maybe just me ...

 

so , enough for 2 ? 

Yeah. I’m having a lot of trouble with the concept of french fries and chicken wings in the same basket even for one. But if it works that’s great. Suspect that broccoli and chicken wings might not fare quite so well. 

[rotuts]

Oh   No !

 

each would have to have its own basket

 

for the Ck and FF 

 

and I see seps  for the CkW & Broc's.

 

that's the point of the duo., Id say.

[FauxPas]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

Oh   No !

 

each would have to have its own basket

 

for the Ck and FF 

 

and I see seps  for the CkW & Broc's.

 

that's the point of the duo., Id say.

 

 

If you lived closer to me, @rotuts, I would consider re-gifting this air fryer to you!  🙂

 

You might get around to trying it out sooner than I would. Especially since we are thinking of selling our house and therefore even if I keep it, unlikely I will use it until we get settled into a new place. Need to keep kitchen counters clean for viewings, etc. Or I can donate it or return for refund and give proceeds to charity. The person who gave it to me knew I might not have a need for it and encouraged me to do whatever I wanted. I did her a favour and she wanted to repay me in some way though I told her nothing was necessary.