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The Air Fryer topic


Keith_W

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In pursuit of what can be done in the air fryer versus what should be done in the air fryer I made an attempt at caramelized onions. 6883900F-E4ED-4D20-A2A2-E888E3A84943.thumb.jpeg.7e38176500db513b4bafb0fbc8c88c2c.jpeg

 

I was able to take them many shades darker than this but the photographs are too blurry. Is there any advantage to me doing it this way? I would have to point out to ease of cleanup but not much else. Still requires a lot of attention.
 

These were done at 350° F for about 15 minutes. I stirred frequently. The adjustment I would make next time would be to use more oil as they tend to dry out before they truly caramelize.  
M

I did watch a YouTube video of someone attempting to caramelize three large Vidalia onions in the actual basket of the air fryer. I thought she might have had more success with fewer onions. 
 

Now I am off to research whether or not it is safe to use silicone lids in the air fryer. I don’t think I’ve seen any mention of that on eG. 
 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

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So a little research reassured me that silicone lids would be perfectly safe in the air fryer. I should have clued in knowing that some accessories like muffin pans are silicone. However, there is an issue. The lids form an airtight seal basically creating a vacuum. This pulls the lid down onto the surface of the food. Duh. So the appearance of my bastardized shakshuka is compromised. 
 

9437DB59-616C-4A61-8FF2-1BDAFF99D218.thumb.jpeg.fcc70c573f49d95a9ad9428cee70ca14.jpeg

I also removed the lid too soon and you can see the rippled surface of the yolk from the force of the fan. 
Solving such technical problems has become my raison d’etre. 

 

 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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4 hours ago, palo said:

Air Fryer cooking chart:

 

https://bluejeanchef.com/cooking-school/air-fryer-cooking-charts/

 

This is what I meant to recommend - I just copied my bookmark which doesn't lead to the charts as her web site has changed

 

p

Thanks. I wonder how well these times and temperatures were tested. I don’t have much faith that one could get an edible product from cooking a 4lb eye of round at 400°F for 45+ minutes in an air fryer. 
The chart might be useful for some things if you took the times and temperatures as a starting point and kept a close eye on things. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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1 hour ago, rotuts said:

is it possible for a 4 lbs of meat to even fit in 

 

an AF ?

 

clearly I ant have one.

I am not sure but my basket is 9“ x 9“ x 3” so it’s possible I would think. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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5 hours ago, Anna N said:

I am not sure but my basket is 9“ x 9“ x 3” so it’s possible I would think. 

That's one I would hesitate to try 45 minutes @ 400 sounds like beef toast - I look at those charts as cooking for 1 or 2 not a family

 

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Another experiment today. I wanted to see if I could cook two things at the same time and have them both come out properly cooked. 
 

E0442F1A-D9CA-4C1D-AD0B-3C7D3D09C54B.thumb.jpeg.cafc8492f744631d8cf5a96d8ba332a4.jpegfrozen meatballs in the basket. 

.

 

93D9D3B3-37B9-4D75-BF18-2BC913270846.thumb.jpeg.a78f3c31f2f0685f31d64fcbfedd12c7.jpegTater tots in the pizza pan on a wire rack above the meatballs. I arbitrarily chose 350°F for 15 minutes with a shake at the seven minute mark. 
 

99FC62F5-86A1-4C80-929D-74BF566B9E80.thumb.jpeg.e21a709e93393b3678d035cc4d7af5f9.jpeg

 

I was quite happy with the results. 

Edited by Anna N
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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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Things in the freezer department were completely out of hand so I determined I must bite the bullet and see what was really in there. Among other things, too embarrassing to mention, were far more duck breasts than anyone should have when they live alone. But such bounty offered material for a number of experiments. Today was experiment number one.
 I researched as much as I could on the Internet for how to cook a duck breast in the air fryer. The ones I found suggested wildly differing times and temperatures. One YouTube video took a tool that sort of resembled scissors and chopped up both the flesh side and the skin side of a duck breast!  I watched in horror. It also seemed to me that “well-done” was the preferred final result. I find that troubling since it is probably also the most likely result!
The results all looked amazingly like something that might come from the kitchen of a Wolfgang Puck or perhaps a Jean-Georges Vongerichten. My shit detector was in red alert mode. 
 

So I followed my own instincts. 
 

I did score the skin. I did salt it well. I let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or so and then carefully dried it off with paper towels. 

I put 2 tablespoons of water into the basket of the air fryer (in hopes of preventing any smoking) and then I preheated it at 400°F for five minutes. 
 

I put the duck breast into the basket skin side down, set the timer for eight minutes and the temperature at 400°F before hitting the start button and turning on the over-range fan. 
 

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After eight minutes. I added 5 more minutes to the timer, turned the duck breast over and again hit the start button. D3F326F6-EFF8-4AD7-9705-AB6DFE4A4ABF.thumb.jpeg.7b0340f192a87422657c76c42f77ef80.jpeg

After 13 minutes it looked like this. I took a temperature reading and it was at 68.5°C/155°+F. That was plenty done for me!  But there was little crisping of skin. 

I reached for a jar of marmalade and spread a generous teaspoon over the duck breast before giving it another minute in the air fryer. 

F7BCA5C3-620F-4644-A244-B601D182CDF4.thumb.jpeg.6a8c63c8d0fd6f7aef2b2097d0da3ac1.jpeg

I let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it.  It was edible but I would have been ashamed to serve it to anyone else. It has shrunk much more than any duck breast I had ever cooked before. It was also on the tough side. 

But there is much more experimenting in the future.  

Bearing in mind that an air fryer is only a very compact and powerful convection oven, I am open to any thoughts on what you might try next. It cannot involve much more than a duck breast and some salt and pepper! Grocery shopping is not an option. 


 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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Never cooked or even tasted Duck breast but doing a little online research (as you have done) I came up with this suggestion.

 

An air fryer is just the same as a halogen oven but more compact, more modern and a hell of a lot easier to clean, so this page's method might work for you.

 

http://cookingwithhalogen.blogspot.com/

 

The big takeaway is to get your duck skin a lot closer to the heating element (broiling) to start and after flipping it to skin side lower it to the regular height and possibly a lower temp

 

You could use that pan I saw you had earlier or something else oven proof to start your cook at a greater height.

 

My apologies is this is just a total pile of pooh, but just thinking of what might work.

 

p

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1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

Is possible to broil a duck breat in the air fryer to crisp up the skin?  (Please keep in mind that I know nothing about air fryers.)

There is no broil function. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Broil in an air fryer is just being closer to the element, just like in a regular oven but instead of 500F you are limited to 400F (I think they use 500 so the element doesn't cycle on and off)

 

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There are some things that the air fryer is supposedly designed to handle well —frozen burgers for example. 
Once again the Internet is all over the place with respect to time and temperature.  They range from 350°F x 10 minutes to 360°F x 14-20 minutes. I did not bother with YouTube videos!

 

I put 2 tablespoons of water into the basket and then added the frozen burger. I set the timer for 10 minutes and the temperature to 350°F.

At the five minute mark I flipped the burger. 

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I checked the temperature and it was only 116°F.

I flipped it once again and added five more minutes. This time the temperature was 183°F. A bit of an overshoot. I was worried it would be dried out. 
 

B1B44966-28B8-4271-A514-CFDC276CE53F.thumb.jpeg.1b825075a2cf3203cda3de0d48a68344.jpeg

 

9955F5DA-623C-4225-8B8A-DC767C8446F9.thumb.jpeg.2ba6214e1d79659c1a41c150a99ee9da.jpeg

 

Not sure if you can see that it remained juicy. (My crummy eyesight makes photography a challenge.)

I consider this a success and will make a note that 350°F for 13 minutes is probably the sweet spot for these particular burgers. 
 

 

 

 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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10 hours ago, palo said:

Broil in an air fryer is just being closer to the element,

It is and it isn’t. It is closer to the heating element but also closer to the very powerful fan. Discretion is advised. 

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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@Anna N 

 

do you feel the addition of water

 

to the AF contributes to a humid

 

cooking environment ?

 

have you noticed the amount  of water left

 

after your Burger Experiments ?

 

the difference transitioning to steam

 

or simply increasing the humidity of the

 

cooking chamber

 

Edited by rotuts (log)
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20 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Anna N 

 

do you feel the addition of water

 

to the AF contributes to a humid

 

cooking environment ?

 

have you noticed the amount  of water left

 

after your Burger Experiments ?

 

the difference transitioning to steam

 

or simply increasing the humidity of the

 

cooking chamber

 

My only reason for adding the water is to prevent the possibility of smoke from the fat. Smoke would put me out of action. Next time I will measure the amount of water remaining.   

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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@Anna N 

 

that makes a great deal of sense 

 

WayBackWhen

 

there was technique and Rx

 

from Madeleine Kamman

 

Duck two ways.

 

the leg/thigh

 

went into a very hot oven

 

over some water

 

for the same reasons you metionsed

 

smoke from the spatter was significantly

 

decreased

 

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I don’t know…sometimes we try to fit a round peg in a square hole.  Duck breast in an air fryer might be just that.  I vote for Pan frying over medium heat to render the fat and get crispy then finishing on the other side to desired internal temp, rest and eat.

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23 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I don’t know…sometimes we try to fit a round peg in a square hole.  Duck breast in an air fryer might be just that.  I vote for Pan frying over medium heat to render the fat and get crispy then finishing on the other side to desired internal temp, rest and eat.

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!

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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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:

 

77C23512-C61C-4F22-817F-7FD32FE14B2A.thumb.jpeg.628a7b8a97db4be71c17c2f6dbb1a44b.jpeg

 

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.

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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18 minutes ago, Anna N said:

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:

 

77C23512-C61C-4F22-817F-7FD32FE14B2A.thumb.jpeg.628a7b8a97db4be71c17c2f6dbb1a44b.jpeg

 

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.

 

Fries are the one thing I have wondered about.  My sister who has an air fryer likes the way the frozen fries come out.  She tried making fresh ones once and said "they took too long".  She does not particularly like cooking.

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