Cooking with an Air Fryer

[Anna N]

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. 
 

After eight minutes. I added 5 more minutes to the timer, turned the duck breast over and again hit the start button. 

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. 

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. 

 

[ElsieD]

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.)

[Anna N]

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. 

[palo]

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)

 

p

[Anna N]

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. 

 

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. 
 

 

 

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. 
 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

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. 

[rotuts]

@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 July 24, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

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.   

[rotuts]

@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

 

[Okanagancook]

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.

[Anna N]

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!

[Anna N]

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.

[ElsieD]

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:

 

 

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.

[rotuts]

I think you get an AF

 

for fries / tots that are easy to make.

 

then you move on to PorkBelly .

Edited July 26, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

Ohooooo

 

Ohooooooooooo

 

Ohooooooooooooooo

 

for only the above

 

the AF is back-on

 

my Stuff-to-Get 

 

Menu.

 

Just for those Items

 

Ive mentioned.

 

And a True Thanks

 

to @Anna N

 

for pointing the way.

 

 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

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.

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. 

[Anna N]

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. 
 

 

[mgaretz]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

I did spritz the basket and fries with a little oil. I suspect a little too much oil.

 

Frozen fries are typically "pre-oiled" so you don't need to add any extra in the air fryer.  Fresh made fries do require oil. They are pretty easy to do - the key is getting a consistent width so they all cook about the same.  I use one of those chopper/veg-a-matic thingies or my KA spiralizer attachment if I am doing curly fries.

[palo]

38 minutes ago, Anna N said:

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. 
 

 

 

SUCCESS!!!!

 

p

[rotuts]

Sooooo

 

there is a semi-currant thrad

 

here

 

that discusses pros and cons of

 

various models ?

 

thanks

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

Frozen fries are typically "pre-oiled" so you don't need to add any extra in the air fryer. 

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!

[mgaretz]

6 minutes ago, Anna N said:

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!

 

Originally I used to do a two-step process (some time at 400F then finish at max temp) to simulate the par-fry technique, but these days I don't bother and do them at 450F (highest my BFOA will go).  

[mgaretz]

4 hours ago, rotuts said:

then you move on to PorkBelly

 

While pork belly comes out great in the air fryer, I will never cook it that way again.  It creates way too much grease and smoke.  I never could get my Philips XL air fryer to stop smoking and producing excess grease despite repeated cleanings and "burn offs" outdoors.  Finally retired it.  May revisit it some day but for now my BSOA suits me fine.  It's slower than the Phillips (and I suppose similar, smaller models) but I use the BSOA all the time for all kinds of things.

[Anna N]

39 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

While pork belly comes out great in the air fryer, I will never cook it that way again.  It creates way too much grease and smoke. 

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

[mgaretz]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

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

My guess is not much if any at all. The grease was literally everywhere.