Air Fryers

[Broccers]

Any good? Who has one / used one? A fad or something which will change your life?

It's my Mrs birthday next week so think this might be a great gift idea

[mik]

Ah - Culinary Hairdryers?

We got a Tefal Actifry around 2014, and recently replaced it with…. The updated Tefal Actifry. Other machines get good reviews but they don’t seem to have anything like the capacity, and you have to pull the tray out and shoogle the contents every so often.

It won’t replace every other kitchen machine, but it’s great for chups and other things that it is great for. Like sausages.

It’s not so great at other things it’s is not great for. Like skinless sausages. Or soup.

[duncs500]

One of my pals has got a Ninja and swears by it. We've got enough kitchen contraptions gathering dust already though.

[Mito Man]

Had one at uni when I just used it to “cook” any old slop quickly. They’re convenient mini ovens but I think they’re mediocre now. If you want to actually fry something they don’t come close.

[16vCento]

We've had an Actifry as long as Mik, if it brakes a new one shall be obtained.

My parents Ninja makes ok chips, and ok bhaji and wings, but nit as good as the Actifry does.

9 Healthy, but tasty chips out of 10.

[JonMad]

iirc Mr Brunning of BOM fame was espousing the virtues of his Tefal jobbie on twitter the other day. A friend also raves about his. For chips, mainly.

[drcarlos]

Or soup.

Can you demo it being bad please? Thinking a youtube channel trying to cook inappropriate things in an airfryer would be a winner

Some of our friends have them and love them but the wife says we can't have more kitchen gadgets until we have our extension built (must write that up in the house builds thread).

[Simon]

We have the Ninja XL and the Mrs swears by it. It makes nicer Bhajis, chicken etc than the oven and uses less power to boot. Mrs does 90% of her hot meals in it. Mine are split between it, the oven and the microwave 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.

[jamcg]

I’ve got a Philips air fryer, had it years, works great. As mik said you have to shake your chips every so often and be careful not to overfill it or you end up gluing your chips back into a potato does an amazing jacket spud too. They now do an xl model for bigger capacity

At the time I got mine the gadget show did a public blind taste test of chips- actifry looked the best but people preferred the Philips for taste

Ninja ones look great- the also do a double one

[Broccers]

I suspect these are for doing chips mainly then

Thanks for the tips.

[Beany]

I suspect a philips actifry thing would be better for chips, etc - but in an air frier, you can fit pork chops etc.

Get a cheapy, but chunky supermarket branded air fryer (like, 4 litre or more 'capacity') for £30-40 and see if it suits your lifestyle. If so, then look at the fancier ones, like Actifry, Ninjas (which have things like griddle pans for searing meat etc).

I have a cheapy one and it's top bollocks for chips, chimken nuggets, sausages, etc. Use it near daily. Not quite a deep frier, but faster and cheaper than the oven. Also outstanding for reheating pizza.

Start preheating cooker (electric ceramic) and griddle pan for a steak, wang some chips in the air frier for 15mins.

By the time I've heated a griddle pan and done a steak to a bit further than rare and let it rest, the chips are done.

Hell, if you're feeling *really* lazy, put the steak in the air frier - you can't caramelise it but it'll cook pretty well. Do the chips while it rests.....

A handy thing to have, but don't throw £100+ on one without seeing if you actually can get use out of it.

[Mito Man]

You animal.

[Beany]

You animal.

You're God Damned Right.

(but like, for real, if you get back in the door at 2030hrs with fuck all but some pork chops or sausages in the fridge, just open the air fryer, wang 'em in at 180deg for about seven-ten minutes, slap 'em on a plate, be done and washed up by 2100hrs)

[jamcg]

That last post was sponsored by liz’s pork markets

[Zonda_]

Get a Ninja, we use ours all the time. The oven is rarely on now.

[Sundayjumper]

We have one, used it for chips a few times but decided the oven was a lot easier because a) the chips seemed far more likely to stick together in the fryer b) they didn't seem any better (or worse) than doing them in the oven c) the fryer gave off a distinctive hot oil smell that went all through the house d) the oven is already there and doesn't take up extra worktop space and e) the fryer was far more of a faff to clean than the oven (chips on a sheet of foil that simply goes in the bin afterwards).

I am DIW, evidently.

We used to have an actual deep fat fryer, now THAT made good chips. It also stank, so I had to cook chips in the garage and then bring them into the house once they were ready

[Zonda_]

We have one, used it for chips a few times but decided the oven was a lot easier because a) the chips seemed far more likely to stick together in the fryer b) they didn't seem any better (or worse) than doing them in the oven c) the fryer gave off a distinctive hot oil smell that went all through the house d) the oven is already there and doesn't take up extra worktop space and e) the fryer was far more of a faff to clean than the oven (chips on a sheet of foil that simply goes in the bin afterwards).

I am DIW, evidently.

We used to have an actual deep fat fryer, now THAT made good chips. It also stank, so I had to cook chips in the garage and then bring them into the house once they were ready

Odd, ours doesn’t smell at all, mind you, we never add oil to it, it’s just not needed.

[mik]

I am DIW, evidently.

That’s why we went for the actifry again. The turning motion works really well to avoid things sticking together or coming out crisp on one side and soggy on the other

[Sundayjumper]

Odd, ours doesn’t smell at all, mind you, we never add oil to it, it’s just not needed.

I thought that was the whole point though ? So that the food is cooked in a mist of oil, rather than being completely immersed in it.

Without the oil or the turning action (per @mik, and that does seem like a useful function) it's just a very small fan oven that takes up worktop space and is more hassle to clean. I guess I'm still DIW.

[Carlos]

Activity here as well, pretty much only gets used for proper chips once in a while.

Sausages also work well, like chippy ones

Only uses a table spoon of oil and it doesn't give off an odour !

Chuck the gubbins in the dishwasher after every use you dirty gets lol