Air fryers

Puppetmaster said:
Just bought my first Air Fryer - Ninja AF400.

Any tips or recommendations? Just tested some frozen curly fries - cooked very fast!
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There's a cooking guide in the manual. Maybe take a look at YouTube - loads of airfryer content on there to inform/inspire.

Generally dry stuff cooks better than wet, just remember to check it and shake/flip as appropriate. Solid performers are chips/roast potatoes, sausages, burgers, chicken (great for reheating chicken rotisserie portions or cooking nuggets) pre battered/breadcrumbed fish etc.
 
My wife was about to buy a £50 quid air fryer from Lidl, I assumed it was probably pretty crap so spent yesterday watching YouTubes videos and going down the air fryer rabbit hole, she still has her £50 and I am down £143 quid on a Ninja Speedi. I am sure she does it on purpose. Yesterday morning I had no knowledge of Airfryers or Multi-Cookers :cry:

Does look good though
 
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roccles said:
My wife was about to buy a £50 quid air fryer from Lidl, I assumed it was probably pretty crap so spent yesterday watching YouTubes videos and going down the air fryer rabbit hole, she still has her £50 and I am down £143 quid on a Ninja Speedi. I am sure she does it on purpose. Yesterday morning I had no knowledge of Airfryers or Multi-Cookers :cry:

Does look good though
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My OH loves the Speedi and uses it more than me.

Great machine imo
 
JonRGV250 said:
Cool.
Always preheat, I mean you wouldn’t put bacon into a cold pan then switch on the heat :)
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I do…..it’s how to get crispy streaky bacon to a crisp. I even do it on low heat, the low heat renders the fat out. It will take a while but it will be crispy, almost like crisps.

www.thekitchn.com

The Biggest Rule for Cooking Bacon On the Stove

Are you already doing this?!
www.thekitchn.com www.thekitchn.com
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I do…..it’s how to get crispy streaky bacon to a crisp. I even do it on low heat, the low heat renders the fat out. It will take a while but it will be crispy, almost like crisps.
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Bravo! Spoken like a proper chef! The "low and slow" method is best for fatty cuts of meat as quite rightly it gives time for the fat to render down. I start duck breasts off the same way so the skin is really crispy and wafer thin by the time I've cooked the meat and I finish steaks on their sides to render down the fatty edges. There's nothing worse than eating uncooked white fat!
 
Joining this late, but when pan frying I always place bacon in the pan and then turn on the heat and do the same with duck and salmon.

Edit: And never add oil.
 
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Speedi and Ninja are great but VERY expensive for what they are. I love my Gourmia from Costco. It only cost me £43 inc VAT when they were on sale (Think they are £49.99 now) it has a nice square big tray so you can get a couple of nice bits of fish, chicken etc side by side, has an extra rack to do 2 levels of cooking and its pretty easy to clean. It is easy to use and seems well made. Unless you are going to use it for every meal £100+ for a Air Fryer is overkill in my opinion.
 
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ZXSpectrum said:
Speedi and Ninja are great but VERY expensive for what they are. I love my Gourmia from Costco. It only cost me £43 inc VAT when they were on sale (Think they are £49.99 now) it has a nice square big tray so you can get a couple of nice bits of fish, chicken etc side by side, has an extra rack to do 2 levels of cooking and its pretty easy to clean. It is easy to use and seems well made. Unless you are going to use it for every meal £100+ for a Air Fryer is overkill in my opinion.
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After my research I choose the speedi over a dedicated air fryer because it included other cooking methods and the speedi one pot meals looked pretty good. Time will tell if it was a wise purchase.

Tried it last night with pork chops and new potatoes and came out well. Hopefully it gets used. But agree are quite expensive, picked mine up for £143 after the 10% new customer offer on their site.
 
We bought the Instant Vortex Dual Drawer one from Argos when it was on offer. So impressed, we bought a single drawer one for our Static Caravan.
Standard Oven at home or away very rarely gets used now. As others have said, bacon can be done to preference, perfectly.
Gammon Joint, Pork Joint and Whole Chicken cooked to perfection. Roasted cauliflower and broccoli with good results.
Also, crispy Broccoli with a dipping sauce is really good.
Recently been experimenting with soft boiled eggs, which I love.
Expected a really small margin for error, but that's not been the case. Just have a bowl of chilled water ready.
 
ZXSpectrum said:
I guess the dual drawer ones are more useful when there are multiple people but i am just on my own so the singe one is fine for me.
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I started off with single one but moved to dual one and I only cook for myself

For example say you have vegetables/ chips in one while meat in the other , can't really cook them together

Dual one you can sync so both are done at the same time neither over cooked or under cooked and plenty of space
 
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Bought our Ninja about 18 months ago and I think I can count on both hands the number of times the oven has been on since. We've gotten more than our £130 worth from it already.

Literally every meal pretty much gets thrown in there these days.
 
Bought my first air fryer, on the way tomorrow. The nonstick is flaking off the foreman, so will bin that. Tefal easy fry precision digital was half price and bonus that the components and go int he dishwasher. No idea how to use it.

Say I wanted to cook a chicken breast and chips together? Just chuck them in? Grill some vegetables with them, chuck in too?

What’s the difference between the grill and air fry setting?
 
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CaptainRAVE said:
Bought my first air fryer, on the way tomorrow. The nonstick is flaking off the foreman, so will bin that. Tefal easy fry precision digital was half price and bonus that the components and go int he dishwasher. No idea how to use it.

Say I wanted to cook a chicken breast and chips together? Just chuck them in? Grill some vegetables with them, chuck in too?

What’s the difference between the grill and air fry setting?
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Grill setting probably blows less air, but I don't know about Tefal. You will figure it out in no time :) It is trial and error.
Things will cook according to thickness and oiliness I find, and how much room they have around them. You could throw it all in together if the chicken is flat and the veg is cut and the chips are not too thick.
 
Well that was impressive, stuck some chicken and chips in there, probably only needed 10 mins max. A tad overcooked, but better than the oven does. It would take 10 mins to warm up the oven! Fraction of the smell vs the foreman.
 
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CaptainRAVE said:
Bought my first air fryer, on the way tomorrow. The nonstick is flaking off the foreman, so will bin that. Tefal easy fry precision digital was half price and bonus that the components and go int he dishwasher. No idea how to use it.

Say I wanted to cook a chicken breast and chips together? Just chuck them in? Grill some vegetables with them, chuck in too?

What’s the difference between the grill and air fry setting?
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Yeah, just chuck em in. Spray some olive oil to keep the fries crispy. Shake everything around ~halfways through.
 
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