The Air Fryer Chronicles Part 2

You may recall that I was given an air fryer as a birthday present last year, and in this column I logged my first faltering steps as a user. The blasted thing packed in after just a few months. It probably speaks volumes to relate that I had no hesitation in sourcing an immediate replacement.

While there seem to be few bounds to the size and sophistication of the machines these days, we stayed simple, still with a one drawer affair. The difference is that the drawer was significantly larger than the previous model. It wasn't that expensive. My first piece of advice to first timers would be, don't go for a really small one.  It's a pain in the neck, when cooking for two, to have to do things in batches. You will find early on that if you pile chips in layers they just won't work. As you can see, ours doesn't take up too much space, and is big enough for most things we want to do.

Which leads me neatly to the first item. Admit it, the vast majority of people who buy air fryers have it in the back of their mind that they can enjoy chips with a fraction of the calories of the real things. That is true, but my early experiments scored a maximum of 2/5. Can we improve on this?

The answer is, yes, but you have to be aware of what you have bought. A fryer this is NOT. In the last article I described it as a supercharged version of a conventional fan oven with significant advantages in terms of speed and cost. I stick by that, and experienced users generally agreed. Anything which you can do in an oven you can do, size permitting, in an air fryer. And yes, you can make chips from scratch in an oven.

Air Fryer Chips

Peel your tatties and cut them into thin chips. Pop them in a bowl of cold water for a while. Some will tell you to put it in the fridge: others will advise changing the water once or twice. I did neither - suit yourselves. Preheat the air fryer to 160˚C. Drain the potatoes and dry thoroughly. Put in a bowl with a drizzle of oil and some salt.

Place in a single layer on the rack of the air fryer for 15 minutes, tossing them once half way through. Increase the temperature to 200˚C and cook until nicely golden. This will take about 3 - 5 minutes, possibly more.

Comments

Not bad, if you like skinny chips. They're not my preferred style. And remember I said you can cook chips in a conventional oven? Well, they're nowhere near as good as the real thing. Heston Blumenthal and Tom Kerridge, the reputation of your triple cooked wonders is safe.

Score 3.5/5

Sausages

Thanks to the Retired Captain of Industry for this. If you've never made a huge traditional breakfast for a large number of people, learn two things. Firstly, sausages take far longer to cook than you might think. Secondly, when your hob is covered in frying pans for eggs, potatoes, mushrooms, black pud etc, etc, the oven is your friend. Sans air fryer, I would brown the bangers all over, then stick on a roasting tray at about 190˚C for a good 20 minutes, possibly more.

Using your AF will be much quicker. Preheat to 180˚C. Brown first. Cooking time will depend on size. A traditional British specimen will need about 6 minutes. The RCI's roots are in Italy, so he will be cooking the wonderfully fat, all meat, not a breadcrumb in sight examples. 10 minutes plus, I think. If in doubt, cut one in the middle. That way, you'll know for next time.

Comment

Why not? If it's good enough for the buongustaio RCI, it's good enough for me.

A Pie for Lunch

Thanks to the Flying Scotsman for this one. If you have the wonder that is (or should be) a Scotch pie, bridie, sausage roll, pasty, empanada or whatever, you know that it will be better served hot. But as these delights are usually snacks, time is not your friend. Anyone who tries to heat these in a microwave should forthwith be excommunicated and/or sent to The Tower. But do them as they ought to be done in a conventional oven and you have a problem. Not so hot an oven as to frazzle, but therefore long enough to heat through completely. 30 - 40 minutes?

Flying Scotsman recommends 7 minutes, though he doesn't stipulate temperature.

Comment

Why not? And not just for a snack. While I deplore the modern penchant for beans at breakfast, pie, beans and chips is a classic, if unhealthy, Scottish repast.

Air Fryer Spare Ribs

I love spare ribs and there are so many ways you can do them. But with a conventional oven it takes a while. Using the AF, I had a plate of food in less than an hour. It was OK, but I think the shortcomings were down to me rather than the machine. Today is about the technique rather than the recipe.

As ever with ribs, your first choice is the rub. Wet or dry. I had, on a whim, bought a supermarket pack with all the ribs chopped individually. If you have a rack, chop them into chunks of 3 or 4 ribs.

I found a variety of recipes. This one involves wrapping the ribs in foil for the first stage. Makes good sense, I think, given the intense concentration of the heat. I did a simple dry rub with salt, pepper and sweet paprika. Most US recipes would call for onion powder and garlic powder, neither of which I possess.

The gist of the recipe went like this. Preheat your AF to 190˚C. Cook the foil wrapped parcels for 25 minutes. Remove the ribs from the parcels, brush with your choice of barbecue sauce and cook uncovered for a further 10 minutes. Allow to rest. If desired brush with more sauce.

Comment

Subject to size, there's no reason why you can't do a very good ribjob in your AF. With my effort, despite the ribs being a bit scrawny, they were still a little on the chewy side, not at the glorious fall off the bone stage. Were I doing this again, I think that after cook 2 (the 10 minute uncovered stage) I would brush with more sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Score

3.5/5. Could do better.

So there you have it. For the two of us, we wouldn't roast veg or bake potatoes any other way. My pal L tells me she uses it to reheat veg. I'm sticking to the microwave for that. You out there, any other things you use it for? Please share.

Cake News

An American organisation called Recipeoo has posted a comment on my cakemaking for beginners article from a couple of years ago. Not only have they posted a recipe, there is a whole section of tips from a home economics class. And there's more. They include a load of interesting looking savoury recipes too. Just go to my article (link above) find their comment (it's the last one) and click on the link Delicious Home Economics Class Cake Recipe in 2024. To follow a US recipe, remember that 1 cup = 250g or 250ml.