Air fryers

[Susco]

2 minutes ago, SooKee said:

 

Yeah that's how we do them now.  They're OK, edible, but meh.  Tried about 3 brands now, much the same.  At the end of the day I far prefer regular deep fat fryer chips but the air fryer is OK at a push I suppose.  Friend of mine did some fresh in his having par boiled them first and then air-fryer.  Much better than the frozen IMO but I just don't crave fries enough to bother I guess.

 

 I have used deep fryer brought from Europe for years.

 

Bought air fryer just a few weeks ago.

 

First fries I set at 17 minutes, because manual said if using frozen stuff should add 2 minutes. Were "very" crispy haha.

 

Second time I set at 15 minutes, and I couldn't taste a difference with the deep fryer. Crispy outside and soft inside.

 

I use the cheapest fries I can find in Makro, as I don't taste a difference between the ones that cost double, because they are all made from potatoes.

 

My mayonnaise also doesn't have to be from a particular brand to be tasteful, I just look at the ingredients used

[Sujo]

I was thinking about one of them.

 

I dont like crispy fries even though chefs tell me that i must. I prefer them a bit soft and soggy. I put them in a deep frier when the oil is not yet hot and thats how i like it.

 

I use real potatos, will never buy frozen package fries.

 

Can i get the fries and potatos soft?

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, Susco said:

I use the cheapest fries I can find in Makro, as I don't taste a difference between the ones that cost double, because they are all made from potatoes.

Me too, 99bht for 2Kg.

[ukrules]

17 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Only for fries? I use it for every thing as I mentioned before even to bake a cake

It's essentially a small fan assisted oven in the shape of a fryer. I bought one about 5 years ago, haven't touched it for years now.

 

They're OK but I prefer the normal over for most things.

Edited July 18, 2020 by ukrules

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, Blue Muton said:

A couple of others have answered but seem to have missed the main difference. Yes, they both work primarily by convection (although the would be some radiated heat from the lamps in the "convection" ovens and yes, they both have fans that assist with the convection but those are similarities and you asked for the difference.

 

Aside from the fan a convection oven has no moving parts, the food sits where you leave it, if it needs turning you have to do it yourself. In an air fryer the food is constantly turned so that it cooks more evenly. The food is heated by conduction from the pan as well as by convection.

 

Doesn't seem to have conduction as you suggest: https://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-ho/cooking/airfryer-top/airfryer-xxl

[Eindhoven]

9 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Can someone  explain the difference  between an "air fryer" and a  "convection" oven in function?

I have one of  those  cheap glass bodied circular convection ovens which I  find  great for  pizza and  baking  cakes. Have never attempted potato fries.

 

I make chips thus; Wash potatoes, leave skin on. Wrap in kitchen towel. Put in microwave for four minutes. Slice into the desired shape and the toss in olive oil or your choice of oil and then season. Pop into convection oven either placed on wire grill or in baking tin. Around 200 Celsius should do it.

 

Something in between chips and crispy roast potatoes with a fluffy inside. Tasty anyway.

 

Frozen fries here are an abomination.

[alacrity]

51 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

I make chips thus; Wash potatoes, leave skin on. Wrap in kitchen towel. Put in microwave for four minutes. Slice into the desired shape and the toss in olive oil or your choice of oil and then season. Pop into convection oven either placed on wire grill or in baking tin. Around 200 Celsius should do it.

 

Something in between chips and crispy roast potatoes with a fluffy inside. Tasty anyway.

 

Frozen fries here are an abomination.

Generally I cook mine before eating. 

 

Secondly, I absolutely hate Asian spuds. We have a Phillips air fryer which does nothing other than cook fries. Sunny Day.

No crumbs, no slime, easy to clean and not Asian.

[Blue Muton]

1 hour ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Doesn't seem to have conduction as you suggest: https://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-ho/cooking/airfryer-top/airfryer-xxl

Well the hot air heats the pan (as well as the food). Heat is transferred from the pan to the food, that thermal transfer is called conduction, whatever Philips say about thier particular model.

[Eindhoven]

10 minutes ago, Blue Muton said:

Well the hot air heats the pan (as well as the food). Heat is transferred from the pan to the food, that thermal transfer is called conduction, whatever Philips say about thier particular model.

Oh ok. I thought you meant that the pan was heated from below. In that case the normal convection oven does the same, if you put a baking tin within.

[Blue Muton]

3 hours ago, Susco said:

You lost me there.

 

How is conduction applied in an air fryer, since the heating element is above and separated from the pan, and how is the food constantly turned without any moving parts, other than the fan?

If you re-read my post bit about the turning should become clear.

 

You are confusing an air fryer with a halogen or convection oven if you think heat comes from above.

 

conduction is thermal transfer from the pan where it is in contact with the food.

[Eindhoven]

Just now, Blue Muton said:

If you re-read my post bit about the turning should become clear.

 

You are confusing an air fryer with a halogen or convection oven if you think heat comes from above.

 

conduction is thermal transfer from the pan where it is in contact with the food.

 

Erm...the heat does come from above with the air fryer.

[Blue Muton]

7 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

Oh ok. I thought you meant that the pan was heated from below. In that case the normal convection oven does the same, if you put a baking tin within.

Exactly that. convection is the primary method of heat transfer but conduction also takes place.

[Dumbastheycome]

1 hour ago, Eindhoven said:

 

I make chips thus; Wash potatoes, leave skin on. Wrap in kitchen towel. Put in microwave for four minutes. Slice into the desired shape and the toss in olive oil or your choice of oil and then season. Pop into convection oven either placed on wire grill or in baking tin. Around 200 Celsius should do it.

 

Something in between chips and crispy roast potatoes with a fluffy inside. Tasty anyway.

 

Frozen fries here are an abomination.

Appreciate the "recipe".

I sometimes roast a mix of  vegetables in gas oven in the  old conventional  way.

I once purchased a bag  of frozen potato "wedges" with  great expectations  of  convenience plus taste.

I concluded  that they were a by product of  reject product that would have otherwise  been  transformed into the  reconstituted powder potato "fries" that  make  many  franchised  outlets richer.

I have generally become a  devotee of  mashed potato sometimes  combined  with  sweet potato as  a welcome alternative  to  rice. Rice  somehow  leaves  me  unsatisfied  very quickly  despite being an equivalent  form of  pure  starch.

I agree completely that commercial "fries" here  are an abomination. But in my experience  they  tend  to be globally the  same everywhere so if arrive as a component of a meal I avoid  95%.

 

 

 

 

[Dumbastheycome]

Geez! Sorry if  my question  started  a war of  technical  opinion !

At the end  of  the potato (as an example) the  fuggeres  get  cooked !

Relax  and  enjoy  what  you  have !

[Dumbastheycome]

I will add this.

There as  a time when I owned a  house  that had a  cast iron wood stove  with an oven and a  "wet back".

Apart from  heating  the water, heating  the  house, it also was  the  most  magnificent  appliance   to cook  anything regardless of   cooking time .

There was something  about the "quality " of heat that I have never found to be  duplicated in any  other  source.

Even the  hot water seemed to have a  more theraputic  quality.

 

 

[timendres]

Have the Phillips. Cook many things using it, but I really like how chicken breasts and pork steaks come out. French fries are good, but I still prefer to deep fry them. Makes the best bacon ever. Gyoza is never good. I buy Waitrose frozen potato "Rosti" from Tops Market, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a small pat of butter on top - incredible! Great with my omelet for breakfast.

[Susco]

12 hours ago, ianezy0 said:

Do you get any Air Fryer Miles when you buy a new one!

I got some with the one I bought, and apart from that I very happy with it because it's digital and has an inner pot, so fat goes to the outer pot

 

[SooKee]

It's all down to personal taste at the end of the day especially where fries are concerned.  Regardless of how many examples people give of how they've compared X and Y and couldn't tell the difference, at the end of the day it's still just one person's view and doesn't make the findings any more valid in the sense of right / wrong answer.  There isn't one.  It also depends on what machines folks are talking about, a home deep fryer IMO doesn't cook chips as well as the big commercial types.  Anyways, I'm pleased I have the air-fryer, it's great for a lot of things, fries for me, and I've used all manner of methods and all manner of different home appliances, it's just so so.  

 

I'd disagree about "it's just potato so it makes no difference what brand you use".  Not only do potatoes differ significantly from variety to variety (so it will depend on which variety they have used, most here IMO are far too waxy), it will depend on the preparation, freezing methods and coatings (if any) such that some very high quality frozen fries that restaurants in Europe can obtain (not like here with the deciding factor will mostly be cost) will be vastly different to the $3 bag of oven chips that you get from the local supermarket.

[lopburi3]

10 hours ago, Blue Muton said:

If you re-read my post bit about the turning should become clear.

 

You are confusing an air fryer with a halogen or convection oven if you think heat comes from above.

 

conduction is thermal transfer from the pan where it is in contact with the food.

There is no pan in contact with the food in many current air fryers - the food sits in a wire basket the same as in a deep oil fryer.  The heat is blown down/around and back up off bottom pan to hit everywhere.  

[Blue Muton]

3 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

There is no pan in contact with the food in many current air fryers - the food sits in a wire basket the same as in a deep oil fryer.  The heat is blown down/around and back up off bottom pan to hit everywhere.  

OK, I have a Tefal Actifry, which is a bit older (although they still make them) and it has a pan rather than a basket. From memory the Tefal was the original but I may be wrong. There wouldn't be much conduction going on in the one in your pic.

[lopburi3]

6 minutes ago, Blue Muton said:

OK, I have a Tefal Actifry, which is a bit older

Yes have noted many of the video have such units where pan often only had some vents to allow air in.  Below is what I have in the cheap mass market Otto made for Thailand.  Really no clean up at all for frozen FF or chicken pieces and very quiet operation.

[asiacurious]

I found this helpful.  Thought you might find it interesting too.  It provides a good explanation of conduction vs convection.  There's more in the document that you may find interesting.  (It's from Sandra Bastin, PhD, RD, LD, Extension Specialist for Food and Nutrition, January 2011, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension.  Link - warning, pdf! - http://www2.ca.uky.edu/hes/fcs/factshts/fn-ssb-002.pdf )

 

Quote

 

Conduction

Conduction transfers the heat using direct contact; food is heated directly in a metal pan, in a liquid, or surrounded by air. Dropping an egg into a pan of boiling water is a good example. The heat from the water is transferred to the egg. As the outside of the egg becomes warm, the heat moves into the center of the egg, continuing inward until the entire egg is heated to the desired temperature. The efficiency of the heat transfer depends on the conductivity of materials in contact with the food. Copper is one of the best conductors of heat. Heat transfers quickly from the heat source into the food through the copper cookware. In contrast, water, stainless steel, and the food itself, are poor conductors of heat.

 

Convection

Convection heat transfer occurs faster than conduction. Convection occurs by the movement of air, liquid, or steam around the food. For example, as a pan of soup heats up on the stove, heat moves from the bottom of the pan. This movement of hot and cool liquids or gases combines. Stirring the pan redistributes the heat from the bottom of the pan throughout the other ingredients. Convection is the reason frozen foods thaw more quickly when placed under cold running water. Convection can also occur mechanically by means of a fan that circulates the air in an oven. A convection oven can reduce the cooking time by 25 percent over standard ovens. It also increases browning of the food because of the concentrated heat on the surface of the food.

 

 

So it seems every method of cooking involves at least some small amount of conduction through the cooking container that you're using.  Except for microwaves, which only heat up water or fat, so the plate/bowl/dish you are using to hold the food doesn't heat the food.

 

Although....  I guess if someone wants to get really picky about it, one could make an argument that even microwave ovens can sort of transfer some heat through conduction.  They are notoriously uneven heaters, so it's possible that if one part of the food gets really hot, it could transfer heat to the bowl/plate, which would then get hot and start to transfer heat to a colder part of the food.

 

Point is, it seems like conduction is not really a difference between hot air fryers and glass convection ovens.  They both do it.

 

Now....  Does anyone know of any hot air fryers that also have an induction cooking option?!  ????

 

(Yes, I know that induction cooking would kind of get in the way of convection cooking.  But since companies are always looking for ways to enhance products with more features, whether they help or not, I figure there must be at least 1 out there!)

[seajae]

have done several different items in ours, great for croissants(re heating) plus any other pastry, any frozen food(fries, nuggets, wings etc), wife does her belly pork in it,  crackles brilliantly,   does a great job on everything

[Meat Pie 47]

1 hour ago, seajae said:

have done several different items in ours, great for croissants(re heating) plus any other pastry, any frozen food(fries, nuggets, wings etc), wife does her belly pork in it,  crackles brilliantly,   does a great job on everything

Yes I guess every body has a different brand so opinions vary I am very satisfied

with the one I got. 

[FritsSikkink]

Works great, very glad that I bought one (Phillips about 4,500 THB at Big C).

[lopburi3]

Just used today for frozen chicken nuggets at 15 min and added frozen FF at 12 min for a very satisfactory fat lunch for myself and wife.  Sunny Day and Lamb & Western make it easy and still a lot less fat than frying.

[Meat Pie 47]

So for all you guys and gals who owns and use an air fryer

here is a little help (cooking times ) of course you need to

add your spices or marinate before cooking. Have fun.

 

 

 

[Meat Pie 47]

Not getting any response, does that means every body knows

more than I do?

 

[RichCor]

23 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

here is a little help (cooking times )

...went looking for a similar one-page graphic as your handy example is a bit to fuzzy for my eyes -- only to open pandora's box. Thanks a lot!

 

Google Image Search Air Fryer Cooking Temps and Times

 

[Meat Pie 47]

5 minutes ago, RichCor said:

...went looking for a similar one-page graphic as your handy example is a bit to fuzzy for my eyes -- only to open pandora's box. Thanks a lot!

 

Google Image Search Air Fryer Cooking Temps and Times

 

Sorry to confuse you