Me, my Air Fryer and I… and You
Discussion
Silvanus said:
Air fryer would be ideal, I've just make bacon egg and cheese pie in mine with a pre made pastry case. Proper lunch and no time and effort at all
Making a pie is probably a little adventurous for me - but I am warming to the idea of buying one.The Tower Xpress is out of stock, but it's on my list.
Bannock said:
These devices look good, but are they any use for, say, preparing a whole meal for a family of 4? For example, could you roast a whole chicken and enough chips for 4 at the same time?
Do they cook things from frozen?
Thinking about getting one for energy saving reasons rather than anything else. Any suggestions for a model man enough to do 4 dinners in one go?
I think you'd have to get the largest of the large to be in with a chance of that - biggest I say is about 16 ltrs IIRC. Better to do them sequentially. Par-boiled chips would take maybe 15 mins after the chuck's done.Do they cook things from frozen?
Thinking about getting one for energy saving reasons rather than anything else. Any suggestions for a model man enough to do 4 dinners in one go?
Bannock said:
These devices look good, but are they any use for, say, preparing a whole meal for a family of 4? For example, could you roast a whole chicken and enough chips for 4 at the same time?
Do they cook things from frozen?
Thinking about getting one for energy saving reasons rather than anything else. Any suggestions for a model man enough to do 4 dinners in one go?
It's the reason why I bought a larger table top version, mines 25 litres with shelves, will do the chicken and veg and chips all at once.Do they cook things from frozen?
Thinking about getting one for energy saving reasons rather than anything else. Any suggestions for a model man enough to do 4 dinners in one go?
Something like this might be more suitable for your needs https://amzn.eu/d/1T7g3V0
Having plumped for the Breville Halo (based on reviews), which was supposed to arrive today (ordered and paid for) it's now out of stock. The Vortex arrives tomorrow.
I'll be interested to see how I get on with it - it will sit next to a large Aga, it's therefore an unnecessary purchase in some respects. But I fancied a new toy.
I'll be interested to see how I get on with it - it will sit next to a large Aga, it's therefore an unnecessary purchase in some respects. But I fancied a new toy.
Just got an unnecessary purchase of a Ninja Foodi 7.6l AF300UK.
First two efforts bit disappointing.
OK learning process, but to keep things simple.
Trial 1 potato wedges, OK ish, but had better in fan oven. Was different type of spud to normal, King Edwards as opposed to Maris Pipers. Quality of Pipers available was shocking hence the change.
Trial 2, roast spuds, dreadful, like overcooked lumpy chips. Generally acknowledged my fan oven roasties are bang on and reliably so. Again question about potato used.
In both cases followed the instructions carefully, prep, oil, temp, timing, shaking a number of times, not overloading basket. Keeping a watch to check timing.
Question, looking at BBC good food site, recommends steaming the roasties first. I've seen someone else suggesting parboiling even chips. Is this accepted as a good thing? Certainly for roasties I par boil, drain, give a shake, steam dry before going anywhere near the oven.
Similarly oven wedges, they don't get parboiled, but always start them off for 20 mins or so at a lower temp to get the fluffiness of the interior before cranking up the temp.
So these results and possible need for precooked suggests perhaps not as useful as claimed. Much lower energy use though.
Not tried anything else yet, can see it will be great for frozen stuff, eg tenders, hash browns and so on.
Comments or advice very welcome.
Edited to correct model number, apparent brain fade used wrong number from a completely different product area, a communications system.
First two efforts bit disappointing.
OK learning process, but to keep things simple.
Trial 1 potato wedges, OK ish, but had better in fan oven. Was different type of spud to normal, King Edwards as opposed to Maris Pipers. Quality of Pipers available was shocking hence the change.
Trial 2, roast spuds, dreadful, like overcooked lumpy chips. Generally acknowledged my fan oven roasties are bang on and reliably so. Again question about potato used.
In both cases followed the instructions carefully, prep, oil, temp, timing, shaking a number of times, not overloading basket. Keeping a watch to check timing.
Question, looking at BBC good food site, recommends steaming the roasties first. I've seen someone else suggesting parboiling even chips. Is this accepted as a good thing? Certainly for roasties I par boil, drain, give a shake, steam dry before going anywhere near the oven.
Similarly oven wedges, they don't get parboiled, but always start them off for 20 mins or so at a lower temp to get the fluffiness of the interior before cranking up the temp.
So these results and possible need for precooked suggests perhaps not as useful as claimed. Much lower energy use though.
Not tried anything else yet, can see it will be great for frozen stuff, eg tenders, hash browns and so on.
Comments or advice very welcome.
Edited to correct model number, apparent brain fade used wrong number from a completely different product area, a communications system.
Edited by FiF on Saturday 10th September 20:55
I cooked chips from raw quite happily. I soaked them for a while as instructed, then dried carefully and shook with a very small amount of oil. Took longer than advertised (actually several things have taken longer, now I think about it) but very very good results - that crispy/fluffy thing. Maris, IIRC.
FiF said:
First two efforts bit disappointing.
Comments or advice very welcome.
Interesting - thanks for posting. My fryer arrives today - and I'm going immediately for a roast chicken.Comments or advice very welcome.
I am also hoping to cook steaks from frozen at some point, which I'm informed you can do.
I'd be interested to read more from those that do use them.
Had no issues when cooking home made chips or wedges in my air fryer. When using home grown spuds we didn’t bother with the par boil approach. Chop em up, drizzle them in a bit of veg oil, add seasonings of choice and chuck em in the basket.
90% of the time the air fryer is used to cook frozen chips and chicken tenders and they come out way better than the standard electric fan oven
90% of the time the air fryer is used to cook frozen chips and chicken tenders and they come out way better than the standard electric fan oven
Does anyone use the air fryer tray inserts? An ad popped up for them, looked like the Ninja model I have. Not sure how they'd work as the oil/juices of what you're cooking wouldn't fall to the bottom so the food wouod be cooked in a pool of it. Also may slow down on cooking time?
Main attraction is cleaning these rather than the full try.
Main attraction is cleaning these rather than the full try.
Mr Pointy said:
More to the point where did you find a Ninja AF300 as they seem to be out of stock everywhere.
Argos we'd looked all over, even Shark Ninja themselves said out of stock and didn't know when next available.Anyway was looking something up for Mrs F and it popped up on a previous search available to order and pickup in our nearest Sainsburys Argos. By the time I'd said to SWMBO what about this and got the approval it had gone. Bugger.
Telling daughter this as she had been the one pushing for an air fryer for some time, she went onto Argos, it was back in stock, £179.99, she ordered it inside the minute and paid for it with one of her through work Sodexo coupons which gives an additional 6% discount on marked price and picked it up couple of days afterwards.
It's gone up to £200 now, still no stock though. Moral is if you see one, it'll be gone in 60 seconds.
Got to say after reading this thread I'm amazed. Iv got a cheap lidl one. Had it a couple years and really does things well. Iv never thought about actually cooking things like a full chicken though. That's crazy. Iv always just assumed they are for frozen chips, onion rings, chicken bits or anything you want crispy. Going to invest in one of these expensive ones and go full chicken ahoooy!
hotchy said:
Iv never thought about actually cooking things like a full chicken though. That's crazy. Iv always just assumed they are for frozen chips, onion rings, chicken bits or anything you want crispy. Going to invest in one of these expensive ones and go full chicken ahoooy!
The bigger ones have a rotisserie - it's the main reason I've bought one. So you can put an up to 13.5kg chicken in it, press a button and it's done in 60 minutes. Apparently! I'm also curious to do steaks and pork chops from frozen. Anyone on here who have done that? I'd be interested to know.
NDA said:
hotchy said:
Iv never thought about actually cooking things like a full chicken though. That's crazy. Iv always just assumed they are for frozen chips, onion rings, chicken bits or anything you want crispy. Going to invest in one of these expensive ones and go full chicken ahoooy!
The bigger ones have a rotisserie - it's the main reason I've bought one. So you can put an up to 13.5kg chicken in it, press a button and it's done in 60 minutes. Apparently! I'm also curious to do steaks and pork chops from frozen. Anyone on here who have done that? I'd be interested to know.
We're trying out pork belly in our Ninja tomorrow.
Did pizza and garlic bread yesterday. Obviously had to cut into half/quarters to make it fit but worked fine. Garlic bread was better than the oven I reckon.
I bought this recipe book but not found that inspiring:
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Did pizza and garlic bread yesterday. Obviously had to cut into half/quarters to make it fit but worked fine. Garlic bread was better than the oven I reckon.
I bought this recipe book but not found that inspiring:
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Zarco said:
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Our current favourite is panko crumbed side of salmon. Mix 50/50 panko bread crumbs and some kind of sweet dry-rub for pork or chicken (I use Weber), rub some avocado oil on the salmon, roll it around until it’s covered and air fry in the ninja with the probe set to ‘medium rare - about 52 degrees’.
We've had our Foodi since the start of the year and twice I've tried to cook that chicken recipe from the handbook (the one with the whole chicken), following the instructions to a T and both times the chicken came out split along the middle, like a Xenomorph had burst out of it. I just assumed this was a thing until my mum told me she'd cooked the same recipe in hers and it came out perfect. What gives?
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