In Praise of the Air Fryer

Last week I said I was going to buy a 4L air fryer that Lidl were due to start selling but, on doing a bit of reading about them, I decided to get a much larger 11L job on e-Bay, for which I paid roughly the same as the 4L Lidl one. It was one of those units that are slight seconds, but perfectly functional.

It's an Argos model, which new costs well over £100, so a good deal.

The first test was belly pork, which is one of our favourite dishes. I made up a Chinese-style rub with which to coat the meat area, after having cut it vertically and horizontally. It went into the air fryer in a foil tray, skin side up, with a coating of vinegar on the skin, for 20 minutes at 100 degrees, which dried the skin. Then 40 minutes at 200 degrees and it produced the most wonderful, crispy skin. The meat, however, was a little tougher than my usual recipe, which involves a trivet of sliced onions and a centimetre or two of wine or cider to thoroughly cook the meat.

Next time I think I'll combine the two recipes and use the trivet and liquid within the air fryer, perhaps cooking for longer at a lower temperature before boosting it to obtain the crispy skin.

The 2nd experiment was a whole chicken. I wanted to use the rotisserie, but the limit is 1.2kg, whereas our chicken was 1.6kg. I therefore just placed it in the middle of the air fryer for 40 minutes on 200 degrees - and it was perfect with a crispy skin. 

Hay is definitely a convert.

Essentially, the saving in electricity and improvement in performance is down to the small size. Our combi-microwave, which also has an oven function, is more efficient than our Redfyre cooker by virtue of the fact the business volume is much smaller; the air fryer is more efficient still by virtue of the interior being just 11L, combined with the air circulation being much improved.

My advice? Get one of 11L capacity if you have a family to feed - just check you can get a whole chicken in it. The 4L jobs are only sufficient to feed one. Buy one on e-Bay from a reputable company that sells seconds (they're not real seconds, but more likely Amazon units that have been bought as unwanted presents, were returned and would otherwise be destined for the scrapheap due to the cost of checking and re-packing).

Stop-Press: tried a smaller chicken on the rotisserie and it was perfect. It does roast potatoes very quickly and really crisps them up. Cabbage steaks too are easy in the air fryer - just slice a white cabbage into rounds and drizzle with oil and salt.