Author Topic: air fryers and multicookers  (Read 10995 times)

air fryers and multicookers
« on: 03 March, 2022, 07:05:32 pm »

A place for the Instapot curious, filthy photos of fried potatoes, succulent pressure cooked successes and AirCrisp(TM) experiments.


[Going to chat to the mods about moving things over from favouritekitchenthings, brb.]

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #1 on: 15 April, 2022, 06:23:58 pm »
I see the mods haven't moved anything. I don't have an air fryer but I've just read a time/cost comparison of air fryer vs conventional oven.
Quote
Findings
Airfryer

Time: 15 minutes.

Taste: Delicious, but slightly dry and a bit singed.

Cost: 20p.

Oven

Time: 41 minutes.

Taste: Perfectly cooked and more succulent than the ones cooked in the air fryer.

Cost: 42p.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/compare-energy-usage-costs-using-6958199
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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #2 on: 16 April, 2022, 10:38:55 am »

Yeah, I tried 3 different accounts, but no-one replied.

For future reference, the posts we were wanting to split out to here can be found from: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=119528.msg2702024#msg2702024


Thanks for the costings info, Cudzoziemiec.

My Ninja Foodi, my sewing machine, my Geiger counter and I were all recently house guests with friends for a few days whilst the landlord ripped out my kitchen. Friends had just had a smart meter installed, so we kind of sort of tried to get a sense of the energy use, but there was a lot of energy use going on and tbh we were having too much fun in the kitchen at the vital moments!

IIRC we were seeing something like 30p per hour and 50p per hour total rates, but that was for everything, including pumping water out of the bore hole. Or was that 0.3p and 0.5p per hour? How much does energy even cost nowadays? We tried to locate a power monitor plug, but couldn't.


Pressure cooked cheesecake, caramel, toasted pecans, from-mix falafel, butter nut nut butter soup, crispy coated tofu, pizza a la Foresty Forest and granola were all successfully produced and consumed.



slope

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #3 on: 18 April, 2022, 03:46:34 pm »
Kale "crisps" :thumbsup: Ninja Foodi Grill AG301. Air fry preheated @180º around 5 or 6 minutes MAX, with several shakings and checkings inbetweens.

200g kale shredded and stalks removed (good to chop and use elsewhere). Mix and massage crinkly leaves in a bowl with a tbsp of oil, some salt (not as much as one might think) and optional spice of choice (ras al hanout and Chinese 5 spice go down well here). Don't bother with the basket, just bung in the main bowl.

They stay crisp for a day or two, even in an open bowl. I love the chewiness too.

Great snack and topping for fried rice and many other dishes.

Much quicker and cheaper than a conventional oven

ian

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #4 on: 19 April, 2022, 11:54:36 am »
I did Balinese curried duck legs on Friday, using the pressure cooker function for 40 minutes resulted in perfect duck legs – that normally takes about 2.5 hours on the hob.

Similarly, it's very handy for spaghetti bolognese – saute the soffrito in the pan, added the ingredients and pressure cook for twenty minutes, cooking the pasta on the hob in the meantime, it's pretty much a 30-minute job.

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #5 on: 19 April, 2022, 02:56:15 pm »

I can't remember if I said before, but air frying has revolutionised kale chips for me - I was guaranteed to burn them in the oven. I'm liking the auto-swirl effect and the auto-turn-off-before-they're-carburised features of doing them now.

I've yet to try spicing them, so might have to give that a go. Also recalibrating to think of them as a topping rather than a side - thanks Slope!


I batch cook a pasta sauce in much the same way that ian describes. I'm trying to master defrosting a portion at the same time as using the pressure cooker to cook the pasta. The first attempt was a bit too watery. The second attempt...

(click to show/hide)

So I need to find the happy medium there then...

Today I've tried Korean Steamed Egg (Gyeranjjim) as per https://youtu.be/482spGXZtdg?t=165

The mix was a bit too much for my container though and lifted up the trangia lid cover I was using, so it's a bit moist, but otherwise looking like it'll become a regular feature.

I've been trying different ways of dealing with eggs so I can cook them alongside bread for breakfast. The bread is usually batch made gluten free flour and yoghurt flatbreads, rolled out, frozen, then air fried when the time comes. For eggs, cracked into a greaseproof paper 'boat' was okay, and meant I could get a second use out of the separators for the frozen flatbreads; just putting the raw egg in it's shell in the basket was hit and miss; but I think putting a slice of baked/steamed eggness in to reheat as the bread cooks is looking like a good approach. Goes well with a bit of kimchi  :thumbsup:


slope

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #6 on: 19 April, 2022, 03:26:28 pm »
I may have to invest in some TIG welding gloves though - have picked up a few burns extracting things from the upright chamber.

I've been using a pair of these Aramid™ outer knitted gloves since September 2020 and have been extremely pleased. Because they're knitted they conform to the shape of your hands and fingers which provides excellent dexterity too :thumbsup:

https://www.healthandcare.co.uk/kitchenware/coolskin-heat-resistant-oven-gloves-375.html

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #7 on: 19 April, 2022, 04:05:34 pm »

Ah! You've just reminded me I have some TIG Fingers somewhere. hmmmmm...


A friend's just dropped in with, for reasons I don't fully understand, 3 gluten free bloomers just past their best before date. One has been turned into toasty breadcrumbs, another has been cubed and put in the freezer ready for speedy cruton-ing when butternut nut butter soup day comes around, and the other will be accompanying the egg briquettes. Phewp!


ian

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #8 on: 19 April, 2022, 09:06:19 pm »
I am enjoying the pressure cooker function – it really does reduce cooking time dramatically (and saves the day when I forget to start slow cooking something). Plus it adds a bit of drama to my culinary exploits (and steam cleans the kitchen ceiling).

Baked gnocchi is another good one, saute some leek, spring greens, with garlic until soft and translucent, stir in some spinach, while soaking some gnocchi in boiling water for a minute or so. Add the gnocchi, a couple of spoons of single cream, a handful of parmesan, and some lemon zest, mix it up, and put some more parmesan on the top, then switch to baking mode for 10 minutes until it's crispy on top. Literally a fifteen-minute meal in a single pan.

I did air fry some supermarket samosa yesterday and they came out perfectly crisp (about a gallon of oil dripped out of the bottom of them, probably not the healthiest of snacks).

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #9 on: 30 April, 2022, 12:24:05 pm »
Progress with pressure cooking pasta: the latest attempt was a pot-in-pot attempt, separating out the cooking water for the pasta from the water for the pressure cooking doings in the main pot.

Two 6"cake tins stacked on top of each other on the trivet. One with salted water and spaghetti, the other with frozen block of pasta sauce. Trusty Trangia lid to top it off. 10 mins on high was slightly too much, and I didn't need to add a splash of water to the sauce pan. Getting there!


Roasted beetroot with a balsamic vinegar and honey glaze planned for later this weekend.

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #10 on: 02 May, 2022, 09:24:17 pm »
I have had an air fryer for about 2 years and love it.  It is the smallest Ninja and is big enough for the 2 of us.

salmon skin for 4 minutes then add in salmon on greaseproof paper for another four minutes. perfect

Bang bang cauliflower is perfect and celeriac chips or turnip chips.

As has been said kale crisps with 5 spice

Sausages
tofu
chicken breasts

Almost everything goes in.  Only things that do not are steak and tuna.  Less mell, less cleaning.

Instant pot only had for about a year.  I tend to follow the twosleever recipes. her butter chicken is sublime.  Left over veg just gets thrown in with some chicken stock and turned into soup.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #11 on: 03 May, 2022, 08:18:18 am »
Butter chicken with prawns was what I was cooking far too often when the GP clocked my blood cholesterol at 3.4 g/l (8.77 mmol/l) 30 years ago. Haven't had it since.     
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ian

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #12 on: 03 May, 2022, 09:48:09 am »
I recall that Jamie Oliver managed to make butter chicken without butter (or fenugreek, for that matter) – the subject of much Uncle Roger derision. I think it also featured sun-dried tomatoes and, of course, olive oil. It probably tasted as good as it sounds.

I am getting a lot of use out of our Foodi, which is nice as there is always the danger of yet another unused kitchen gadget. Chinese cultural appropriation duck last night – brown the duck legs, fried up shallots, ginger, garlic in the duck fat, add five-spice, ground coriander, a touch of cayenne, some whole star anise, then deglaze the pan with a generous splash of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce, add the duck legs and some stock and then pressure cook for 45 mins. Take off the lid and reduce the sauce till thick while the rice is cooking. Two pots, job done. I think I bastardized some recipe for ribs, it's lost to time.

Wowbagger

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #13 on: 03 May, 2022, 10:46:59 am »
I have just stumbled across this thread.

OK. Which one should I buy?  ;)
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Mr Larrington

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #14 on: 03 May, 2022, 11:07:35 am »
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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #15 on: 03 May, 2022, 11:08:08 am »
Chinese cultural appropriation duck last night

Meanwhile, last night I was feeding a Chinese student a Sunday Roast (rescheduled due to crap PhD supervisors):

Roast pork and crackling
Roast tatties
Roasted beetroot with balsamic glaze
Slightly charred (in a good way) broccoli
Cauliflower cheese
Air fried potato peelings as a tide-me-over snack that wasn't needed because the pork cooked quicker than I was expecting.
Cheesecake after a gentle stroll


Saucy things made on the hob, but everything else done in the Foodi. Some microwaving just before serving.





Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #16 on: 26 June, 2022, 06:46:47 am »
The beeb have done a podcast on airfyers, based on a question about whether they save money: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0018hjr

IIRC they reckoned that for each of a chicken breast and a jacket spud, the air fryer was less than half as expensive than cooking in a conventional oven. Obviously more questions flow from the experiment design, but I think you could equally be cooking a whole meal at the same time in each of those, so it's interesting/encouraging to get that ballpark figure %.

Kim

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #17 on: 26 June, 2022, 12:06:12 pm »
Having recently fitted an energy monitor upstream of our conventional oven, it's certainly adept at using lots of electricity.  Okay if you're cooking a family roast with all the trimmings but something less power-hungry is clearly going to be a huge win for something with a long cooking time like a jacket potato.

Microwaving's pretty efficient (but obviously results in microwaved food), wonder how those combination oven things compare?


ETA: Similarly, the bread machine uses less power to bake a loaf than the oven would.

TimC

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #18 on: 26 June, 2022, 01:50:17 pm »
I have a combo oven, and it's great for baked potatoes. A big potato microwaved for 7-8 minutes, then baked at 180 or so for 5-10 mins (depending on how thick the skin is) is good for me.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #19 on: 26 June, 2022, 05:41:30 pm »
One of the campsites I stayed at on the way up to York had a large and friendly population of statics. I overheard a conversation between staticists (as they were strolling past my tent – I was pitched next to the canal gate so almost the whole site went past at some time) in which one was extolling the virtues of his Ninja thing, how it produced real cooking quickly and cheaply.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #20 on: 21 July, 2022, 07:30:18 pm »
Falafel are the new big air fryer win here this week - a discovery a few days ago when we were using up pantry staples rather than facing the ordeal of sustained movement to go and do the grocery shopping!

Improvising around Kenji J Lopez-Alt's version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9RczIcY_1c) and the first few search engine results for "air fryer falafel".

15 mins or a bit less at around 190C seems to do the trick nicely. There was no way I was going to be doing anything involving a pan of hot oil!

Valiant

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #21 on: 26 July, 2022, 06:52:25 pm »
Ooh I may have to try that. Fallafel can also be shallow fried in a frying pan at a push to decent enough results.
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Mrs Pingu

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #22 on: 16 August, 2022, 09:48:47 pm »
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #23 on: 16 August, 2022, 11:13:42 pm »
Money off Ninjas according to MSE https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/ninja-deals-/#54229
Aargh... too late. They're listed as out of stock. But that was the Max version, the AG551. As there's just the two of us, I've put in an order for the regular version, the AG301, which is discounted down from £199 to £179.

Thanks for the heads up Mrs P  :thumbsup:

rogerzilla

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Re: air fryers and multicookers
« Reply #24 on: 17 August, 2022, 05:08:11 pm »
Why is it an air fryer, but a tumble drier?
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