Air Fryer Update (2023 Update)

[Rob Morley]

It describes the way the text sections expand and contract when you click on the '+' buttons.

[John Miller]

Microwave the potatoes until nearly cooked then finish off in the air fryer. Works a treat.

[chop]

Peeled or not ? I peel mine and dip them in olive oil and do them for 30 mins in the air fryer. Thats a bit more than most of the bacon or proscutto wrapped chicken or chicken kiev etc most of which I do for 20 mins. 30 mins for the biggest bacon wrapped chicken.

[RJH]

Apart from containing a bunch of nutrients (apparently), the skin seems to soak up the oil better than a peeled potato. Unless the spud's been parboiled and shaken. Either way, I like the taste of baked potato skin.

[PeterC]

Thanks!

[chop]

I do too with potatoes done entirely in the microwave which I still eat with steak, chops and sausages, but with the other stuff I prefer roast potatoes and find that I get a much better outer if I peel them before dipping them in olive oil and giving them 30 mins in the air fryer.

Admittedly I only tried it with the red skinned potatoes and have just discovered when the supermarket didnt have enough of the more expensive red skinned potatoes of the right size that the normal potatoes are even better crispness outer wise when done in the air fryer but they come unwashed, so need to be washed first which presumably means that the olive oil wouldn't work so well with those. Must try it tho.

[Dave Plowman (News]

It's time food makers put cooking instructions on things like they do for ovens and microwaves.

[Dave Plowman (News]

A microwave makes dreadful baked potatoes.

[Dave Plowman (News]

That's because it is an oven. Just a small fan oven.

[Andrew]

A microwave makes dreadful anything that needs to be cooked at a temperature a lot higher than 100C.

[Max Demian]

They make great microwave potatoes.

You can't expect modern processes to simulate older processes.

When people nowadays want to preserve food, they expect it to be identical to the original food, so they freeze things.

In the past they didn't care, and, as a consequence, we have all sorts of new kinds of food, such as bacon (salting), smoked fish (smoking), pickles (vinegar), jam (sugar), raisins (drying).

[charles]

It wasn't "didn't care". Freezing hadn't been invented, so these methods were developed instead..

[S Viemeister]

I often start them in the microwave, then finish them in a small fan oven.

[RJH]

I've noticed air fryer instructions on a couple of things (Lidl chips for example) so maybe change is happening . . .

[Rod Speed]

But not BAKED potatoes.

Boiled potatoes aren't old than baked potatoes.

That's wrong too. Frozen peas and beans are nothing like fresh ones.

They did actually but had far fewer options.

That stuff you listed was because that was the only way to make it last with no fridge or freezer available.

They did have bottling with fruit etc.

And in the case of potatoes, just kept in a cool place/

[Tim+]

It time folk relearned how to judge cooking time! Something is cooked when it’s cooked, not when an “average” time for an “average” microwave/oven/fan over/air fryer has elapsed. Practice makes perfect.

The instructions are only a guide, not gospel.

Tim

[chop]

And for some stuff WAY out. The microwave meals from just one supermarket say 1-2 mins on full, actually take 6-7 but the stuff from the other supermarkets is fine at the longer time. Not at all clear why, presumably the fool that did the instructions believes that some will buy the ones with the lower heat time and will not be pissed off enough to never buy it again when its nowhere near cooked.

[mechanic]

How is it on cakes?

[rick]

I bought an Air Fryer 2 weeks ago ..... simple example, fish & chips ...... beautifully crisp chips, yet fluffy inside and the breadcrumbed haddock was very crisp coating, and perfectly cooked fish ... Much faster than oven ..... and you can't get a crisp finish in microwave. So far chicken in various forms all been fine, scampi, and several types of fish all successful and much quicker ..... broccoli spears didn't work though, the leafy parts burnts to a crisp.

[Max Demian]

And we benefit from all the interesting flavours still.