Tefal 9in1 air fryer/grill etc - grial *and* air fryer Q

Model is FW501827

Just unboxed one of these after SWMBO saw it on >50% discount and is

The "instructions" are a sheet of primary school pictures. I found a slightly better version at the Singapore site, but still can't seem to see how (or if) the grill and air-fryer features work together.

Our previous air fryer had 2 drawers so burgers & chips were a doddle.

If we can only do fries or burgers in this new one ... well what's the point ? Or am I missing a point ?

Not sure if gaining a rotisserie is worth losing a second drawer.

The blurb talks about "3 zones" and then is silent.

Isn't air frying just the heating element (only one and the only heating facility) and the fan on at the same time?

I would guess cooking using on rotisserie is going to throw/spit fat on to every internal surface and during the cooking period is going to start baking it on. Unless all the panels can be removed for cleaning then it could be a PITA to clean. It could also have the same problem if the Tefal doesn't have a basket to catch the spitting fat when grilling something like a burger.

For very many years I've had a combination microwave/grill/oven and the trick to keep that relatively clean inside is to cover anything that spits fat whilst cooking, either using using dishes with lids, cooking bags or ali foil. Burgers are best done in the frying pan with a mesh splash guard to catch the spitting fat :)

The production values of the video, need work. But, at least there is a picture of the inside of the thing, so I could count the slots.

"TEFAL AIR FRYER OVEN FW501827 with 9-IN-1 FUNCTION"

There are four slots for slide-in items. Making a mess, modulates the available configurations. You don't need a drip tray, to heat the top surface of a pizza. Perhaps the bottom of the pizza will be heated by the air fryer output. Make sure the pizza dough is shaped to keep the fat in the center of your pizza pie.

Four slots Messy grilling Stupid chicken thing ---------- ----------- --------------

Grill_level Grill_level [need clearance for chicken]

Air fryer 1 Drip tray <<chicken-fork>>

Air fryer 2 [need clearance for chicken]

Drip tray Drip tray

It's an aspirational device (a joke), like a Kenner Easy Bake Oven :-) I tried counting to nine, but I couldn't figure it out.

The front door of the unit, comes off, and is dishwasher safe. That leaves the other five internal surfaces...

The video is still not a "user ode to the thing". It's still marketing monkey s*it. You really need an actual end user, to be making a video like this, so they can show you the grease all over the place.

I could not tell from the video, what the surfaces of the unit are made of. There must be glass and metal, as otherwise, how could the unit take the heat ? The unit has to get hot enough to cook food, or it would be a health risk.

My guess is, customers want the glass on the front to be clean, so they can see their chicken rotating. But for the other surfaces, the customer are happen to allow splatters to burn on.

The chicken lifter attachment looks like it easily rotates in your hand, and unless you are the mighty Hercules, you could lose that hot hot chicken on the kitchen floor.

Paul

Even the marketing can't count to 9:

which I count to be 8. Although maybe 'manual' also counts as another.

I suppose you just have temperature and fan on/off, and all the FUNCTIONS are just variations on that theme. A bit like microwaves have programmes for doing fish, meat, vegetables, etc that people never use.

They do show doing pizza, garlic bread and chips on three levels, which is fine if everything fits perfectly. Can't see it cooking enough to feed a family though.

It looks much like a combi microwave without the microwave bit, so less useful. Although having slots for shelves is something my microwave could benefit from. There's a couple of rack-trivets instead, but they're circular because it thinks you're going to be rotating things, even in oven mode, while I've had good results from removing the spinner and using oven trays - just avoid the back left where the heat comes from.

Maybe I should see if I can DIY something - perhaps there are parts from air fryers I could borrow...

They look like some kind of non-stick coated pressed steel. Remains to be seen how long the non stick lasts (many of them don't like a hot oven).

Being able to remove the door is a handy thing though. If only microwaves let you do that (but probably don't want that for radiation safety reasons).

Yep, it's just a hook and if you get the angle slightly wrong the chicken could easily pop out.

Theo