Air Fryer: 10 Reasons To Buy New (Kitchen)

Why does our body love junk food so much? French fries and chicken, fried in an incredible amount of oil, various fast foods... These dishes drool, and at these moments few people remember a healthy lifestyle.

However, there are manufacturers who thought about our health for us, creating such amazing kitchen appliances as an air fryer.

But there is a catch. And it is in the name of the new device. Why is a kitchen appliance called "air fryer" formed from two words at the same time - airfryer and a deep fryer? How are they different? We will understand in our article.

Air fryer, airfryer and deep fat fryer - who is who?

In terms of its characteristics, an air fryer is similar to a deep fat fryer and an airfryer. Hence the similarity in the name. The principle of frying food in oil is taken from the deep fryer, but the main difference between the two devices is in its quantity. If a huge amount of oil is poured into the deep fryer bowl in liters, then for an air fryer you only need a little - a tablespoon.

Speaking about the airfryer (and this is a kind of convection oven): the airfryer completely borrowed its principle of operation - to heat the product using a stream of air. The main difference between an airfryer and an airfryer is the speed of cooking. This is where the air fryer wins. At the same time, it is important that, for example, French fries in an airfryer are not baked, but crispy, like from a deep fryer - and this is what children and adults appreciate. The airfryer is also inferior to a small bowl made of glass. As a result, the new device may well replace the deep fryer and airfryer, while creating healthy food.

Already based on the above comparisons, you can list the main advantages and disadvantages of an air fryer.

Air Fryer Advantages

• Cooking with minimum amount of oil - You get tasty and at the same time healthy dishes without carcinogens. Hence, another advantage of kitchen appliances follows.
• Saving in oil. After all, to prepare crispy fried food in an air fryer, you only need a tablespoon of oil. This saves time, since there is no need to heat a huge volume of deep fat. Cooking food begins immediately after starting the program.
• Fast cooking products through improved heating technology.
• Appliance simple and convenient in use. Most home appliances have similar operating principles. All buttons are signed, in case of questions, instructions from the manufacturer help.
• Easy to disassemble into component parts and washed water. Unlike deep fryers, the air fryer can be disassembled into components that can be placed in dishwasher all without exception.
• More expensive models have special filters to catch the smells of cooking food. Considering that classic deep fat fryers are associated with the smoke from boiling oil and the bright "aroma" of fried foods, air fryers with a filter are almost completely absorb odors.
• Air fryers very compact with a bowl, which allows the hostess to easily find her a place in the kitchen. This is especially valuable in small kitchens. However, models with a door cannot boast of this - having a larger volume, such equipment is larger in weight and dimensions.
• On some models with a door, you can cook two dishes at the same time. There are also models with the ability to install 3-4 pallets.
• Due to the rotation function in the air fryer with a door, more uniform heat treatment of products. The finished dish will not only be healthy, but also as delicious as possible. Unfortunately, pull-out air fryers do not have this feature. However, it cannot be said that the dishes turn out much worse.
• The transparent door allows you to see the food while it is cooking. Full process control - an added bonus of an air fryer.
• Depending on the configuration, you can get huge variety of dishes. The manufacturer additionally produces baking trays, a grill grid, a frying basket, skewers for meat, fish, vegetable kebabs, etc. This mainly applies to air fryers with a door.

Disadvantages of an Air Fryer

• The high cost of technology. Since air fryers were created relatively recently and are not produced by all manufacturers, prices these kitchen assistants are still relatively high.
• Air fryers with a pull-out tray have a small bowl volume - from 2 to 4 liters. About 2 kg of food will be cooked at a time. This is not enough for a large company, but for a small family of 2-3 people it is quite enough.
• To start the airfryer with pull-out tray for a second portion of food, you must wait until the bowl cools down. Therefore, when preparing a dish for a large number of guests, it will take a long time.
• Most air fryers with a bowl are not transparent, so there is no way to observe the preparation of food. The tray must be pulled out to look inside.
• Some producers invest to your product primitive instruction without a detailed description of the operation of the device. In this case, it is difficult to independently understand the proposed programs, in the cooking time of a dish of a particular mode.

How does an air fryer work?

For many housewives, it is important to know how kitchen appliances work. For different reasons. Therefore, we will also touch on this issue, but in general terms.

After the food has been placed in the container, placed inside the airfryer, the timer and cooking temperature are set, the magic begins. Thanks to the internal heating element located in the upper part of the chamber and the convector, streams of hot air are generated, which are gently and evenly distributed inside the device. As a result, the product is first dried, then food is cooked by convection - the food is evenly blown with hot air from all sides.

Air Fryer Tips

Customer reviews are very valuable. By collecting positive and negative information from people, as well as advice from manufacturers, we get:

1. To prevent the food from sticking to the grill of the appliance, grease it with sunflower oil before laying out the food.
2. Before buying an air fryer made of a combined metal and plastic material, pay attention to the presence of thermal insulation on the body. Getting burned while operating the kitchen device will become a very unpleasant fact.
3. Before using household appliances, manufacturers recommend warming them up in advance - 1-3 minutes will be enough. This air fryer is similar to oven. However, this is only a recommendation, not a mandatory rule.
4. The manufacturer does not recommend placing more food than is provided in the bowl. An extra heap of vegetables or meat will result in uneven cooking. As a result, it will not be the “bad device” that is to blame, but the hostess who has gone too far with the amount of food.

How to Choose an Air Fryer?

Before buying any kitchen appliances it is worth studying its characteristics, types, as well as customer reviews. There are a lot of varieties of air fryers. Let's note the most significant parameters.

1. pay attention to body material, on which its price will directly depend. Manufacturers make air fryers from plastic, stainless steel, or a combination of both. A plastic air fryer is lighter but not durable. Therefore, it is recommended for housewives who do not plan to use it frequently. With a metal device, the opposite is true: its strength will allow it to serve for a long time, even taking into account daily work. The price will be higher accordingly.
2. Air fryers vary in volume. Here, start from how much of the final product you need to get. Manufacturers create bowls with a volume of 2 to 4 liters, in models with a door - up to 12 liters, so for your family and depending on the goals, you can choose the equipment of the required volume.
3. Temperature Range also different on different models. Most often, the temperature is set in the range from 60 to 240 degrees. At the same time, low values ​​are created for drying, curing (vegetables, fruits, fish, meat), while high values ​​are used mainly for making baked goods.
4. Bowl shape also different: round and square. If round air fryers win in terms of compactness, then square ones - in spaciousness.
5. Power devices ranges from 800 to 2000 watts. Basically, models of air fryers have a power of about 1400 W, which is enough to prepare most dishes.
6. Instrument control can be electronic or mechanical. In the first case, there is a touch screen, in the second - only mechanical toggle switches and buttons. At the same time, the type of control will affect the price of the device - air fryers with touch controls cost more. And mechanical ones are less likely to fail and are not so demanding on voltage drops in the outlet.
7. The kitchen appliance is turned off after it has been triggered. timer. The time range is from 30 to 60 minutes. Some models will turn off automatically when the time has elapsed, while others will beep to continue cooking.
8. The door fryer has a large number of additional functions compared to appliances with a pull-out tray. For example, grill, rotate function, baked goods, skewers, popcorn basket, etc.
9. Some models have functions defrost and heating food, which is a nice bonus for many housewives.
10. Air fryers vary in type of heating element. Inexpensive models most often have a halogen heating element made of glass and containing halogen gas. Another type of heating is stainless steel, heating element, which has a number of advantages over halogen ones. It is fast heating rate, strength and durability.

Air Fryer Comparison

Comparative characteristics of air fryers are summarized in the table below. Models described for example:

• Tefal FZ707267 ActiFry - air fryer with a bowl,

• Zigmund & Shtain ZAF-900 - air fryer with a bowl,

• Rawmid Modern RMA-02 - air fryer with a door.

Characteristic	Tefal FZ707267 ActiFry	Zigmund & Shtain ZAF-900	Rawmid Modern RMA-02
Capacity, l	1,2	2,6	12
Power, W	1350	1300	1700
Bowl volume, l	1,2	2,6	-
Weight, kg	4,5	4,35	8.7
Rotation function	No	No	Yes
Maximum temperature, ° C	220	200	220
Warranty, years	2	1	1
Manufacturer	France	China	China
Control type	sensory	sensory	sensory
Number of programs	9	6	16
Body material	plastic	plastic (steel bowl)	stainless steel
Cost, rub. (as of May 2021)	from 29 900	from 6000	from 13 500

5-in-1 Air Fryer | What is the new RAWMID Modern RMA-02 capable of? OVERVIEW. Video

Air Fryer Reviews

Customer reviews of air fryers were divided into 2 camps. While the first group notes the high quality of the dishes received, the speed of their preparation, no need to monitor the cooking process, others are frankly not happy with the work device.
Despite the high cost of this household appliance, the programs of some models "freeze". There are also manufacturers who did not bother to attach instructions for the air fryer (!!!), which discouraged the hostesses.
In the era of the Internet, this issue is resolved quickly enough, but the description of programs of a specific model (their detailed purpose, for which dishes each of them and the time of preparation of the product) is not always found simply.

Having collected numerous reviews about a few models of air fryers, we can conclude: not every housewife is ready to find a place for a new, not yet cheap assistant. The indisputable advantage of the device is the final healthy product without excess fat (harmless French fries are cool!). Caring for the health of the family is the main priority of every housewife, however, you can also do without an air fryer.
Therefore, it is not worth strongly recommending this kitchen technique, the potential buyer must independently decide whether to purchase it or not. After all, for someone, for example, coffee maker or a toaster is a necessary thing, but someone is used to frying bread in a frying pan, preferring to have a spacious kitchen.