Kitchen

[Mz iMac]

My deep fryer started going on the blink.  My french fries turned into rocks.  Changed oil, changed temp even changed the type of potatoes.  No change.  French fries were hard as rocks.

I loved my Cusart deep fryer.  No mess or fuss.  I ended up throwing it out but kept the basket.

I was going to get the same fryer at BBB.  Because there is a Best Buy next to groomer (I dropped my dog off yesterday), I went there instead & on a whim purchased a Ninja air fryer.

I figure if I didn't like it I could return it in 60 days.  It was on sale but, still expensive for my taste.  All I wanted it to do was to make french fries & fry chicken w/o all the mess that goes w/it.  Not only does it air fry, it roasts, dehydrates, reheats & low temp warms.  I am going to try all the options before the week is out.  Well, all except the dehydrate function.

First air fry test was today.  I aired fried some frozen breaded fish fillets.

Have to admit I was impressed.  Fish was done & crunchy.  Fast cooking time - 10 minutes total.

NO mess.  When the bucket cooled down, I rinsed the non stick rack under the faucet w/hot water to clean.  Wiped the bucket down & kept the foil at the bottom as it was still clean (yes I made sure the foil did not block the rack slits/holes).

Bucket & rack are can be placed in the dishwasher.

The real test will be this weekend when I air fry up some fried chicken wings w/coating that I use when I deep fry.  If I like, the air fryer will be a keeper before I test the other functions.  The air fryer came w/a recipe booklet. 👍🏾

The air fryer also came w/a wired rack for dehydration.

[Northray]

Those look as if you fried them in a deep fryer.  I can never get that even browning with my air fryer.  What coating did you use?

[wagirl]

Just a FYI---this is what I do to get a crisp/crunchy skin/crust or whatever--I always blot as much moisture off the food as I can, before putting in the airfryer. Meats, vegs after I clean them,  always get a really nice brown coating. I find that the frozen things like fries  do very well in the airfryer. I cook turkey breast in it after making sure it is dry and have never had a better one. A little spray of cooking oil helps too after the stuff is dry. And another trick--I sprinkle a little  paprika on things--gives a really nice color too.

[Icegoddess]

I have not had a lot of luck with things that use raw flour as a coating.  Some say you need to spritz it really well with oil and then let it sit awhile to soak in, but isn't that defeating one of the purposes of air frying which is to have less oil in our diets?

I so rarely eat fried chicken, I just usually pick up some from Publix and reheat it in my air fryer.

[Sooner]

@wagirl What kind of turkey breast?  Cutlets?  Whole? Boneless?  VERY interesting!  

[Mz iMac]

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@Northray wrote:

Those look as if you fried them in a deep fryer.  I can never get that even browning with my air fryer.  What coating did you use?

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@Northray  Already coated

The trick to even coating, is to always shake off the excess coating.  On fish, the coating should be thin not thick like on chicken wings or drumbsticks.

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@wagirl 

"I find that the frozen things like fries  do very well in the airfryer."

I do not like "frozen" french fries.  I grew up on home made fries.  The FF recipe in the user manual does state after you slice the potato, put in a bowl of cold water for an hour to get the starch out.  Then blot dry w/paper towel.  My father did this all the time whenever he deep fried FF.  I never did as both ways tasted the same to me.  I am going to try both ways since I am in "testing" mode w/this thing.  Taste may be different w/an air fryer.

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@Icegoddess  "Some say you need to spritz it really well with oil and then let it sit awhile to soak in, but isn't that defeating one of the purposes of air frying which is to have less oil in our diets?"

NOPE!  Deep frying food & "spritzing" oil are 2 different things.  Deep frying uses a lot of oil.  Anywho, the user manual makes no mention of "spritzing well until it soaks in."  Only spritz the "dry spots half way through cooking."  Maybe it depends on the air fryer brand??????

EDIT:  For "fresh" fried fish, the user manual states to spritz fish on both sides, rub all over PRIOR to adding coating.  Again, it's less oil than frying the fish up in a fry pan.

[Free2be]

The foods I "fry" can usually do very well in the air fryer.  I donated my gently used Emeril deep fryer to Goodwill to save it from gathering dust.

The hassle of dealing with used oil was a pain plus making sure it was still good to use.  I did love his machine, that it separated out the little specks of coating from the remaining oil.

[RollTide2008]

Adding a bit of oil to breading is still using much less oil than giving food a bath in hot grease.

I’m on my third air fryer. It’s my first Ninja. The Ninja gives me much better results than the Cooks Essential or the Power XL is had before it.

[wagirl]

@Sooner --I used a whole  turkey breast----nothing fancy--Think it was a 4 or 5 lb one--left the skin on and seasoned it all around--after I made sure it was nice a dry--rubbed it with Olive oil--cooked it on roast at 380* for 30 minutes then checked the temp and cooked it 10 minutes more, checked the temp and kept that up until it was the right temp---let it sit for awhile and it came out so moist and juicy----yes it was really good-----

[bonnie f]

i only did chicken in mine so far and meatballs.. but i heard chicken wings turn out great.. thats my next thing to try, you can put so much in it and i hear its all great.