Air fryer v oven

ariarnia

P1Fanatic said:

silverwhistle said:

I saw this thread earlier and thought I'd now comment. Just back from mum as the carers don't come in Monday lunchtime. I'd bought a small pastry encased pie for one and cooked it in my small and cheap airfryer which fits easily into a large supermarket bag so I can carry it down there.

The packaging said in the oven 170' for 40-45 minutes, which doesn't include the time for coming to temperature whereas in the airfryer it was all done in 25 minutes. Nice crisp pastry and she polished it all off which slightly surprised me. 

I use my oven when appropriate but the airfryer does use less peak energy as my monitor shows and it is quicker for some of the things I do. I'm not going to produce the forensic evidence some of the sceptics on here seem to require but I'm happy it's both a time and energy saving tool to have in the kitchen. especially for somebody single like me. Bread rolls made when I batch bake then from the freezer are ready and crisp with 30 seconds in the microwave and a few minutes in the airfryer, as an example.

That seems a long time even in a conventional fan oven. The wife is partial to cheese & onion pasties and they are 14 mins from chilled or 24 mins from frozen (at 180c).

I'm intrigued how one converts standard cooking instructions over to air fryer usage - do they have some kind of auto mode where they detect the weight or is it a generic cook it for x% of the fan oven instructions and reduce the temp by 10-20 degrees?

with ours its been a bit of trial and error. with something i'm cooking for the first time i start by cutting the time in half then adding 10 mins until it looks as done as we want it. but the mil has said before its the same for her big oven and she never really goes of the time on the packet as its a bit older and the seals arent great but thats a gas oven so i dont know if electric ovens are the same? 

i think most cooking is a bit of common sense. like the jiggle test or clean knife test. and if you're not actually following a recipie but are using one as 'inspiration'

Niv

Some things now come with instructions on how to cook in an air fryer.

I cooked some sausages on the George foreman grill the other day, there were no instructions on the packaging for this so I just, you know, checked the food was cooked and hot before serving

P1Fanatic

Niv said:

Some things now come with instructions on how to cook in an air fryer.

I cooked some sausages on the George foreman grill the other day, there were no instructions on the packaging for this so I just, you know, checked the food was cooked and hot before serving

So it is true - real heroes don't wear capes 

peter3hg

wittynamegoeshere said:

It sounds like people are setting them too hot.  You could make something look cooked in 30 seconds with a blowlamp, it would still be raw and stone cold inside.

Do the instructions tell you to ignore the cooking instructions provided with the food?

I don't think I've ever followed the cooking instructions on food whether using an air-fryer or oven. They will have a significant safety margin to allow for appliances with dodgy thermostats and for people not waiting for appliances to pre-heat.
If you followed the instructions to the letter chances are you would always be eating over-cooked food.

I'm perfectly capable of checking that food is properly cooked without instructions, as I'm sure are most people.

Alnat1

Helps if you use a probe to test the temperature, especially joints of meat/poultry but also great for pies and the like.

I thought most people did this, but I guess not and it's just that I have a catering background. I think everyone with an "air fryer" type appliance should be using one.

ariarnia

peter3hg said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

It sounds like people are setting them too hot.  You could make something look cooked in 30 seconds with a blowlamp, it would still be raw and stone cold inside.

Do the instructions tell you to ignore the cooking instructions provided with the food?

I don't think I've ever followed the cooking instructions on food whether using an air-fryer or oven. They will have a significant safety margin to allow for appliances with dodgy thermostats and for people not waiting for appliances to pre-heat.
If you followed the instructions to the letter chances are you would always be eating over-cooked food.

I'm perfectly capable of checking that food is properly cooked without instructions, as I'm sure are most people.

most of the food we cook doesnt come with instructions at all

Alnat1 said:

Helps if you use a probe to test the temperature, especially joints of meat/poultry but also great for pies and the like.

I thought most people did this, but I guess not and it's just that I have a catering background. I think everyone with an "air fryer" type appliance should be using one.

we have a stick thermometer for meat joints that i also sometimes use for things i'm cooking for the first time but a lot of what we cook is things like baked veg/potato or egg based where its easy enough to check if its done with a knife (and bread that just needs a tap). 

matelodave

I'm quite sure that most of us don't cook by numbers but by look and experience, especially those who don't eat everything out of a packet.

As others have said you can use a thermometer or prod and poke with a fork or knife. Cooking isn't really a precise science, it's trial and error and TBH using an air fryer is no more complex than using a microwave oven or even a full sized conventional one.

We've managed to survive the best part of 75 years without getting food poisoning and I dont remember my mum worrying too much about precise temperatures or timings. If it looked OK and burned your mouth, then it was probably OK..

Perhaps schools should bring back domestic science to teach people how to look after themselves rather than needing pictorial instructions for everything. Unfortunately common sense isn't as common as it should be nowadays

Spoonie_Turtle

matelodave said:

I'm quite sure that most of us don't cook by numbers but by look and experience, especially those who don't eat everything out of a packet.

As others have said you can use a thermometer or prod and poke with a fork or knife. Cooking isn't really a precise science, it's trial and error and TBH using an air fryer is no more complex than using a microwave oven or even a full sized conventional one.

We've managed to survive the best part of 75 years without getting food poisoning and I dont remember my mum worrying too much about precise temperatures or timings. If it looked OK and burned your mouth, then it was probably OK..

That's pretty much my philosophy for everything, even if I'm cooking something that comes with instructions.

We don't have a probe thermometer but sticking something metal in and seeing if it's properly hot does the job.

ariarnia

after the discussion about pizza cooking time earlier i was curious. we needed a quick snack yesterday before DDs practice so i picked up a couple of the £1 iceland pizzas. they look a little smaller than some of the ones ive seen elsewhere but fit in the air fryer basket perfectly. cooking instructions on the back say for best results preheat fan oven to 180 and cook for 20-22 mins (so about 30 min total 'oven on' time if you follow the instructions). no idea if thats accurate as we dont have a fan oven and ive never cooked them in a big oven. if anyone has actually cooked these in an oven it would be nice to know how long they take. 

ive already said when i'm trying things in the air fryer for the first time i go with half the time suggested then add time as needed till done. so i preheated the oven for 5 mins then cooked for 10 mins at 180. the first one was overcooked. cooked through and edible but more toasted then we like it. the second one went into the hot pan (didn't preheat again) and cooked for 7 minutes. turned out great. good quick option for a snack if needed. so total cooking time including preheating around 22 mins. if you preferred them as cooked as the first one then it would be 25 mins inc preheating time. if you cooked one pizza as per the instruction for the fan oven then i dont think it would be edible. no energy monitor so not sure what the air fryer used electric wise.

(pics are cheese checking the fit. meat cooked. both cooked) please excuse the bbq sauce. my OH corrupted the children at a young age. i swear we should invest in shares in the company

wild666

With air fryers it's best to check periodically through the cooking time and test the internal temperature with a thermometer to check the temperature is above 75 degrees.