Many people are seeking cheaper alternatives to traditional cooking methods as the cost of living continues to soar. And with air friers costing a fraction of heating food in the oven a lot of households are looking at switching to the device.
Observer Food critic Jay Rayner has seen the huge demand for the appliances - Argos reported selling almost 100 in one hour in September - so decided to try cooking with one. But, according to the column, while he acknowledged the benefits of the "seriously energy efficient" device, especially in today's struggling economy he said there were many issues with it.
He wrote of how he was left with "thoroughly disappointing" chips, "flaccid" bacon and fish nuggets which were "a crime against fried fish". And he even questioned how the device could even be called a "fryer".
He wrote: "It’s called a fryer but, after cooking with one for a few hours, I can firmly say this: it does not fry. It doesn’t even come close to mimicking the glorious impact of placing foods in a pan of tumbling, boiling golden fat."
The critic went into detail of how he closely followed recipes for chips, chicken and fish dishes - and while some of the recipes were praised the cooking of them fell far short, in his opinion.
He wrote he tried bacon after spotting it in the recipe book but it came out looking "pallid and pink". He said the chicken recipes had mixed success but then when it came to crisp "fried" fish nuggets he blasted them as "a crime against fish".
And of the chips, after cooking them he described them as "dull, mouth-drying batons of mildly soft carbohydrate, under a brittle brown carapace". He added: "There is only one thing worse than no chips, when you have been promised them. It is thoroughly disappointing chips."
And he concluded while it had "significant virtues" including being economic, heating quickly and capable of cooking a range of things successfully it had not worked as an alternative to a deep fat fryer. In fact, he said that using it as an alternative to the deep fat fryer had been an "abject failure".
However his followers on Twitter were quick to point out he might just be doing it wrong. And many jumped to the defence of the appliance offering him their own recipes to avoid the "disappointing" chips.
Bonzalez Parody said: "Chips work a lot better in air fryers if you par-boil them first. It's more work and perhaps defeats the point a little but partially cook them, put them in the gizmo for about 15 mins around 180 and they're pretty nice."
KatieBoo advised him: "We coat the raw potatoes in oil, spices and some salt. Delicious." Stuart W added: "Nothing wrong with air fried chips if done correctly, McCains home style chips crisp up lovely in an air fryer."
There was also advice when it came to chicken with Keith Legg telling him: "It’s probably the instructions, but it looks like you have way too much chicken in there for the air to circulate properly. That should allow them to crisp a little. (Personally, I hate chicken skin….)"
Alex Hardy gave him more general tips: "You do need to give things a shake (clearly an issue with the chicken). Potatoes, parboil like a roast potato then toss in oil/seasoning of choice. With a little practice and technique it produces very good results imo."
And Mrs Veg posted: "They're excellent for cooking convenience food like sausages and nuggets. And they make a good toastie too."
However others did agree with his views. Adrian Day said: "Had long suspected they weren't worth the effort. Frozen oven chips in a deep fat fryer for 6 minutes at 175 deg C is my recipe for chippy heaven."
Gaurav Nivsarkar added: "They’re not a replacement for deep oil/fat frying, but theyre good for everything from cookies to samosas, used one for three years now."
Speckmobile said: "Def agree with that I use my Airfryer for everything except frying."
And Jeroen van Harten questioned: "It's definitely much worse than a deep fat fryer, but did you honestly put raw chips in the Air Fryer, hoping that they would resemble anything like real chips in half an hour?" The critic responded: "I simply followed the manufacturers instructions."
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