Another air fryer question (maybe 2)

[Dave7]

I called in at Currys to check them out.
There was just one girl there who told me she know nothing about them.
As mentioned previously we have an Actifry which is ok for chips but not much else.


They had a decent selection all seemingly based on the same principle BUT.......
1. How do you clean them ?
2. To brown things ie chips do you need any oil....if so how as everything sits on an open mesh base.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The ones I have had - you clean them in the normal way - with a cloth and washing up liquid - or put them in the dish washer
At least - the non electric bits.
The problem I had with the basket types, was that I could easily clean the basket and the mesh basket that goes inside it
but the fat/oil also evaporates and ends up sticking to the insides in bits that I could not reach. Hence it ended up stinking of rancid fat after a year or 2
As far as the oil is concerned - my first one had a basket - and a mesh basket that went inside the other one. I used that spray oil and sprayed a small amount of oil on anything that needed it.
The actifry just needed the oil sprayed directly into the basket

 

[AndyRM]

Hand wash the parts would be my advice - avoid using a scourer.

Depending on which model you choose, you can use oil or water. Do not use olive oil though!

 

[NorthernSky]

our actifry does the stirring with the rotating arm, so it browns the chips nicely. just a little oil for lovely healthy* chips (*until you slap a load of mayo on your plate to dip )
the tray on ours is non stick, so easy to clean in the sink. the stirring arm detaches and i soak it for half an hour , then the muck falls of it.
we use ours every weekend, pretty much exclusively for chips. i know you can do all sorts in them, but lets face it, they are for chips

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

our actifry does the stirring with the rotating arm, so it browns the chips nicely. just a little oil for lovely healthy* chips (*until you slap a load of mayo on your plate to dip )
the tray on ours is non stick, so easy to clean in the sink. the stirring arm detaches and i soak it for half an hour , then the muck falls of it.
we use ours every weekend, pretty much exclusively for chips. i know you can do all sorts in them, but lets face it, they are for chips

Interesting - that describes ours nicely
I was wondering if you ever find a problem with it smelling of old oil??
That was becoming a problem with ours (my wife has become very sensitive to certain smells - amazing she puts up with me TBF) - then the fan on theback failed and it didn;t seem worth repairing it

 

[NorthernSky]

no smell of oil thankfully. it's an old Tefal model that they don't make anymore
hoping it doesn't break any time soon as they are expensive old things but we have got a lot of use out of ours

 

[Dave7]

our actifry does the stirring with the rotating arm, so it browns the chips nicely. just a little oil for lovely healthy* chips (*until you slap a load of mayo on your plate to dip )
the tray on ours is non stick, so easy to clean in the sink. the stirring arm detaches and i soak it for half an hour , then the muck falls of it.
we use ours every weekend, pretty much exclusively for chips. i know you can do all sorts in them, but lets face it, they are for chips

That is my point! We have the same one but as you say, its only used for chips.
I tried a couple of other things eg fish fingers but it made a right mess of them.

 

[T4tomo]

I called in at Currys to check them out.
There was just one girl there who told me she know nothing about them.
As mentioned previously we have an Actifry which is ok for chips but not much else.


They had a decent selection all seemingly based on the same principle BUT.......
1. How do you clean them ?
2. To brown things ie chips do you need any oil....if so how as everything sits on an open mesh base.

You don't need to clean them, after a couple of try outs you realise they are shite and go back to oven chips and the airfryer just take up room in the back of a cupboard

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Personally I found that I preferred the frozen oven chips made in the air fryer than the same ones done in the oven
The Tefal Actifry was especially good
I think the old oil smell was probably due to the time I made chips from potatoes with some oil drizzled over them rather than from the frozen ones

 

[Dave7]

Personally I found that I preferred the frozen oven chips made in the air fryer than the same ones done in the oven
The Tefal Actifry was especially good
I think the old oil smell was probably due to the time I made chips from potatoes with some oil drizzled over them rather than from the frozen ones

I agree. I do frozen. No additional oil. 15-20 mins gives a good result.
I should add, it also does sausages well.

 

[Tenkaykev]

THREAD HIJACK ALERT!!
Sorry to jump into your thread @Dave7
Mrs Tenkaykev has been considering getting one of these but we have absolutely no idea as to which models are well rated. A lot of the on line reviews seem a bit too gushing ( accidental oil related pun ) Any real world recommendations/ avoid like the plague would be welcome.

 

[Dave7]

THREAD HIJACK ALERT!!
Sorry to jump into your thread @Dave7
Mrs Tenkaykev has been considering getting one of these but we have absolutely no idea as to which models are well rated. A lot of the on line reviews seem a bit too gushing ( accidental oil related pun ) Any real world recommendations/ avoid like the plague would be welcome.

As I have said......the Tefal Actifry is good but imo limited as to what it can do ie chips and sausage. The makers claim it can do many other things but I think you can do them in a pan just as quickly.
Someone I know has a cheapo mesh type and swears by it.

 

[alicat]

@Tenkaykev, do Lakeland sell any? I think their reviews are likely to be more genuine.