Are you anxious to know how an air fryer works? Well, if you have chosen this device even as a novice, this article will guide your guide.
Meanwhile, an Air fryer is a small kitchen countertop cooking gadget that is used for cooking or frying food. Food like pizza, fries, and chicken. This kitchen gadget achieves this by using circulated hot air that spreads around the food and maintains its delicious taste and texture. Which importantly, leaves it crunchy and crispy. Hence, minimising fat in the food and increasing calories since it uses little or almost no oil to cook.
Additionally, air fryers don’t fry food traditionally rather food is oven-baked by Maillard’s reaction. Nonetheless, Air fryers are neat, simple and pretty easy to operate. Hello! Let’s get to work.
And of course, you will be tutored on how your air fryer works. These are key parts of your countertop kitchen gadget irrespective of type, brand and size.
- Food drawer
- Crate or basket
- Heater
- Fan
- Control switch
How To Use An Air Fryer
- Switch on your air fryer to keep it warm
- Get your food to be cooked ready. Fries, marinated chicken or breaded food
- Pick up food, arrange and space it out in the crate
- Put in a crate with food back into the food drawer
- Add or sprinkle a spoonful of oil or 15ml equivalent margarine, this will help enhance food browning.
How Does An Air Fryer Function
In light of this, food placed into the perforated basket is inserted back into the food drawer and this kitchen gadget helps cook the food by blowing hot air from the heater evenly around it through a convection effect.
This process helps cook and brown the exterior of the food in the basket at a well-regulated temperature of the air at 320°F or a bit beyond at 350oF. This surely will give rise to a well crisp and crunchy food either breaded food like lamb meat, chicken breast or carbohydrate items like potato chips or fries.
Does it Have its Disadvantage?
Air fryers sure have its shortcoming and they are;
I. Not all food can be grilled using an Air fryer
Food like onion rings or fried chicken prepared using runny batter cannot be cooked using an air fryer. This device has a perforated basket. Hence, the batter will drip into the food drawer leaving it messy, unlike a beignet.
II. It limits food portion sizes
Due to the small basket size, you will have to prepare the food in small batches to get an appropriate result and also to help heat transfer within the food rightly. However, a batch takes 30 minutes to be ready.
III. Food cooked takes time to be ready. Hence, it’s not a choice to use if you have to prepare food very snappy.
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Does it have Health Benefits?
Of course, Air-fried food has health benefits over deep-fried food
In as much as cooking oil are healthy though shorteners and lard aren’t included, it’s still very deserving to choose a means that gives an end using 15ml of oil to that which gives the same end using 750ml.
How?
Generally, calories are healthy but excess becomes unhealthy. If you are looking to reduce calories, air frying should be your shot over deep frying.
Studies have it that most starchy food like French fries has a high amount of calories whether cooked or not.
More so, when this food is cooked by deep-frying calories increases by 14 – 40 ounces per serving which is about half a banana, compared to baked fries—well, depending on the oil brand.
Summarily,
One task on the check that the air fryer does competently is reheating leftover fried or baked food compared to oven or microwaves.
Using your cover-top kitchen gadget to reheat or warm leftover food gives you excellent crisp and crunchy food. Hence, leaving a crisp food crisp unlike the damp and soggy result you get when you use microwaves or an oven to reheat your crunchy leftover.
If you feel it’s a good reason in addition to others to own this countertop kitchen cooking gadget since its pros outdo its cons, it is reassuring that you have taken the right step to make it your choice of kitchen cooking item.
If there’s anything you think we missed when talking bout how an air fryer works, please let us know by leaving your thoughts in the comment section below.
