@darlicious wrote:Battering and airfryers....does that even work? There are just some things in life that are meant to be deep fried. Any other method just produces an unsatisfactory inferior product. Breading food is meant for baking or worrying I suppose but it's a poor substitute for batter and if it's deep fried it is not any healthier than the real thing. If you're craving an unhealthy meal....indulge in the real thing and satisfy that part of the brain. Why does tim hortons have crappy donuts now? Because they are no loñger make them from scratch on the premises Instead they're brought in half frozen and half baked. They are then half baked again to finish them off. The only way you could get me to eat one would be if I was half baked then I might finish them off.
I have an air frying option on my toaster oven which I've used for fast frozen French fries. I could give you many a recipe but i had a roommate once that would save the crumbs left in the bottom of the bag of various snacks....chips, crackers, corn chips, cereal(low sugar varieties) Collected in the "empty" chip and sometimes needing a rolling pin to further crush the larger chunks this made a surprisingly tasty coating using a little beaten egg (and milk if available) or mayonnaise to make sure it adheres to the chicken.
Another option if you purchase larger package poultry products as i do ( I have a no frills that heavily discounts chicken a few days before expiry. The last time was skinless, boneless chicken breast $2/lb with an in store buy $15+ get 2k in points and a 200pts/$1 personal offer+spend $20 get 5k back. I bought $30 worth split between 2 household accounts. With a few more items to top out over $20 on each 15 pounds of chicken cost $30-$20 (20k pts)=$10.
Back to the topic at hand.....make a quick marinade once you get home. About equal parts oil and acid. Almost any oil but canola, extra virgin olive oil or avocado are good choices and new or old red, white or rose wine, any vinegar, pickle juice, lemon or lime juice and add some herbs and spices, salt and pepper. Mix all over and set aside and pull out the foodsaver2000 or your box of large freezer bags and portion and vacuum seal. Easy to defrost and they'll airfry nicely! Try these combinations for quick marinades (all with oil and.......)
- Lemon juice, zest of 1 lemon, 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, any chopped fresh herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley, cilantro, dill, tarragon, sage, chervil or chives) salt+pepper
- Same as above but with a generous tablespoon of dried Italian or French herb blends
- Juice and zest of one lime, chopped pickled hot peppers and a splash of the juice, heaping tbsp of chili powder, tsp of cumin, crushed garlic, chopped cilantro, hot sauce, salt+pepper
- White or rose wine, heaping tbsp of grainy mustard, tbsp of honey, chopped chervil, parsley, chives or finely diced onion or shallot, salt+pepper
Just about anything works just keep itv balanced with equal parts oil/acid , salt+ pepper.
The convection feature in a toaster oven is not nearly the same as an air fryer. I have a convection oven. The tiny fan promotes convective heat transfer to enable food to cook a bit faster and more evenly. Air fryers use a much greater airflow to "emulate" the frying effect. Of course air is not oil and so there is no absolute substitute for deep frying. It is a step closer and in some applications, it is close enough. Non Battered fried chicken comes out great with the skin super crispy. Dry battered foods come out fine also.
Going off topic, Timmies donuts are disgusting. They have been using frozen dough for about a decade. I only buy grocery store donuts that are cooked on site daily. Check out your local country grocer, they make a wicked apple fritter.
Battering and airfryers....does that even work? There are just some things in life that are meant to be deep fried. Any other method just produces an unsatisfactory inferior product. Breading food is meant for baking or worrying I suppose but it's a poor substitute for batter and if it's deep fried it is not any healthier than the real thing. If you're craving an unhealthy meal....indulge in the real thing and satisfy that part of the brain. Why does tim hortons have crappy donuts now? Because they are no loñger make them from scratch on the premises Instead they're brought in half frozen and half baked. They are then half baked again to finish them off. The only way you could get me to eat one would be if I was half baked then I might finish them off.
I have an air frying option on my toaster oven which I've used for fast frozen French fries. I could give you many a recipe but i had a roommate once that would save the crumbs left in the bottom of the bag of various snacks....chips, crackers, corn chips, cereal(low sugar varieties) Collected in the "empty" chip and sometimes needing a rolling pin to further crush the larger chunks this made a surprisingly tasty coating using a little beaten egg (and milk if available) or mayonnaise to make sure it adheres to the chicken.
Another option if you purchase larger package poultry products as i do ( I have a no frills that heavily discounts chicken a few days before expiry. The last time was skinless, boneless chicken breast $2/lb with an in store buy $15+ get 2k in points and a 200pts/$1 personal offer+spend $20 get 5k back. I bought $30 worth split between 2 household accounts. With a few more items to top out over $20 on each 15 pounds of chicken cost $30-$20 (20k pts)=$10.
Back to the topic at hand.....make a quick marinade once you get home. About equal parts oil and acid. Almost any oil but canola, extra virgin olive oil or avocado are good choices and new or old red, white or rose wine, any vinegar, pickle juice, lemon or lime juice and add some herbs and spices, salt and pepper. Mix all over and set aside and pull out the foodsaver2000 or your box of large freezer bags and portion and vacuum seal. Easy to defrost and they'll airfry nicely! Try these combinations for quick marinades (all with oil and.......)
- Lemon juice, zest of 1 lemon, 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, any chopped fresh herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley, cilantro, dill, tarragon, sage, chervil or chives) salt+pepper
- Same as above but with a generous tablespoon of dried Italian or French herb blends
- Juice and zest of one lime, chopped pickled hot peppers and a splash of the juice, heaping tbsp of chili powder, tsp of cumin, crushed garlic, chopped cilantro, hot sauce, salt+pepper
- White or rose wine, heaping tbsp of grainy mustard, tbsp of honey, chopped chervil, parsley, chives or finely diced onion or shallot, salt+pepper
Just about anything works just keep itv balanced with equal parts oil/acid , salt+ pepper.
@JoyLuck wrote:
I was debating about getting a Ninja air fryer from Costco. I really enjoy fish and chips, but I could not find a decent recipe where the batter would not drip to the bottom. I, instead bought the Granpappy deep fryer from Amazon a couple of months ago when it was on sale. Cleanup is super easy and the temperature is set automatically, plus It only uses one litre of oil. Only drawback is the size is small and you have to cook in batches. I fry for one person at a time.
I’ll still consider an air fryer if there is a super easy recipe out there for fish and chips along with the easy cleanup.
I think that for most air fryers these days are of the basket that pulls forward with a handle. For the one the deep fryer that you have, it looks as if you'd have to use pot holders to lift up the basket. I see that you understand what I mean by needing to cook in batches because of having too small of a size. I would say go big and get something that has a 5 to 6 quart capacity. That way, you'd be able to cook a whole chicken in there with room to spare.
I kind of regret getting a 3.8 quart fryer as there are times that I wish I had a larger device that cook bigger food items or more at the same time. I know that at one point, Amazon had a Ninji Foodi unit on sale for $150 (dont' remember the capacity). Then again, needing to assemble and convert the machine to the different all-in-one modes could have an annoyance factor.
As for making your own fish an chips, have you tried, using breading instead? As for batter, you'd probably have to freeze your fish after battering it. Deep frying is proably going to give more even crispiness, but I'm sure that many people would be concerned with cooking food by submerging it in some type of oil/fat.
I was debating about getting a Ninja air fryer from Costco. I really enjoy fish and chips, but I could not find a decent recipe where the batter would not drip to the bottom in the air fryers. Instead, I bought the Granpappy deep fryer from Amazon a couple of months ago when it was on sale. Cleanup is super easy and the temperature is set automatically, plus it only uses one litre of oil. Only drawback is the size is small and you have to cook in batches. I fry for one person at a time. On the other end of the scale, I also have a propane deep fryer that uses about 4 lites of oil and makes a giant mess. Needless to say, that fryer sits on the shelf in the shed a lot.
I’ll still consider an air fryer if there is a super easy recipe out there for fish and chips along with the easy cleanup.
