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It's mostly a meme. They are good at cooking some things, but frying is not one of them. They're basically an expensive toaster oven. *Edit: 'are'
by linuxftw 4y ago
It's mostly a meme. They are good at cooking some things, but frying is not one of them. They're basically an expensive toaster oven.
*Edit: 'are'
- atkailash 4y ago[dead]
- J_cst 4y agoExactly that. 100% correct
- DamnInteresting 4y agoI disagree. I cook with a fairly wide range of techniques (e.g., sous vide, convection oven, slow cooker, smoker, pressure cooker), and my recently acquired air fryer has been a pleasant surprise. I was skeptical, but happy to be proven wrong. It is fast, versatile, and the results are often outstanding. It is great for things like fries, reheating frozen food, and fish. It is easily the best pizza reheating device I have yet encountered.
- ilyt 4y ago> It is great for things like fries, reheating frozen food, and fish. It is easily the best pizza reheating device I have yet encountered. So the thing toaster oven/convection oven is good at ? Aside from big oven heating slowly of course
- DamnInteresting 4y agoYes, it's essentially a miniature convection oven. It cuts down a lot on preheating time. Life is short. It is also quite easy to clean. edit: Also, I should point out that the "basket" form factor of the air fryer is helpful. In the convection oven things tend to lie flay on a sheet, and cooking is less even. Granted, I could put a basket-like container in the convection oven, but it would still be much slower to heat.
- linuxftw 4y agoNone of this changes the fact they more or less cook the same things as toaster ovens.
- Ekaros 4y agoI hate to call it convection oven. In my mind convection oven is just bit better regular oven. Pretty much the same, only difference is that it is bit faster and you can put more stuff in if needed.
- JohnBooty 4y agoThey're like... plus ultra superior toaster ovens, because they circulate the air.
- xeromal 4y agoIt circulates air a bit harder than a convection oven in my experience. It cooks things way faster.
- sumtechguy 4y agoI have owned an oven, toaster, toaster oven, air fryer, dehydrator, deep fryer, microwave oven. Air fryers use a fan to circulate the heat. While a toaster/convection oven typically use radiant heat. Upside to air fryer is the speed. Downside is it will tend to cause fats to render out quickly making the food more on the dry side. Some foods/diets are suited to that style of cooking. Growing up my parents almost exclusively used a pot shaped one with the fan/heater in the lid, to make roast chickens. The skin usually came out nice and crunchy and spicy. It would be tougher to get that same effect in a toaster oven or oven. They also tend to heat more evenly so for reheating they cook better than a microwave. But can not beat a microwave on speed. Think of each of these as tool to get things done. Each one can mostly do what the others can. But some tools are better suited to cooking styles than others.
- pricci 4y agoIt's an oven with a big fan.
- binarypaean 4y agoAn airplane is a car with a big fan.
- stu2b50 4y agoIt's definitely not a toaster oven. The fan is important - there's a reason CPU radiators have fans on them, and it's not because they don't do anything. You can argue it's just a convection oven with a faster fan, but that doesn't make it a "meme". They're also, like, very much not expensive at this point. It's a very commoditized, competitive market, and you can pick them up for <$50.