The truth is that resisting some crispy fries, no matter how much fat they may have, is complicated. But the good thing is that technology has come for some time to save us from this situation.
Now we can enjoy those same French fries, but with an absolutely minimal level of fat thanks to air fryers. The healthy part is the most important, but we must also be aware of the difference after.
Forget the fact of having to change the oil from time to time or thoroughly clean the fryer so that flavors and dirt do not mix, to give you two examples.
As healthy cooking is on the rise, devices have appeared that give us all the flavor of the old fryers, but without using oil, much cleaner, more ecological and without the problem of mixing flavors, than if the old ones had.
To be more sure of our purchase, let’s see what they are like, how they work, what they offer us and what we should look for to buy the most suitable one for us.
Table of Contents:
What is an air fryer?
The first company to file a air fryer (Anglo-Saxon name to know them) was Philips at the IFA of the year 2010 which was held in the city of Berlin. This prototype surprised everyone by making domestic use of the Rapid Air system, a patent for company professionals Turbochef Technologies from the United States.
The operating system of this type of device is extremely simple, since these fryers subjected to very hot air that is in constant circulation to the food we want to cook, helped by a fan.
Actually saying that they are fryers is not correct, but it is a good way for users to understand what they are trying to achieve with this type of cooking, since the result is similar to frying, but with hardly any fat.
In any case, you will understand that only with air it is not possible to fry food, that is why a small portion of fatbeing each device the one that marks how much it needs, so the denomination “without oil” is not entirely reliable.
types of fryers
There are several types of air fryers on the market, such as drawer, top opening and multifunction.
Each of these types have particular characteristics:
- From drawer: they are those that open from the front of the device by pulling a handle, so that you can see the deposit where we must put the food to cook. Most of these fryers come with this system.
- Top Opening: in this case the opening is made from the top and Tefal was the first to develop this idea. They are more like conventional fryers, plus they incorporate a rotating paddle so that you can move the food while it cooks.
- Multifunction: they are the most recent to appear on the market and they are also the most ambitious of all, in addition to being the ones that concern us in this article.
Multifunction Fryers
They are called multifunction because they are not satisfied with just air frying certain foods.
As soon as we see its design we already know directly what we are talking about, because we see a much squarer device than the other types, with frontal opening and where it is clearly seen that there is a part dedicated to an oven.
We are talking about devices that can perform several different functions, although all of them are based on the same hot air operating system. The great goal of the multifunction is to carry out all the basic cooking techniques, such as frying, grilling and grilling, as well as dehydration.
But the fundamental and differentiating part is that of acting with all the operations that a home oven executes, but using only the air. With them we can roasting, frying, grilling, baking, defrosting and heating.
What should we take into account to buy one?
There are several aspects that we must consider when buying an air fryer in which we also have the oven function.
We must analyze these characteristics and thus achieve the ideal fryer for our home:
- Design: as always we can start with the design, although this is a subjective issue for each person. However, there is not a great variety in this regard, since multifunction air fryers tend to have very similar designs and all seem to be cut from the same pattern.
- Size: this is one of the characteristics that should interest you the most for a simple fact of space. That is, you must measure the place where you plan to place it and look for a fryer that fits in the place.
- Ability: capacity is also important, since it makes no sense to have a fryer that does not have the capacity to at least cook everyone in the family unit at once, unless there are many of us, of course.
- Power: in this case, everything is a direct relationship, that is, the more power, the faster the cooking speed, which is inevitable.
- Energy efficiency: but in reference to the previous point, we can talk about energy efficiency, another of the faculties that a fryer must have. By this we mean that, if at a given moment we doubt between two identical devices, but one consumes less, it is a matter of drawer which of the two should be welcomed into our kitchen.
- Cleaning: that it is easy to clean is valuable, but if any part can be put in the dishwasher it is undoubtedly a plus point.
- Functions: in the type of fryer that concerns us, we must be clear that the functions are not the same in all, since there are some that can have more than 10 different ones. If we need them, it is clear which one to buy, if not, we can decide on a less efficient model.
- Budget: it is what we must never forget, that is, if we have already set a maximum, we should never exceed it, no matter how beautiful and spectacular a fryer is. Surely for the money we can spend we have a model that suits us perfectly.
Some options
Once we know what air fryers are, what the multifunction type are like and what we should look for when buying them, it would be a good time for us to see some of the best on the market right now.
In this way we help you and you do not have to search, but we leave you a list with some options so that you can decide which of them you stay with.
Now that you have all the necessary information to choose the best oil-free fryer with oven for yourself, it is time to buy the most suitable one for your needs.
Have you decided on one of the ones we have recommended? Is it a different one? Tell us about it on our social networks, we want to hear from you.