Air fryers are only popular because Americans have been using microwaves to cook for decades, which are possibly the worst cooking devices ever created.
If they had decent fan ovens during that time, they wouldn't be anywhere near as popular
Conversely, air fryers are seen to be popular in the UK, because nobody will admit they fell for the advertising, and now only use them for chips
This. It's great for steaks or cuts of chicken, even sandwich melts, but it uses less power and is faster than the oven. I tend to use my air fryer for a lot of dinners instead of opting for a much larger oven. The cooking tends to be much more even too, I don't have to worry about raw spots as much as I did with my oven.
I'm no expert, but we recently got my father-in-law one for his 80th birthday and he's been a hardcore amateur chef for decades and so far he loves it. I trust his judgement over the randos on the Internet. Dude knows WTF he's doing.
I do cook in the microwave, , potatoes, chickenlegs, egg-based crustless pies in silicone molds, mushrooms. Microwaving at 600 power doesn't entangle the proteins and seals moisture. Finish in the skillet or fryer and all the flavours are there.
It's time-saving as well.
Free recipe:
Ingredients:
A head of chicory,
4 slices of cheap ham (the ones you put on a sandwich)
4 slices of cheese, as long as the ham you use and about a fingerwide
Nuke the head of chicory full blast for about 2 minutes in a glass container. No water or anything, just plop the head in a pyrex bowl with a glass lid.
Let mushy head cool down in a sieve so the excess moisture can escape.
Cut in half and cut the halves in half when you won't burn your fingerprints off anymore. Slice off the hard bottom bit.
Lay down a slice of ham, put a piece of cheese in the middle, cover the cheese with a piece of your chicory and roll the ham like a burrito. Repeat until out of at least one of your ingredients.
Dry your pyrex bowl and put those rolls in it with the seam down so the rolls will stay closed.
Nuke the rolls on 600 watt for about 90 seconds to melt the cheese and make the ham get nice and salty and juicy.
I have been using convection ovens for way longer than I have had an air fryer and it's honestly different. The smaller size and the basket shape makes it cook faster and it's just so muxh easier to toss the stuff in the basket than it is to flip everything over halfway through baking. Deep frying does taste better but I hate cleaning it up after. I thought air fryers were stupid for years but then I tried one and I was wrong.
Righto sport. Do you even understand the basic concepts at play?
Both appliances create heat and move that heat around the food using a fan. Air fryers don't actually "fry". It's a marketing term. They do exactly the same thing as a fan-forced (convection) oven, using a fraction of the energy. That's all.
You mean, I should act as you and just fart baseless assumptions into the internet?
Contrary to you, I cook professionally on a regular basis and I have tried out air fryers for various products and recipes and stand by my judgment.
In comparison to fat fryers or conventional baking ovens, air fryers provide an extremely uneven heat distribution and dry out the product without creating a roasted crust.
But if you like heating your hot pockets in them, go ahead.
Dude.. many of the top chefs use air fryers. And many of those are celebrity level. Stop talking out of your ass. There’s tons of articles and recipes made my actually accomplished chefs that would run circles around you that use them in their restaurants.
Your opinion isn’t a fact. Just because you can’t figure out how to use them correctly doesn’t mean they’re shit.
That is complete and utter nonsense! If you‘d seen a commercial kitchen from the inside, you’d know that an air fryer is absolutely useless, as you already have appliances that do the job and do it way better.
And as you are only stating second hand opinions and clearly have no personal experience in cooking on a commercial level regarding neither quality nor quantity, I stand with my point and boldly call you an uncritical believer in advertising and an idiot.
I don't get this debate because I think people who like air fryers and people who don't like air fryers are 2 different demographics? Air fryers are cheap, small, and fast. That fits a lot of people's needs who are single, newly entering the work force, or just struggling to make a decent wage. A large, expensive convection oven doesn't fit a lot of people's needs. Isn't it just okay to accept that these products are aimed at different sectors of the market?
I'd argue that even though the principles convection oven and an air fryer are the same the physics of how an air fryer works are actually different from how a convection oven does, but I don't feel like typing that out right now. So here's a YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvHUZtKCqvo