Lovers of fried food can cut down their fat/calorie intake - thanks to appliances that cook chips, burgers and chicken with hot air, reports JAYNE AUGOYEHigh calories notwithstanding, many find it almost impossible to do away with fried food. In fact, the proliferation of fast food restaurants that serve these meals in abundance is a pointer that it receives cool patronage.But if, as a lover of all things fried from chips, dough nuts to small chops, you are concerned about consuming these, while still observing their health implications, you can embrace low fat deep fryers.Manufacturers of innovative devices boast that some of their products are a revolution in home cooking as they deliver healthy, guilt free fried food. First on the bill and most recent is Phillips AirFryer, which is said to use just one half a spoon of oil to cook fresh chips, instead of boiling them in hot fat. It uses super-heated air which in turn, produces a brown and crispy finish.Apart from saving the user from calories and fat, there is a major safety benefit in the home because there is no risk of fire outbreak.The Philips Airfryer uses a combination of a fan and a grill, blasting super-heated hot air around the food at high speeds.Yet another advantage it offers is that it takes just three minutes for the AirFryer to heat up to the required temperature. With other meals, you may not need to add any oil the hot air process will simply cook other food items.The AirFryer also works a bit like a coffee maker as you are required to slide out the cooking compartment and drop the food inside, although for a large family, the space is limited. However, the good news, the makers say, is that it doesnt take long to do a second batch!The total capacity for chips is 700gramme of frozen chips, which makes it enough for a family of four.On a lighter note, one other safety feature of the Philips AirFryer is that if you are cooking chips late at night, it is on a timer, so if you do nod off, you wont set fire to your house. The AirFryer comes with a Recipe Book, and food items such as frozen chicken, chicken wings, hamburgers, beef burgers, Pizza and cakes which take 25 minutes to bake can prepared with it.The Tefal Actifryer, on the other hand, is not technically a deep fat fryer, as you do not immerse the food in hot oil. In fact, it only requires a single spoonful of oil to cook one kilogramme of chips.It performs this cooking miracle by a combination of hot air circulation and a little automatic stirring from a small rotating paddle located in the middle of the pan. The makers give an idea of how it works saying, think food mixer meets hair dryer and youll have an idea on how it works.The Actifryers approach does also have some obvious advantages. Firstly, since the volume of cooking oil involved is so small, it is very economical. Because, all the oil is absorbed into the food during each fry, you are cooking with fresh oil each time. You also do not have to worry about cooking with previously used oil.Since it requires a little amount of oil, you can start cooking almost immediately. The cooking times are also much longer than a conventional deep fat fryer. For example, basic chips can take 30-40 minutes but if you are used to frying things quickly, the Actifryer will require some adjusting. The advantage of using this device includes the fact that the taste of chips is comparable to that of a conventional deep fat fryer, it is easy to clean and dishwasher safe.Finally, unlike its more conventional counterparts, DeLonghi F18316S Deep Fat Fryer has a unique tilted frying basket that slowly rotates food in and out of the hot oil.This has two benefits. First, the machine uses about half the volume of oil normally required for deep frying and secondly, the constant motion of the food in and out of the oil reduces cold spots and keeps food from absorbing excess oil, thus making for a more even fry.This technique works well and the results are comparable to standard deep fat fryers where the food is fully immersed. Its other features include a built-in oil drain and filter for easy maintenance, steam and odour filter, a basket that can be raised and lowered with lid closed, an adjustable thermostat and timer.What to note- There are two types of air fryera combination more standard type and the low fat air fryers such as the Philips Air Fryer or the Tefal Actifryer.- Where traditional deep fat fryers will require you to submerge the food in hot oil, air fryers circulate very hot air heated up to 200c to heat the food and provide a crispy outer layer. The air is pushed around the food - as chips, fish or chicken to brown them off, making this type of frying a much healthier option.- Food is cooked quickly and cleanly with handmade thin cut chips taking from as little as 12 minutes depending on the model and frozen oven ready French fries taking a little less time as they are partly cooked.- Air fryer is also useful for people who are nervous of traditional chip pans and fryers which are well known to be the start of many a fire in our homes They are also useful for people who find it difficult to grip pan handles or who tend to shake a lot, as they will not be involved in dealing with boiling fats.- Where the low fat air fryers differ of course, is that they use much less fat when cooking. This can be as much as over 80 per cent less fat than conventional types of fryer require to cook your food.- In fact, if preparing your own fries, you can get the fat level down to 1.5 per cent with some low fat air fryers. It has been estimated that in the UK, where chips are particularly popular, that we get through approximately 240 thousand kilos of this type of hidden fat each and every year.
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