Setting Things On Fire
Oct. 6th, 2022 12:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msconductSince I've been home for months dodging New Zealand's Covidy winter, I decided I should make the most of it by venturing into thrilling pastures new. Like playing with my air fryer.
My air fryer, a hulking black Kmart appliance looking uncannily like Darth Vader's helmet, isn't usually to the fore of my culinary assistants. In fact, I normally use it only for one thing: air frying tofu. Yes, I am that exciting. Although to be fair it does make amazing tofu that's indistinguishable from deep fried, that really doesn't justify the space the air fryer takes up. So I decided to give some other things a try.
From the recipe books, air frying seems to fall into two categories: making frozen junk food taste like you deep fried it, and everything else. Sadly for me I don't eat junk food, so it had to be the latter category.
Some of the stuff was fantastically successful. Air-fried parsnip sticks were a revelation, and panko-crumbed slices of chicken were also delicious. Other things, however, were hilariously disastrous.
I don't really get the fuss about kale chips: I'm not sure kale is actually classifiable as a food, for a start, and also, whatever I do they always seem to come out burnt. So I wondered if the secret to the kale chips people rave about was airfrying them.
In a word: no.
In flinging in my delicate, feather-light pieces of kale, I had forgotten that the reason the air fryer makes that roaring noise is that there's a fan in it. The kale whirled around, flew upwards and stuck to the fan. When I opened the drawer thing to see how they were getting on, most of them were on fire.
OK. Not those, then.
Something else people love cooking in air fryers is potato chips. I'd had a go at those before, with pretty indifferent results. Nobody is going to be mistaking an air fried chip for a real one any time soon, is all I'm saying. However! Why, I thought, don't I try slicing them with my 1mm food processor blade so they're really thin?
Now, considering this followed the kale chip debacle, you are probably wondering why on earth I thought trying to air fry another super-light thing was a good idea. I don't know! I don't know why I thought that! Because guess what? They whirled around, flew upward and stuck to the fan. When I opened the drawer thing to see how they were getting on, most of them were on fire.
I do not know what I was thinking. I can't even blame it on Covid brain fog, because I haven't had Covid. All I can say is that tipping an air fryer drawerful of potato chips out onto a plate and looking at the little piles of glowing embers is quite an experience. I'm only grateful they didn't set off the smoke alarm.
I'm going to keep trying to air fry new stuff. But for the love of God, somebody stop me before I attempt to air fry thin-cut anything again.
My air fryer, a hulking black Kmart appliance looking uncannily like Darth Vader's helmet, isn't usually to the fore of my culinary assistants. In fact, I normally use it only for one thing: air frying tofu. Yes, I am that exciting. Although to be fair it does make amazing tofu that's indistinguishable from deep fried, that really doesn't justify the space the air fryer takes up. So I decided to give some other things a try.
From the recipe books, air frying seems to fall into two categories: making frozen junk food taste like you deep fried it, and everything else. Sadly for me I don't eat junk food, so it had to be the latter category.
Some of the stuff was fantastically successful. Air-fried parsnip sticks were a revelation, and panko-crumbed slices of chicken were also delicious. Other things, however, were hilariously disastrous.
I don't really get the fuss about kale chips: I'm not sure kale is actually classifiable as a food, for a start, and also, whatever I do they always seem to come out burnt. So I wondered if the secret to the kale chips people rave about was airfrying them.
In a word: no.
In flinging in my delicate, feather-light pieces of kale, I had forgotten that the reason the air fryer makes that roaring noise is that there's a fan in it. The kale whirled around, flew upwards and stuck to the fan. When I opened the drawer thing to see how they were getting on, most of them were on fire.
OK. Not those, then.
Something else people love cooking in air fryers is potato chips. I'd had a go at those before, with pretty indifferent results. Nobody is going to be mistaking an air fried chip for a real one any time soon, is all I'm saying. However! Why, I thought, don't I try slicing them with my 1mm food processor blade so they're really thin?
Now, considering this followed the kale chip debacle, you are probably wondering why on earth I thought trying to air fry another super-light thing was a good idea. I don't know! I don't know why I thought that! Because guess what? They whirled around, flew upward and stuck to the fan. When I opened the drawer thing to see how they were getting on, most of them were on fire.
I do not know what I was thinking. I can't even blame it on Covid brain fog, because I haven't had Covid. All I can say is that tipping an air fryer drawerful of potato chips out onto a plate and looking at the little piles of glowing embers is quite an experience. I'm only grateful they didn't set off the smoke alarm.
I'm going to keep trying to air fry new stuff. But for the love of God, somebody stop me before I attempt to air fry thin-cut anything again.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-07 05:50 pm (UTC)I am not big on just one more kitchen appliance so I have not tried the air fryer. I keep hearing it is good to cook chicken with. Your tofu sounds the best though! I also don't like noise, so your post has convinced me NOT to get one, thank you!
Still laughing... :-D
no subject
Date: 2022-10-08 10:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-09 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-10 09:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-10 11:46 am (UTC)Ny washing machine in our hall closet is bad enough, hee hee.