Denise Van Outen Reviews Air Fryers | Air Fryers: Are They Worth It? | Channel 4 Documentaries

meet Dr Jacob bratkovsky molecular biologist and Cordon blur Chef Dr yob I'm intrigued why am I here okay Denise so imagine you're a chicken nugget so are you ready to be cooked I am indeed all right let's go it might look like a set from a game show but it's actually great at demonstrating how an air fryer works I hope all right Denise are you ready I'm ready you sure I think so all right let's go a in a conventional oven air is heated From Below particles of hot air then Rise From The Bottom gradually cooking our chicken nuggets from beneath but in an air fryer the hot air our glittery tokens hits Denise band nugget on all sides quickly cooking the outside much quicker than the inside more like dunking me in a deep fat fry wood I'm cooked how was it Denise well I s a bit crispy on the outside now but how is this like an air fryer so essentially in a deep fryer you use oil and the oil is great at transferring heat air is not not as great as transferring heat to the food but if you use a powerful fan and move the around the air can reach all the surface of the chicken nugget can dry it out the temperature can be high enough for something called a myard reaction to ur and my reaction is when protein and sugar react together and they create this nice brown color and a lot of flavor as well the scientific name for crispy so the food seems like it's deep fried but it's just a so the air in air fryer is fast enough to penetrate under thick food particles like potato skins but not fast enough to shred your food to Pieces yes the air in some air fries can reach up to 43 M an hour that speed kind of limits what kind of foods you can cook in an air fryer so if you put something like a soup it will Splash all over and and it will make a big mess so air fryers get similar results to deep frying but using air instead of oil to make food brilliantly crispy but they aren't so great for liquids delicate Foods or the kind of thing you might boil on the hog of course what you can do with one depends on which one you buy and trust me the choice can be overwhelming there's so many different models from the very basic to ones with built-in meat thermometers or even ones that steam cook too and should you be worried about the space they take up or the noise they make they're all different but some are as loud as the average washing machine so is it worth spending loads on a pricey one thankfully help is at hand hi Hannah hello I'm at the Good Housekeeping Institute to meet senior homes writer Hannah melon so if you're thinking of buying an air fryer what are the questions that you should be asking whether or not they want one basket or two baskets whether it will fit in their kitchen if all the programs it has are things they're going to use whether they want touch screen buttons or dials there are a lot of things to consider in The Test Kitchen today we'll be looking at three air fries all with different features at a range of prices first the Amazon Basics a small 4 L single compartment device with simple manual controls that retails at around £65 next the Salter duel with digital controls and two baskets for a higher 7.4 L capacity it sells for around 110b and last the Russell Hobs satisf fry air fryer and multi- cooker it holds 5.5 L but it's a slow cooker too and costs a bit more £40 with the help of senior tester Blossom we'll be looking at everything from ease of use to build quality but but the most important test of all is how they cook the nation's favorite air fried food chips when we test chips we're looking for how they cook so are they greasy are they not do they have that nice color that you look for and do they crisp up nicely we also want to know how quickly they'll cook because part of the reason air fries are great is because they're Speedy our second test is the fairy cake test when we test these we're looking for that golden color that you get in the oven and also how well they rise because this tells us how the air is moving within the air fryer and if it's doing its job properly seeing them work you can Bank on the testing team leaving no metrics unmeasured in the pursuit of check box Triumph well I think it's a 14 look I think this could be a new career for me so what did we learn should we start with Amazon yes I'm actually quite quite impressed with this one I think that the chips look a really good color chips I'm really impressed with yeah they're all really consistently golden which looks very appetizing and the cupcakes are consistent as well you don't get that same Precision you can see that the cupcakes have a bit of movement which means that the air isn't circulating as well as it might but that aside it's still F pretty well this is a great buy that more than stands up to some of the much pricier models these look a bit more overcooked I think and actually some of them are a bit burnt yeah they're a bit uneven and I think I would definitely lower the temperature next time everything was cooked using the manufacturer's instructions in our test but you might need a bit of trial and error to get the best results the same with the cupcakes actually these ones are a bit brown but a few minutes less and they might be really nicely gold but the two baskets are still really beneficial if you're feeding a family or a bigger household this is the Russell Hobs I have to say the cupcakes I am very impressed yeah these would score the highest marks out of the ones we've tested today they are a really really nice color and they've risen fairly evenly and the chips are also really evenly cooked and quite golden brown so it's performed very well so Hannah do you think it's worth spending that little bit more it's all about how much you want to spend and what you need for your kitchen and home