Six of us are out for dinner at a favorite restaurant, and the fascinating conversation turns to air fryers. Others at our table praise the magnificence of this cooking appliance. You can roast chicken or salmon, cook potatoes, make bacon—prepare almost any food you would in an oven, on a grill, or stovetop, while using less oil and taking less time.
Still, I remained unimpressed. My comment was along the lines of “I’ve been cooking all my life without the benefit of an air fryer, so I can probably make it through without jumping on this bandwagon.”
Then I realized my comment made me seem old. Set in my ways. Closed off to new and better ways of doing things. It’s like I was saying: Why use email when I can write a letter? Why use GPS navigation when I can hold a paper map open on my lap while driving? Why have an oven and cooktop when I can prepare a fire and cook over open flame?
I decided I’d better check out the air fryer. Fortunately, we had one in the garage that Julia left behind when she and her new husband David moved. They were such devotees of the air fryer that they upgraded to a new and better one.
The air fryer is essentially a small convection oven that heats up quickly and efficiently. It was invented by Dutch engineer Fred van der Weij in 2006 and launched at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin in 2010.
It’s proven to be a popular contraption. Annual sales are rising about 10 percent a year. Global market revenue exceeds $1 billion and is projected to be over $2 billion by 2030.
I got the air fryer from the garage. My maiden voyage was cooking diced sweet potatoes. I set the temperature to 400 degrees and the timer for 12 minutes and let her rip. It’s noisy from the fan blowing the air around. Halfway through the cooking process, as recommended, I pulled out the basket and shook the potatoes. When the timer went off, I had perfectly done, nicely crisped, sweet potatoes. It had done its job perfectly.
But could the air fryer make toast? It could. The toast wasn’t evenly browned on both sides, but the result was still acceptable.
This air fryer thing is pretty good, I concluded. But what do I do? I’m the kind of person who wants nothing on the kitchen counter, and we already have a toaster oven, coffee maker, KitchenAid, compost bucket, knife rack, and fruit bowl. Do I need another bulky appliance? I don’t think that would be good for my mental health.
I suppose I could get rid of the toaster oven. I haven’t done that yet.
The air fryer went back to the garage for now. I can’t decide what to do. But those sweet potatoes . . .
