Everyone loves to eat chips and meat and all the junk food they can get their hands on, but we can't always eat them because of the impact they have on our health. ?
Most fried foods contain a lot of fat because frying involves submerging the entire food in grease or cooking oil.
The high fat content in these foods can mess with your heart, so there's a need for a better way to prepare the food that doesn't involve using an air fryer with lots of cooking oil. ?
Let’s take a closer look at air fryers, their origins and how they work to see if they offer a healthy solution;
Created by Fred Van der Weij The fryer technology we use in our air fryers, which Philips started producing in 2010, has snowballed into the market. ?
Fred came up with the idea from the fat-free air fryers that existed at the time, and by 2007 he found a way to perfect them and produce the air fryers we use today.
Many people have an air fryer at home because it provides quick and healthy meals. We love how quickly we get our food, but not many of us take the time to figure out how the machine handles our food.
If you're going to understand why your food cooks so well, you have to know how it works. Let's get into the details and help you figure it out;
Before you continue, remember that the bowl you use with your air fryer is always open on top and fits perfectly into the space. ?
Air fryers use electricity to heat food; electricity passes through a heating element on top of the heater, causing it to radiate heat at a close range directly above the food. ?
The heating element is close to the food and the container is open; therefore, the heat penetrates the food and even cooks under the surface. ?
Above the heater, above the heating element, there is a large fan that starts running when you turn on the fryer.
This large fan pulls air upwards away from the cooking chamber, creating a powerful vertical airflow. ?
As the air passes through the heater, it picks up a lot of heat energy; the fan then pushes the hot air outward toward the sides of the cooking chamber.
The entire system has features that prevent air or heat energy from being lost throughout the process and therefore most of it gets into your food.
At the bottom, there is a unique starfish-shaped air guidance system that distributes heat evenly throughout the chamber.
The guide also directs air vertically back into the food. The food in the room will also help distribute the heat over it. ?
Only the bottom of the basket is open to air; this design forces air across the surface of the food; therefore, it heats the food.
This system ensures that air gets between your food; so even if you fill the basket, the heat reaches all parts of the food. The design results in radiative heat from the top and convective heat from the bottom.
Simultaneous cooking on all sides eliminates the need to turn foods because they receive similar heat at any given time.
This system will mimic a deep fryer and provide similar results, but you won't have to use as much oil or grease to get the final product. ?
Air fryers keep most of the air inside to cook food, but rising temperatures also increase the pressure inside the fryer.
If the fryer does not release excess pressure, it will eventually explode, so it has an exhaust system to prevent this. ?
The air fryer has an exhaust device on the top that releases a small amount of air to reduce the pressure; therefore, the steam and smoke come out.
The exhaust system has a filter to clean the smoke and vapor so it doesn't harm you. An air fryer is always safe to use under the right conditions and in an open space.
We all love fried food, it's a part of human evolution that we're keen to uphold. Fried foods contain large amounts of fat, which was crucial to our survival in prehistoric times due to the high energy content provided by fat. ?
But how important is this fat in these modern times when we don’t need as much energy? The biggest problem with fried foods is that the high temperatures required for our fried foods can cause the oxidation of cholesterol.
This oxidation contributes to heart disease and many other chronic diseases. Air fryers offer a way to keep the oil away while maintaining the flavor of your food. Advertising shows that air fryers are a healthy alternative, and sales are increasing every year.
There are two things that make air fryers different from other frying methods; the first is that they only use a fraction of the oil that other fryers use. Air fryers rely on air to circulate heat around food, making it taste like it's fried.
An air fryer mixes tiny droplets of oil with hot air; the mixture is then passed through the food to remove moisture, producing crispy and delicious food. While most deep fryers use around 75ml of oil to fry food, air fryers only use 15ml.
The second aspect that makes an air fryer unique is the length of cooking time. Deep fryers take longer to cook food, and frying food for long periods of time can create dangerous compounds like acrylamide. The body converts acrylamide into glycidamide, which can lead to genetic mutations and tumors.
Air fryers fry food for longer and at higher temperatures than regular deep fryers. Increased cooking time increases acrylamide production by approximately 30%, which can put your health at risk. This is not a consistent result and manufacturers are conducting more research on it.
Other studies have shown that the air fryer can produce harmful compounds other than acrylamide, which means it's not entirely innocent. Air fryers are healthier in most cases, but they have their challenges, and ultimately, you can choose what you like best.
So you read about air fryers and how great they are at making fried food, and you finally went online and ordered one. When you have it at home and you start thinking about cooking with it, you have concerns; here is a simple guide on what you can do;
When it comes to cooking with an air fryer , your imagination is the only thing that limits you. The name might make you think it's only good for frying things, but an air fryer can do so much more than that. ?
You can think of an air fryer as a high-power mini oven on the counter. It circulates air through your food, and you can use an air fryer to make almost anything, depending on how you use it and the bowl you use for cooking.
You can place any food in the basket and cook it; make sure the food does not have too much water as it may mess up the fryer. You can use it to heat food or fry them for the first time.
With the air fryer, you can prepare classics like onion rings, chicken wings, a variety of fries, coconut shrimp, and more. ?
The idea is that anything you can fry in a traditional fryer can be put into an air fryer and come out tasting almost as good.
You can even make baked goods like banana bread or frittatas with the right containers. You can also bake small cakes if you want, but you need to know how long it will take to cook.
The key part is placing the container into the air fryer and preventing the air from escaping as it flows around the food. ?
Fried foods taste as good as they do because of their high oil content, so inevitably less oil will affect the taste, but the difference won't be huge. ?
Air fryers are popular, and since their introduction in 2010, their sales have been growing due to their many benefits. The most significant advantage of using an air fryer is that it uses very small amounts, which ensures that anyone who uses it does not risk excess cholesterol in the body.
Because of how the air fryer works, there are higher levels of other compounds, but the benefits outweigh the problems, so this is a good deal. The food will taste different, but not so much that it will stop you from enjoying the meal.