My dad would say a cast iron pan. That would outlive you and your kids.
I would say maybe an air fryer, I think you could get a decent one for less than $100USD. I use mine every day.
Otherwise, maybe good waterproof boots. I got some decent ones at an outlet store. They are kind of dressy so nice enough for work, but also warm AF and during the winter they are so good.
An air fryer is an appliance with electrical parts, including probably some fragile cheap electronics, moving parts (the fan that blows the air around) and parts made of different materials in a machine that is going to experience lots of cycles of heating and cooling. That is to say, there is a pretty sizable room for wear and tear. Hopefully it’ll last you many years, but one doesn’t really expect a machine like that to last for generations, especially considering things like planned obsolescence. A pan has no moving parts, no powered components, nothing but a hug sturdy slab of metal formed into a specific shape. As long as you take care of it properly to avoid corrosion, there’s not really anything to break about such a thing. So the idea of the later lasting practically indefinitely makes sense, the former not so much.
Plus one for airfryer. Bought one that was on discount a few years back, has a spot on top of the cabinet when not in use but it’s almost always on the counter.
I find that I use it pretty much every day for one thing or another, so mine has earned permanent counter residence. I’ll probably buy a much fancier one when this one kicks the bucket.
What do you use it for? I got one as a gift a couple of years ago, I used to to make tater tots once (admittedly they were pretty good, but I don’t generally eat tater tots) and I tried to make fried tofu but it simply came out dry on the outside. Since then the thing has been sitting in its box - I can’t get rid of it because the person who gave it to me visits sometimes.
I suppose we probably just cook different sorts of food - everything I make is either boiled or pan-fried. (I don’t ever use my oven either. I’ve been thinking of replacing it with a cooktop for more cabinet space but I think that would lower my home’s resale value.)
Aside from all kinds of recipes I make pretty regularly (buffalo cauliflower, green bean fries, homemade pizza rolls and jalapeno poppers, etc.) I also regularly use it to heat frozen food or leftover pizza, to thaw bread, to roast vegetables… Tonight I used it to cook the protein I was making for an asian dish while I stir fried the veggies and made the sauce.
Huge variety of options. Maybe watch some YouTube videos of quick recipes and get inspired!
What do you use it for? I can’t think of a single thing that I would need an airfryer for. Between a standard convection oven and a deep fryer there is a better tool for anything you would possibly use the airfryer for.
I think you could get away with an oven and a deepfryer with everything, but in my experience an airfryer is generally faster than the oven, and less oily than a deep fryer (I wanna say more healthy but I don’t really know enough about the details, so I’ll just stick to the objectively “less oily”).
I use it for fries (sweet potatoe fries most often), anything resembling nuggets (like vegetarian nuggets/schnitzels, other veggy pattys, falafel), fry-snacks (eggrolls, samosa, bitterballs), and you can get a bit adventurous with trying our breads, vegetables, or other stuff that you would just plop in the oven.
Oven (or airfryer) fries and snacks aren’t even close to being as good as deep fried. Especially the bitterballen and kroketten are bad. Because it’s not actually frying, but baking, you don’t get the nice thin crunchy outside, to compensate for this they make special airfryer versions of these but those have a really thick outer crust to give that crunchiness and it just doesn’t work. Same goes for oven fries, they have this artificial layer on the outside to give it some crunch but that’s just not very good.
I just don’t get any of it. If you want to eat junkfood, eat junkfood. If you want to be a little healthier, then eat it less often. There are plenty of actually healthy snacks that aren’t a gross artificial version of proper junkfood.
Idk, I’ve got good experiences with stuff from the airfryer so far, also in terms of crispiness and stuff. It’s idd different from a deepfryer, for sure, but works good enough for me. Also gotta say that I don’t have a deepfryer anymore, and when I had one years ago it was an annoying device to use, so I guess the ease of use is also something that makes me like it.
It’s different from a deep fryer because an airfryer isn’t a fryer at all. It’s literally just a small convection oven + clever marketing.,Most people I know already have a convection oven in their kitchen so there really is little point to getting an additional one that just takes up space on the counter.
A large oven uses a lot of electricity that is wasted for heating up that entire space.
An air fryer is nothing but a small convection oven. That means it heats up almost instantly, wastes much less heat, can circulate the air much faster for faster baking, and uses substantially less heat. And it doesn’t generate the smell of deep frying.
We use ours almost every day. The oven is basically not used unless we make full size pizza.
The standard convection oven isn’t a better tool except in size.
Our air fryer is also quite good at making things like potatoes or tofu crispy, not deep fried crispy, but nice and crispy without that much oil or the amount of time it would need in the convection oven.
We had an air fryer, loved the food but it was SO difficult to clean. The sides would shred our sponges. Eventually we stopped using It because timed save from cooking was lost twice over from cleaning it. And then it was recalled anyways
I know people like air fryers, but I personally would recommend a NuWave. I know As Seen On TV, but it can be an air fryer from what I can tell, but is also just a really easy to use convection oven that’s reasonably cheap (though it is over $100), and everything that is going to be touched by food or it’s drippings can go in the dishwasher!
It is a convection oven, but the small size means you that cook times (from start to finish) are much faster, and cleaning is generally easier.
And though technically it should be the same, the convection setting on my parents full sized oven never produces as crispy of results as an air-fryer, so maybe there’s more “air-flow-to-size-ratio” or something going on.
I think it is smaller capacity, has a “fryer basket” and maybe hence can concentrate the power more effectively on the small space so is faster? IDK, the NuWave used to be sold as an air-fryer too, but I’ve never air-fried in a “real one” so I can’t personally compare. I just find that the much larger “Oven” and throw everything in the dishwasher is way more useful for way more foods and types of cooking (like if I want to bake a potato etc).
My dad would say a cast iron pan. That would outlive you and your kids.
I would say maybe an air fryer, I think you could get a decent one for less than $100USD. I use mine every day.
Otherwise, maybe good waterproof boots. I got some decent ones at an outlet store. They are kind of dressy so nice enough for work, but also warm AF and during the winter they are so good.
Why does the thought of being outlived by ones air fryer feel worse than being outlived by ones cast iron pan?
An air fryer is an appliance with electrical parts, including probably some fragile cheap electronics, moving parts (the fan that blows the air around) and parts made of different materials in a machine that is going to experience lots of cycles of heating and cooling. That is to say, there is a pretty sizable room for wear and tear. Hopefully it’ll last you many years, but one doesn’t really expect a machine like that to last for generations, especially considering things like planned obsolescence. A pan has no moving parts, no powered components, nothing but a hug sturdy slab of metal formed into a specific shape. As long as you take care of it properly to avoid corrosion, there’s not really anything to break about such a thing. So the idea of the later lasting practically indefinitely makes sense, the former not so much.
Chatgpt, is it you?
No? Why would it be?
everywhere I go I see his face
Writes well and verbose = computer generated these days?
Probably because normally you’d expect to outlive the air fryer but not the pan…
Plus one for airfryer. Bought one that was on discount a few years back, has a spot on top of the cabinet when not in use but it’s almost always on the counter.
I find that I use it pretty much every day for one thing or another, so mine has earned permanent counter residence. I’ll probably buy a much fancier one when this one kicks the bucket.
What do you use it for? I got one as a gift a couple of years ago, I used to to make tater tots once (admittedly they were pretty good, but I don’t generally eat tater tots) and I tried to make fried tofu but it simply came out dry on the outside. Since then the thing has been sitting in its box - I can’t get rid of it because the person who gave it to me visits sometimes.
I suppose we probably just cook different sorts of food - everything I make is either boiled or pan-fried. (I don’t ever use my oven either. I’ve been thinking of replacing it with a cooktop for more cabinet space but I think that would lower my home’s resale value.)
Aside from all kinds of recipes I make pretty regularly (buffalo cauliflower, green bean fries, homemade pizza rolls and jalapeno poppers, etc.) I also regularly use it to heat frozen food or leftover pizza, to thaw bread, to roast vegetables… Tonight I used it to cook the protein I was making for an asian dish while I stir fried the veggies and made the sauce.
Huge variety of options. Maybe watch some YouTube videos of quick recipes and get inspired!
What do you use it for? I can’t think of a single thing that I would need an airfryer for. Between a standard convection oven and a deep fryer there is a better tool for anything you would possibly use the airfryer for.
I think you could get away with an oven and a deepfryer with everything, but in my experience an airfryer is generally faster than the oven, and less oily than a deep fryer (I wanna say more healthy but I don’t really know enough about the details, so I’ll just stick to the objectively “less oily”).
I use it for fries (sweet potatoe fries most often), anything resembling nuggets (like vegetarian nuggets/schnitzels, other veggy pattys, falafel), fry-snacks (eggrolls, samosa, bitterballs), and you can get a bit adventurous with trying our breads, vegetables, or other stuff that you would just plop in the oven.
Oven (or airfryer) fries and snacks aren’t even close to being as good as deep fried. Especially the bitterballen and kroketten are bad. Because it’s not actually frying, but baking, you don’t get the nice thin crunchy outside, to compensate for this they make special airfryer versions of these but those have a really thick outer crust to give that crunchiness and it just doesn’t work. Same goes for oven fries, they have this artificial layer on the outside to give it some crunch but that’s just not very good.
I just don’t get any of it. If you want to eat junkfood, eat junkfood. If you want to be a little healthier, then eat it less often. There are plenty of actually healthy snacks that aren’t a gross artificial version of proper junkfood.
Idk, I’ve got good experiences with stuff from the airfryer so far, also in terms of crispiness and stuff. It’s idd different from a deepfryer, for sure, but works good enough for me. Also gotta say that I don’t have a deepfryer anymore, and when I had one years ago it was an annoying device to use, so I guess the ease of use is also something that makes me like it.
It’s different from a deep fryer because an airfryer isn’t a fryer at all. It’s literally just a small convection oven + clever marketing.,Most people I know already have a convection oven in their kitchen so there really is little point to getting an additional one that just takes up space on the counter.
A large oven uses a lot of electricity that is wasted for heating up that entire space.
An air fryer is nothing but a small convection oven. That means it heats up almost instantly, wastes much less heat, can circulate the air much faster for faster baking, and uses substantially less heat. And it doesn’t generate the smell of deep frying.
We use ours almost every day. The oven is basically not used unless we make full size pizza.
The standard convection oven isn’t a better tool except in size.
Our air fryer is also quite good at making things like potatoes or tofu crispy, not deep fried crispy, but nice and crispy without that much oil or the amount of time it would need in the convection oven.
We had an air fryer, loved the food but it was SO difficult to clean. The sides would shred our sponges. Eventually we stopped using It because timed save from cooking was lost twice over from cleaning it. And then it was recalled anyways
Ah, our just has a basket that goes right in the dishwasher
I know people like air fryers, but I personally would recommend a NuWave. I know As Seen On TV, but it can be an air fryer from what I can tell, but is also just a really easy to use convection oven that’s reasonably cheap (though it is over $100), and everything that is going to be touched by food or it’s drippings can go in the dishwasher!
is an airfryer not just a convection oven? What’s the difference?
It is a convection oven, but the small size means you that cook times (from start to finish) are much faster, and cleaning is generally easier.
And though technically it should be the same, the convection setting on my parents full sized oven never produces as crispy of results as an air-fryer, so maybe there’s more “air-flow-to-size-ratio” or something going on.
I think it is smaller capacity, has a “fryer basket” and maybe hence can concentrate the power more effectively on the small space so is faster? IDK, the NuWave used to be sold as an air-fryer too, but I’ve never air-fried in a “real one” so I can’t personally compare. I just find that the much larger “Oven” and throw everything in the dishwasher is way more useful for way more foods and types of cooking (like if I want to bake a potato etc).
An air fryer is closer to an impingement oven than a convection oven. https://youtu.be/AASP4P5vRAA
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/AASP4P5vRAA
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Good bot.