CRISPY SECRET

How an air fryer can crisp up your food

For my money, there are few kitchen gadgets more versatile than an air fryer, especially if you like crispy foods but without the added fat of deep-frying.

By using only a small amount of oil circulated in an enclosed space with controlled heat, you can turn your favorite foods — from frozen samosas or french fries to bacon or Korean barbecue — into crispy golden treats, without the mess or excessive grease associated with immers

ing them in oil. Air fryers are compact, so they won’theatupyourhouseasmuch asaf ull-size oven, which is important on scorching-hot, 105-degree days, but even though I don’t eat all fried foods all the time, I put my air fryer to use almost every day, no matter the season. I’ve grown to love the little gadget

because it makes cooking many foods simple and yields consistent results, time after time.

How does an air fryer work?

Like many countertop appliances, cooking with an air fryer is mostly “set it and forget it.” You pop in your favorite food, select a temperature and time, then

come back when it’s done.

I use a GoWise 3.7-quart model, which is great for cooking for my wife and me, but there is a wide variety of air fryers available in various sizes. Air fryers have the size and outward appearance of tall, futuristic rice cookers. Inside, they’re like modified convection ovens: A heating element regulates the temperature, and a large fan blows hot air around the cooking chamber and through a permeable, nonstick fryer basket, its many holes helping to ensure uniform browning from all sides. Below, a pot catches crumbs and excess grease.

Air fryers circulate hot air more efficiently than an oven, so you can typically reduce the published cook times by a couple of minutes. Alternatively, you can keep the same cook time but lower the temperature by about 25 degrees. If you’re cooking larger batches of food that won’t fit nicely in a single layer (like a bag of frozen fries), you’ll want to periodically redistribute everything to ensure even heating. Luckily, it’s easy to pull out the fryer basket, give its contents a quick flip and then slide everything back in to resume cooking.

What can you make in an air fryer?

Almost anything that can be baked can be air-fried too, the main difference being that air fryers can crisp foods more evenly and quickly than traditional ovens. It is easy to open the air fryer halfway through cooking to check on or turn whatever is cooking inside, and the nonstick basket makes cleanup is a breeze.

If you like cooking frozen french fries or Tater Tots, an air fryer is worth it for that task alone. The convection heat makes fries that have a quality that’s hard to replicate in an oven. Earlier this year, I used my air fryer to whip up some frozen, seasoned fries at a friend’s Super Bowl party, where they were a huge hit.

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY PETER TSAI Pork belly is an ideal food to cook in an air fryer because it requires high heat and has a lot of excess fat that, when cooked on a stove or oven, can lead to smoke filling up your kitchen. An air fryer keeps everything contained inside the appliance, and there’s a basket so the fat can drip into a collection pot below.

An air fryerisa healthier wayto cook meats because bacon and other meats don’t cook in their own fat as they wouldin a frying panor skillet.

CONTRIBUTED BY PETER TSAI An air fryer can be a surprisingly fast and healthy way to cook everything from french fries to kale chips. Peter Tsai also cooks pork belly, bacon and baguettes in his countertop appliance.