2 Chefs Test a Halogen Air Fryer | SORTEDfood

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(upbeat music) - [Mike] We are Sorted. A group of mates who have your back when it comes to all things food. From cooking battles to gadget reviews. - Ben, it's not worth it! - And cookbook challenges to a midweek meal-packed app. Crack your eggs, bake. We uncover the tools that'll help us all cook and eat smarter. Join our community where everything we do starts with you. Hello, everyone. I'm Mike, this is Ben. Welcome to FridgeCam. - In this video, we test out a weird and wonderful kitchen gadget to see if it's actually any good. - Today, our chefs Ben and James test out a Halogen Air Fryer. And it's safe to say they go on a journey of discovery. - These are the most fun days, because James and I get to play around with something and test it on your behalf, and today it is a Halogen Air Fryer. Now, the theory behind this it it's a plug in electrical item that is self-contained and it acts as a oven in place of a convection oven, but it also has air circulation which means it kinda half fries as well. They claim you can bake and roast and fry all sorts of things in it and that's it's easy, that your house doesn't smell like a chip shop at the end of it and we shall put that to the test with a number of things. - I don't think it's gonna be as good at anything as anything. - Caveat upfront, this is #notad. We have bought this with our very own YouTube pennies, which is why we're not necessarily referencing the brand. We're just referencing what it can do. But we're gonna put it to the test and we're gonna be honest. Number one, chips and sweet potato wedges. So they claim that you can get the effect of deep frying without all the oil, by spraying the food lightly with oil, using the dispenser provided. Now, because we're also gonna season, we will do that in a bowl rather than in the device. For the chips, for the combination of the frying and roasting, only use the high basket. If we want the fry, we need it to be close to the bulb. That does make sense. I think that goes in first. (clanking) Then that one. - Yes. (upbeat music) - Up to temperature. It recommends 200. It says 25 minutes. - [James] No it doesn't, come on. Don't be silly. - At the moment, that is doing exactly the same as baking chips in an oven. - I'm struggling with this one, guys. I'm struggling with it. - Learnings, read instructions properly. What we should've done is preheat it on max while we were chopping our potatoes. There was no need for our extension, 'cause we're only cooking some chips and therefore in the high rack it's closer to the bulb. Now it's cooking quicker. In the meantime, what we cut up, we're now gonna move on. I'm gonna put that in a conventional oven. The good thing about this is you can see right into it, so you can tell when they're done. (upbeat music) - That is the best bit so far. - I chose to start with chips, 'cause I thought it was probably the easiest, most basic thing we all associate with frying. I think they taste like chips. They haven't got the golden, crispy crunch of a chip. - I can confirm that they are chips. - They're not an even colour, but it's on par with an oven-baked chip. - I can imagine the complaints might be the fact that people usually cut them a bit thicker like wedgie-type things. And they probably don't cook as well, as evenly. - In conclusion, I think that's a pretty decent homemade oven-baked chip. Is it three times faster? - No. - Maths says no. Is it less oil? Yes, than deep fried for sure, but not necessarily any less than oven chips. But they do work. Let's prep the next one. I reckon steak on the top, on the high basket, three minutes on each side is what they're claiming. - If that steak browns, I am gonna be impressed. I'm not gonna like it as a product, but I will be impressed. (upbeat music) - Preheated for a few minutes, then it went in. We gave it about three and a half, four minutes on the first side. We've flipped it and are doing about the same. Unlike the chips, which were a comparison, I guess, to oven baking, this is a comparison to grilling. It's under a hot lamp. The air circulation is causing the fat on the steak to sizzle and crisp up. - Yeah, the fat looks good and rendered, but what you're looking for on a steak is that contact with the pan. - Let's go for it. It's definitely sizzling, and it smells steak-y. It hasn't got any of those lines, or colour on the main surface. - Oh, but it might have more colour than I expected it to. - In the meantime, should we stick some sausages and steamed veg in? - Absolutely. (upbeat drums) - So, I've gone with courgette, sugar snap peas, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper into a tinfoil tent sealed on three sides, a glug of white wine, seal it up, hope it doesn't leak, and that should steam and cook in all the wonderful juices on our bottom shelf. - In theory, this should do really well because the sausages are full of fat. So, the fat's gonna brown, kind of like a grill, 'cause it's basically a grill. (relaxed beat) Yeah, it looks all right. - It hasn't dried out, that's for sure. - It's cooked very evenly. Look, I found a nice thing to say. - And it's rendered the fat on the side, which I always find difficult if you're doing it in a pan, 'cause you've gotta hold it on its side. - It is a little bit gray. - It hasn't got the colouring that you might get from a searingly hot cast iron or foaming butter. - And the colour gives a bit of texture, crispness, and it gives a lot of flavour. - Like the chips, that tastes like a well-seasoned steak, it tastes like what it should do without that charring. - Like, it's a disappointing steak. - Why? Is that because you cook steak in butter, which is always better? - You don't get any of the flavour. You don't get any of the texture. - You need to take your perception out of this. If you haven't got a hob and you're not cooking outside, is that pretty good for that? - You're asking me, does this thing cook food, and yes, of course it cooks food. (laughs) But, I'm trying to say it's definitely not as good as anything else. And if you only have that option, yes, it'll cook a steak, but it's not a very good steak. - I though we were testing an air fryer. What we're testing, it turns out, despite what it's called, is a desktop cooking device that roasts, grills, air circulates so frying is also possible, and we'll see if steaming is also possible. It does it, kind of, all in one, if you haven't got that thing there. - On the first side, these weren't looking great, I wasn't convinced, and now they've had enough time, they're looking pretty decent. (singing) (ringing) - Oh, he got it. He got it. (relaxed beat) I've never seen sausages presented so beautifully. - Like you can steam items in an oven while you roast other things, I think that's worked. As has the sausage. Six or seven minutes on either side for the sausages and the steamed veg, the whole time without turning. Good to know that you can do that on the bottom whilst you'll have something with the more direct heat like a steak or some sausage on the top. So, you have got the two different levels, it's treating it much more like an oven underneath, rather than a grill on top. (upbeat music) - They're two things that you would cook in an oven though, in that way, so you'd expect those two to work. - In the over or under the grill. So, we've done the potatoes, much like roasting in an oven, with grilled sausages and steak, we've steamed veg. I asked a normal what else we might wanna do, he said fried fish. And, valid, not with batter, that's obviously not gonna work, but we've breaded some cod, we've spritzed it with oil and we're gonna put it on the top shelf, right under the bulb at 250. I feel like this is now on par, with like, fish fingers that I would put on a baking tray and put in the oven or under a grill. It's not the same as fried fish. No idea on time, 'cause we're going off menu now. Visually, it's an odd concept because it's cooking from a bulb. You associate it with light, rather than heat, despite the fact it gives off more heat than light, but I don't associate it with high temperatures and cooking. Back when we were playing more to the fryer part of the air fryer, we also thought doughnuts! They need to be fried. So, we've got a doughnut dough, it's proved, we'll roll them, spray them and see how they perform under a bulb. Obviously, the beauty of a doughnut dough, is it's light and it's airy. They float and then you have to flip them over halfway through, which is where you get that kind of ring around the center. Or, we can flatten them out a bit more and put holes in the middle and cook them more evenly so the oil covers them. It's not gonna do either of that in here. It's gonna be more like sweet, baked dough. (rock music) Interesting with this one, I'm not even sure the turning's gonna make much difference. I think they've kind of toasted the crispy breadcrumb ovenness evenly, rather than direct from above. I'm not sure Mr. Birds Eye would be praising these, they haven't got the golden brown colour he loves. (rock music) Good, flaky fish. A coating that has protected it completely and therefore kept it, all the juice inside. That's not quite the golden colour we want though, is it? - [James] Would that be better in an oven? A normal oven. Yeah. - What they definitely are is a healthier version, and we've done that before where we've done, like, baked chicken nuggets and things where you're covering it in bread and you never quite get that golden colour you want, but it is definitely a healthier version. - Definitely healthier than deep frying, for sure. - It's not giving you that satisfaction you want of a breadcrumb coating. - Crispy outside-- - Even with a little spritz of the oil. (rock music) - This is unusual, spraying bread. How long for? - No idea. We're gonna have to use our chef-y instincts. - They have not served us well so far. (laughing) (rock music) - Whilst we wait on our bread, one other function that it has is the thaw function, so before you even get to the temperature control, you can actually just put it on thaw and you could put a joint of meat or anything that's frozen in there and the air will circulate without the heat and in theory, defrost it quicker, so that is another function the machine has. Clutching at straws a little bit, but what I do like about it is the fact that it's all glass, so you can actually sit and watch things cook and you can see how golden brown they are and you know when they're done. - You're so nice. Maybe you don't need a desk lamp if you have it on your desk next to you because it's a halogen lamp, as well as a cooker. - Some of the comments, people say they actually don't like the light it gives off and it annoys them. - Even I'm not annoyed by the light, and I'm annoyed by everything. (relaxing music) - So, here's interesting, James. Same time in that at 250. - That's about five minutes. - Versus same time in an over at 250. - They're not quite getting the hollow bottom sound on the air fried ones. - I mean, that's not... - They're not great. They weren't supposed to ever be buns, but we did realize that trying to fry a doughnut in that oven is probably not gonna work. We've been on a journey, Ben. - Whilst we sum up our journey. - Yeah. - Why don't we let the machine clean itself. - What? - With a couple of centimeters of soapy water in the bottom, set it to wash function and give it 10 minutes. The heater and turbo fan will operate to warm the water and stir it, cleaning the bowl. At the end of the cycle, remove the plug from the socket and place the lid on the lid stand, empty, rinse and drain the bowl. So, I feel like it's on par with when you put a cup of soapy water into a microwave and it heats it and kind of steams and gets rid of some grease, but you're absolutely still gonna have to wipe it and rinse it. - It is stirring it though. - There is-- - It's going round and round. - The fan is doing its thing. I came into this under the illusion that a Halogen Air Fryer was more fryer than anything else, and therefore a lot of the things that I prepped to put into it were more for a fryer. It does definitely claim, you can get the effect of deep frying without all the oil. You cannot. However, as a convection oven and top-down grill, and you definitely can steam things in like an oven, those all worked and if you don't have one of these, then that is easier and desktop and more compact, and for small portion, does work. It might have a fan but it's not an air fryer. - If, for any reason, you can't bend down to use an oven, this is quite useful, because you can literally stand at your countertop, you can prep food next to your oven, which is great. - There are more expensive ones on the market. Maybe there's other things you can cook in it that we haven't tried. Maybe there are better versions of this. You know what we think. Comment down below. So, it turns out the Halogen Air Fryer doesn't necessarily fry your food. - If you love seeing our chefs test these types of things, then comment below the next gadget you'd like to see them try out, and we shall do that. (upbeat music) - Neither of us are fathers, but I'm gonna tell a joke anyway. I saw a broken oven in a second hand store the other day, it had the temperature dial set to max, and stuck there. It was only a tenner, and I thought, well, I can't turn that down. (laughing) - [Mike] That's good! - [Narrator] We've also built The Sorted Club, where you can get tons of foodie inspo using the Packs midweek meal app, discover and share restaurant recommendations using their Eat app, listen and contribute to our Feast Your Ears podcast and send us ideas for new cookbooks you'll receive throughout the year. Check it all out by heading to sorted.club. (relaxed beat) And now, a blooper. (beep) (clanking) (laughing) - Wow, Ben. (mumbling) This is great.
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Channel: SORTEDfood
Views: 1,066,604
Rating: 4.9148607 out of 5
Keywords: air fryer, halogen oven french fries, halogen oven steam fish, halogen oven, air fryer steak, sorted chefs test gadgets, 2 Chefs Test a Halogen Air Fryer, halogen air fryer, sortedfood chefs review, air fryer vegetables, air fryer sausages, air fryer review, air fryer reviews 2020, halogen air fryer oven, halogen oven recipes, 2 chefs test, air fryer recipes, halogen oven air fryer, halogen oven disadvantages, halogen oven cooking instructions, how to use halogen oven
Id: uF64839mVu8
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 13min 54sec (834 seconds)
Published: Sun Feb 09 2020
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