Dear Steemit Friends,
As a person who has always loved and indulged in the greasy goodness of fried food, I have been on the lookout for alternatives which may be a bit more healthier. For a little over one year now, I have been trying to eat a little less and cut down on the amount of fatty and oily food. I have to admit, it has been a challenge. We are inundated with advertisements and fast food restaurants on every corner making it a very difficult indulgence to avoid. As a result, I have been eyeing air fryers to at least cut down the amount of grease so I can continue to enjoy some of the food I crave every once in a while.
The traditional way to prepare fried food is to completely submerge the food in oil. This allows the food to soak up an unhealthy quantity of oil and dramatically increase the fat and calorie content of the food. Not only is this unhealthy for our bodies, but dangerous. In some instances, people have been known to burn themselves and in some extremes even cause grease fires which have resulted in people burning down their houses. The mess that frying food creates is excessive and often times, hard to clean.
After reviewing a number of different options and reading a hefty amount of reviews, I finally settled on the Ovente Air Fryer. I chose this model because it had a good number of positive reviews and very little negative reviews. It was also the "best bang for the buck" in terms of price. I purchased this from Amazon for $74.99 USD. For the price, it included almost all of the functions and presets that I would typically ever need.
The unboxing video below is accessible on both Youtube and Dtube.
As you can see from the video above, I couldn't do my standard unboxing on my desk, and instead had to unbox this on the floor.
The packaging itself was very secure. There were 3 layers of boxes and packaging that I had to get through before actually being able to unbox the actual unit - as you can see above. The only two real accessories that came with it were the Fry Basket and the Fry/Grill Pan - which required assembly. Other than those two items not much else was in the box except for the AC Plug and the Instruction Manual/Warranty Card.
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The Fryer comes in two color options - Black and White. We chose the white to match the rest of our kitchen - I assume this may be a mistake when it comes to keeping it clean. The design and durability of the unit are pretty nice. The quality of the construction is well worth the price that we paid for it. Each of the accessories is built using non-stick metal and the handles are a thick and durable heat resistant plastic, built with a release-lock that prevents you from accidentally disengaging the handle.
The assembly of the fryer grill was simple enough. The packaging came with a screwdriver and wrench and required me only securing two screws to the tray itself to attach the handle - It took only a quick 2 minutes to set up. There is a handle at the top of the fryer to help make moving and transporting it easier. When not in use, you can simply just lower the handle so that it blends in with the overall design of the unit itself.
The fryer has an LED display that constantly toggles between various indicators, letting you know the current set temperature and the time remaining for whatever you have cooking. The screen is also touch-sensitive allowing you to press the 3 symbols to adjust various settings - time, temperature, and lock.
The Ovente uses 1400 Watts and has 6 cooking presets for Frozen Fries, Homemade fries, Steak, Drumsticks, Fish, and Cupcakes for starters and the manual itself has a diagram with recommended temperatures and timeframes for various other foods that you might want to cook. Anything else will probably require you to experiment a little.
Included are also a number of recipe's and cooking tips which will help to get most people started and learn how to use the fryer. I would definitely recommend trying some of them to get the hang of using the fryer.
As mentioned previously, I purchased this air fryer, because I wanted to eat a little healthier. I say a "little," because no matter what, eating fried food still has some level of unhealthiness to it.
According to Wiki
Traditional frying methods induce the Maillard effect by completely submerging foods in hot oil. The air fryer works alternatively by coating the desired food in a thin layer of oil while circulating air heated up to 200 °C to confer energy and initiate the reaction.[2] By doing this the appliance is able to fry foods like potato chips, chicken, fish, steak, french fries or pastries while using between 70% and 80% less oil than a traditional deep-fryer.
Without using any oil whatsoever, I am only ingesting the oil produced from naturally from the food I am frying, which ultimately means a lot less fat and caloric content. It is also a lot easier to clean up after due to the stainless steel heating element and non-stick surfaces of the tray and pan. From a safety perspective, I will no longer have to worry about oil splashing on me and grease fires, due to the auto shut-off feature and the lack of oil use.
My first attempt to use the fryer was to make a plate of dry rub chicken wings. I mixed up a batch of dry rub using various ingredients and defrosted a pack of large chicken wings.
Using the recommended heat settings and timeframe recommended in the included guide, I prepped, set, and left the wings to cook - this you can see in the video above. The unit itself is very quiet with only a slight humming noise that is just barely audible. After about 20 minutes, the fryer chimed letting me know that the frying cycle was complete.
Pulling out the tray, I was amazed how fast and perfectly fried the chickens turned out. No mess and very little residue to clean up.
The chicken was evenly browned and baked and perfectly crusted. Cutting into the chicken itself, it was cooked throughout and moist inside. I thought because I used no oil that it might end up too dry, but as you can see in the pictures below, It was perfectly crispy on the outside and super juicy on the inside.
Cleanup was easy. I just rinsed the pan under warm water and wiped with a damp soapy cloth to remove any residue. All-in-all, it took me a little under 20-minutes to prep, cook, and cleanup.
This for me was an amazing and worthwhile buy. Not only because it allows me to indulge and eat (once in a while) healthier versions of some of my favorite fried food entrees, but because of the time it saves in food prep and cleanup. The price I paid for the variety and convenience I get in return, as well as what for now seems like a quality product is hands down reason enough for me to recommend this product.
I hope you enjoyed my review of the Ovente 3.2QT Multi-Function Digital Air Fryer. If your in the market for a healthier way to fry food and are looking to buy your own air fryer, I would highly recommend this product. If you have any questions, inputs, or feedback, please feel free to post a comment below. I would also appreciate support in the form of Upvoting, Following, and Re-steeming my post if you found it informative.
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