I should get a stall on a Christmas market and have you all try it

Bit of background, i'm from Belgium, if you believe my country and my belly,we know how to make fries

I too was a bit sceptic buying the Actifry as it was classed as " just not the same".
I admit, it's different in the beginning, as everyone puts in the fresh cut fries and expect them to taste the same, well they don't.

Fresh fries will absorb more of the hot air and just a bit of oil,making them puffy , good but not a "fried " taste.
However do this with larger pieces of potato mixed with spices and you make some killed wedges ( see my second post)
For fries/chips in general i use frozen ones, for the fryer that is,not oven fries.

As said before, oven fries will come out rock hard and not to be eaten.

Frozen deep fryer fries however need 35 min in the Actifry to be golden brown, taste crunchy on the outside, and smooth on the inside, just like you would have from a normal deep fried one, but then less fat around it.

No where near to compare them to the disaster called " oven fries"..thats just wrong..

Ill make some fries/chips tomorrow and post the picture for you to see, agreed its not the same as tasting but you get the idea

As for other food, i find the chicken,spring rolls and wedges tasting 10 x better out of the actifry then out of the oven or deep fryer.

Oven = drying out the food ( smaller portions ), you need to baste the meat once and a while if you want it juicy.

Deep fryer = loaded with fat and oil, result is it fills you up quickly leaving you with a heavy feeling in your belly.

Acitfry = seals the flavor and juices inside, without bathing it in fat.

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Due to selling my laptop today ,i didn't had a chance to make " stoofvlees " ( sort of a stew but this can't be made in the Actifry so won't go on about it ) so had to resort to Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut.

Normal way of preparing it is to put some oil or butter in the pot/pan ( as you wish) and basicly fry them,this makes them heavy and blends the taste of the sauerkraut and nudeln together to one big flavorless buttery or oily taste.

So i put on my " Be aware, experimental kitchen " cooking apron on, opend the pack and emptied it in the actifry.

Spiced it up with some meditiranian spices , sprayed some mist of oil over and set the timer for 9 minutes.

Result :


Lovely taste of the sauerkraut (not over powering) and a lovely smell from bacon scented schupfnudeln..tasting great btw

Thinking of it, this is getting dangerous, all these lovely meals ready in less then 10 minutes.. better see if the thing can prepare salad's also

Tomorrow evening we will have Frietjes ( fries) with stoofvlees, ill post a pic of the fries ( both fresh and frozen) to show you how they look.

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Monday evening, time for the promised Frietjes (Fries )

Here they are, these are the frozen fries for deepfryer, into the the actifry.

700 Gr frozen fries, 3/4 Actifry spoon of oil , timer on 35 minutes until they are golden brown.



I also made a small batch of fresh cut ones, who look like this :



The only problem with the fresh ones is that they taste more like a baked potatoe, still "mushy " inside, not as crispy as you would expect a fry to be.
A bit on the soft side, lets keep it with that

You could leave them in a bit longer but then they turn all brownish and puffy, close to a burned taste .. hence me opting for the frozen ones.

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My Actifry arrived today ....

it's huge.

Unfortunately, I really do not have space for this machine in my kitchen, so it's either the Actifry or the cakes. I'm sticking with cakes, so will put this up for sale in the "for sale" section.

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Aw, too bad. How about putting it in the balcony?

Or in the oven,as suggested shame to see you are selling it, did you at least have some time to play around with it?

Sad to see the Actifry from Crumbs will be sold due to big..But then again, you can't have it standing around also as it does take up some space.

As someone on the net commented :
[HTML]
The ActiFry is also fairly large, about the size of a football helmet for a medium-size gorilla
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So unless you are a gorilla, here are the exact dimensions :

HxWxD Dimensions with lid closed and handles shut 22x32x43 Cm

Hope it helps anyone to decide , and for those who do, Crumb's Actifry is set at a very good price !

Anyone bidding? i got 150 in the back 150 ... going once ..

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With more time on my hands then ever, i made " sausage rolls " today.

Small ones ,just as a tester.

I must confess, i bought ready made pastry and sausages.

Raw sausage from frozen, wrapped in a single layer of pastry.
I sprayed a fine mist of oil directly into the actifry, but very very little so the pastry wouldn't soak.

Set the timer for 15 minutes - larger ones will need an extra 5 min. or so.

I made two, one with the surfaced oiled and one without, both came out the same.



They worked out very nice, and are now on the menu as " apero " snackbit for when we have visitors.

Quick job putting them together, Actifry them a voila, nice pastry with a moist sausage in the middle.

Happy Holidays

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Hmmm... interesting....
So - no "tempura" kind of fried preparations, or extremely liquid fritters and such, right?

Thx

Paul

Hi Groove

Indeed no soggy or oil soaked food anymore.

At most a small spoon of oil goes over 1kg of fries,nothing compared to a deep fryer

Even with the sausage roll,the meat was nice and juicy,not dried out at all.

Ill try bratwurst in it today,see how that works out

Nono - what i meant to ask is if the food that goes into the machine can be prepared like tempura (japanese fried veggies / fish) or be liquid like fritters / pancakes...

Ciao, thanks,

Paul

No, it can't.

Tom

My apologies for that, we had a deep fryer called " tempura " once, hence me thinking a normal deep fryer

Tempura is " battered " food isn't it? It is not Japanese but it made Snitzel good enough and that is coated also, but you have to take the rotating arm out otherwise you will damage the outside layer.

I made veggies and fish in the actifry at some stage but not the delicate Japanese food, sadly enough i can't say i have any experience with that but maybe someone else can help out ?

*edit*

THanks for helping out St2lemans Did you try it in your Actifry already? feel free to post your experience with it as i only tried "basic " foods, no japanese things yet.

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The thing is that "Uncle GroOve" was asking about tempura and other batter fried things, and these require traditional deep fat frying due to the nature of the batter. I would expect that trying to cook them in this would produce a giant blob.

Schnitzel and other foods with bound breading should work fine, however.

I do have some doubts if foods that are simply floured (for example seafood for a fritto misto) will come out well or not.

Tom

I see your point, this asks for a test Next time i'm in a shop ill see can i buy some " battered " meat or fish of any kind, and try them..ill keep you posted.

Owkee, while the misses is hunting the supermarket for tempura or battered food , i prepared a normal sausage/bratworst.

From Frozen , sprayed a bit oil over it and for 10-12 minutes in the Actifry.
I left the rotating arm in it as from frozen it is not as fragile as from fresh.

Result, golden brown outside, nice cooked inside, not a piece of undercooked meat to be seen.



For a quicker result, you can cut up the frozen or fresh sausage in to small pieces and Actifry them for about 8-9 minutes for a tasty meal.

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Try this Nyonya Style Oven-fried Chicken and let me know if it works:

To a half cup of Paniermehl (dried breadcrumbs) add a half teaspoon of each

powdered coriander
powdered cumin
powdered red chilli
powdered cardamom
garlic granules (optional)
salt n pepper to taste

Roll one-inch pieces of chicken breast meat (or chicken wings and drumsticks if you prefer) in coconut milk and then in the spiced breadcrumb mix.

I'd normally stick it in the oven at 185 C for 25-30 minutes (drumsticks and thighs would require at least 45 minutes).

Looks yummie, but what can i use to replace the coconut milk..i hate coconut..

Cream, yoghurt or mayonnaise.

Mayo i have in the house..sounds weird but ill try it for lunch tomorrow.. keep you posted and thanks