WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:03.798 Hello and welcome to No Effort November, 00:00:03.798 --> 00:00:07.858 a series of videos for the month of November where... 00:00:07.858 --> 00:00:11.614 no effort is made. 00:00:11.614 --> 00:00:17.097 Now, today, we are going be talking about air fryers. 00:00:18.891 --> 00:00:20.039 THE TELEPROMPTER DIDN'T STA-- 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:23.780 Today, we’re gonna be talking about air fryers. 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:27.765 I doubt you’ve heard of them, they seem really new to the market, but it’s a hot topic! 00:00:27.765 --> 00:00:29.646 And here’s a little secret, 00:00:29.646 --> 00:00:35.154 air fryer is a meaningless term and none  of these devices are doing anything new at all. 00:00:35.154 --> 00:00:36.661 Ya know what this thing is? 00:00:36.661 --> 00:00:40.120 It’s a convection oven with a basket. 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:41.659 That’s it. 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:44.628 No really, that’s it. 00:00:44.628 --> 00:00:47.957 There’s nuance to pick apart there, which I will because that’s my job, 00:00:47.957 --> 00:00:53.508 but if you happen to have a convection oven you already have an air fryer! 00:00:53.508 --> 00:00:54.815 Kind of. 00:00:54.815 --> 00:01:00.161 In fact, many appliance manufacturers have started taking their existing convection oven models 00:01:00.161 --> 00:01:04.880 and slapping an “air fryer” sticker on them so you’ll be more likely to buy them! 00:01:04.880 --> 00:01:11.995 But really all they did was make the  “convect” button say “air fry” and call that a new product. 00:01:11.995 --> 00:01:15.467 Cynicism levels are a little elevated today, I’m afraid. 00:01:15.467 --> 00:01:19.142 So firstly, what is a convection oven? 00:01:19.142 --> 00:01:22.447 Well, it’s an oven with a fan inside. 00:01:22.447 --> 00:01:29.445 As you already know, an oven is simply a box with electric heating elements or a gas burner inside of it. 00:01:29.445 --> 00:01:37.683 Those heat producing devices heat the air inside the box to your desired temperature after which you of in the cold food to bake it. 00:01:37.683 --> 00:01:40.647 The hot air surrounding the cold food warms it up, 00:01:40.720 --> 00:01:44.590 and eventually you can of out hot eat the food! 00:01:44.590 --> 00:01:53.111 But during the baking process, the cold food absorbs heat energy from the hot air surrounding it, which cools that air down. 00:01:53.111 --> 00:02:00.040 That cooler air right next to the food forms something of an  insulating layer which slows the baking process. 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:05.483 Stick a fan at the back of the oven, though,  and you can force the air inside the box to move around 00:02:05.483 --> 00:02:09.555 just like when you stick a fan in a room and it moves the air around. 00:02:09.555 --> 00:02:20.766 This prevents that cold layer of air from staying next to the food since, well, the fan is constantly pushing it somewhere else and replacing it with hot hot air. 00:02:20.766 --> 00:02:28.400 This speeds the cooking process up a fair bit, and tends to increase the crispiness of whatever it is you are baking in there.   00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:35.449 Back when I was kid, convection ovens were  "oooh fancy" but now it’s a pretty close to standard feature. 00:02:35.449 --> 00:02:40.190 All but very entry-level models offer a convection fan these days. 00:02:40.190 --> 00:02:45.574 This here air fryer... well, it’s more or less the same exact thing. 00:02:45.574 --> 00:02:51.981 Take the basket out and look up in there and you’ll find a heating element and a fan! 00:02:51.981 --> 00:02:56.518 I’d bet good money that heating element is the same part in a stovetop somewhere. 00:02:56.518 --> 00:02:59.908 Walmart’s gotta cut the cost of these somehow. 00:02:59.908 --> 00:03:03.749 This simple one - it has just two control knobs: 00:03:03.749 --> 00:03:11.103 one for the temperature,  which maxes out at 400 degrees and calls out 360 degrees for some reason, 00:03:11.103 --> 00:03:13.285 and, uh, one for the time. 00:03:13.285 --> 00:03:21.417 That time knob is the same mechanical clockwork timer you find in practically any toaster oven and it functions as the power switch, too. 00:03:21.417 --> 00:03:28.348 When switched on the fan motor is energized which  spins it up and blows air down through the heating element. 00:03:28.348 --> 00:03:35.780 And of course the heating element (1,100 watts in this case) is also energized so it starts getting real hot. 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:41.064 That means the machine is forcing hot air down at the food in the basket. 00:03:41.064 --> 00:03:51.599 And the basket is designed with a false floor filled with holes, allowing air to flow beneath the food and heat everything quite evenly. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:58.196 The temperature dial controls a thermostat which will cycle the heating element on and off to maintain a desired air temperature, 00:03:58.196 --> 00:04:00.833 but the fan will remain running the whole time. 00:04:00.833 --> 00:04:06.638 And that fan doesn’t just blow air down through the heating element and at the food in the basket, 00:04:06.638 --> 00:04:12.190 but it also blows air out the back of the machine through this exhaust port. 00:04:12.190 --> 00:04:22.766 The gap around the top forms an air intake, and that keeps the fan motor, control wiring, and plastic body of this thing from overheating and/or melting. 00:04:22.766 --> 00:04:29.229 Now, while this is really just a few common toaster oven slash stovetop parts rearranged to make a new product 00:04:29.229 --> 00:04:32.110 much like how Taco Bell comes up with new menu items, 00:04:32.110 --> 00:04:34.850 there are some advantages to this. 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:39.058 Because it’s so small, the device preheats extremely quickly 00:04:39.058 --> 00:04:42.556 (in lots of cases you don’t even need to bother with preheating at all) 00:04:42.556 --> 00:04:49.086 and the fan is quite forceful, making for one real intense storm of heat in there. 00:04:49.086 --> 00:04:52.226 But as far as what this actually is… 00:04:52.226 --> 00:04:56.126 it’s just a modified convection oven for use on the countertop. 00:04:56.126 --> 00:05:00.881 It’s not a new cooking process, and it’s not really frying anything, 00:05:00.881 --> 00:05:04.858 it’s just a small, high-speed convection oven. 00:05:04.858 --> 00:05:10.777 Oh but remember how I said air fryer is  a meaningless term which doesn’t mean anything because it’s meaningless? 00:05:10.777 --> 00:05:13.461 Yeah so this is also an air fryer! 00:05:13.461 --> 00:05:16.425 Look, it says air fry! 00:05:16.425 --> 00:05:23.029 Now, those of you who know what a toaster oven looks like might be thinking this looks an awful lot like a toaster oven and yep! 00:05:23.029 --> 00:05:24.063 It is. 00:05:24.063 --> 00:05:32.827 But it’s got a great big fan at the top of the oven and it came with this here basket which you can put foods in to air fry just like these doodads do. 00:05:32.827 --> 00:05:35.711 And you also get a regular oven when you need it! 00:05:35.711 --> 00:05:40.408 Except this is bad at that - but we’ll circle back to that point. 00:05:40.408 --> 00:05:48.478 This toaster oven, unsurprisingly, is full of toaster oven parts including the same clockwork timer switch and temperature dial, 00:05:48.478 --> 00:05:53.715 but there’s also a function dial and a few more heating elements in play. 00:05:53.715 --> 00:05:58.017 This uses rod-style heating elements and there are six in total, 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:01.328 two on the bottom and four on the top. 00:06:01.328 --> 00:06:06.331 Part of the function dial’s job is to change which heating elements are in use: 00:06:06.331 --> 00:06:13.060 in bake mode, the two on the bottom join two on the top so the oven heats like a normal oven. 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:19.462 But in air fry mode, the lower elements are switched off and instead all four at the top are used 00:06:19.462 --> 00:06:25.744 with the fan blowing air down through them at the food just like in the standard air fryer. 00:06:26.766 --> 00:06:29.015 But that’s not the only way to do it. 00:06:29.015 --> 00:06:33.607 Oh look, it’s another toaster oven which claims to offer air frying. 00:06:33.607 --> 00:06:36.282 But this time, the fan is in the side of the machine 00:06:36.282 --> 00:06:45.225 and the air fry feature is turned on by setting the thermostat to the highest temperature and clicking past a detent to the air fry setting. 00:06:45.225 --> 00:06:55.747 That means this oven only offers air frying at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and since the fan is really kind of weak and it doesn’t actually blow that forcefully on anything, 00:06:55.747 --> 00:06:57.856 it’s not a great air fryer. 00:06:57.856 --> 00:07:00.000 But it’s a much better oven. 00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:05.240 Again, we’ll circle back to that, but I do want to point out that this product 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:12.286 is almost certainly just a small countertop convection oven (I’ve seen similar things long before air frying was a fad) 00:07:12.286 --> 00:07:18.462 which has had the controls altered a bit and the convection mode labeled “air fry” - 00:07:18.462 --> 00:07:20.130 what a concept. 00:07:20.130 --> 00:07:24.379 Oh look, it’s another air fryer but this one is green. 00:07:25.946 --> 00:07:32.442 Yeah okay this one belongs to my parents and I decided to throw it in  for a head-to-head test with my cheapskate Walmart air fryer 00:07:32.442 --> 00:07:33.782 and the toaster ovens 00:07:33.782 --> 00:07:36.827 and my convection oven. 00:07:36.827 --> 00:07:43.322 That’s right, I made a lot of French fries so I could tell you  just how good these air frying appliances are. 00:07:43.322 --> 00:07:47.011 Jump cut! Guess what folks, it finally happened! 00:07:47.011 --> 00:07:58.093 I did a memory card reformat before I offloaded the footage so you’re not gonna get any B-roll of all the tests I’m about to talk about. 00:07:58.093 --> 00:08:05.812 I don’t think you’re missing too much, it was mostly just static shots of cooking happening then a close-up of the finished fries, 00:08:05.812 --> 00:08:11.080 but it did show my methodology which  now you’re just gonna have to take my word for. 00:08:11.080 --> 00:08:19.692 But, I could not have asked for a more perfect accident  to start out 2024’s No Effort November. 00:08:19.692 --> 00:08:20.574 Jump cut! 00:08:20.574 --> 00:08:25.213 I weighed out about 150 grams of the  same frozen fries for each of the tests, 00:08:25.213 --> 00:08:33.591 and I tried to form them into a similar lump in each device to make as close to a head-to-head comparison as I could with minimal effort. 00:08:33.591 --> 00:08:38.109 For the two air fryers which aren’t trying to do anything other than air fry, 00:08:38.109 --> 00:08:47.360 I set them both to 400 degrees (the maximum temp of the cheap one) and, without preheating, had them air fry the fries for 20 minutes. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.723 The fries came out identically between these two machines. 00:08:50.723 --> 00:08:53.909 And they came out essentially perfectly! 00:08:53.909 --> 00:09:02.759 They were the exact kind of crispy that I like - they hadn’t lost all their moisture and burnt, but they weren’t anywhere close to soggy. 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:13.760 And turning frozen fries to done fries in 20 minutes is actually quite impressive, especially considering I did not bother to preheat either of these air fryers. 00:09:13.760 --> 00:09:16.591 Next, I tested my convection oven. 00:09:16.591 --> 00:09:22.220 Most of the ovens on sale that claim to air fry come with a basket and tray like this, 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:29.680 so I bought a basket and tray like this to turn my convection oven into an air fryer. 00:09:29.680 --> 00:09:34.063 Now, this is a full-sized convection oven and it’s going to take a while to pre-heat, 00:09:34.063 --> 00:09:40.591 so for this test I let it preheat to 400 degrees  (which took about 12 minutes) before I put the fries in. 00:09:40.591 --> 00:09:41.884 [metal squeaks] 00:09:41.884 --> 00:09:43.008 That sounded awful. 00:09:43.008 --> 00:09:46.882 Then I put them in for 20 minutes and guess what? 00:09:46.882 --> 00:09:48.431 They were not done. 00:09:48.431 --> 00:09:50.140 They were quite soggy. 00:09:50.140 --> 00:09:54.120 So I stuck them back in for another 10 minutes and guess what? 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:56.009 They were still not quite there. 00:09:56.009 --> 00:10:03.964 But considering that I had now spent some 42 minutes making these fries, it’s clear that my convection oven is not a good air fryer. 00:10:03.964 --> 00:10:13.312 On that note, this oven for reasons I do not understand will not run the convection fan continuously when it's in convection mode. 00:10:13.312 --> 00:10:22.010 It turns it on and off and only runs the fan about half the time which is very annoying and I’m sure is slowing it down. 00:10:22.010 --> 00:10:28.031 So while my oven is not a good air fryer, yours might be just fine. 00:10:28.031 --> 00:10:36.575 So if you don’t already have an air fryer but you do have a convection oven and you don’t want to dedicate counter space to yet another small kitchen appliance, 00:10:36.575 --> 00:10:41.228 Well, you might consider ordering one of these air fryer baskets. 00:10:41.228 --> 00:10:46.133 However, if you do have the space for another small kitchen appliance... 00:10:46.133 --> 00:10:49.841 well there are plenty of reasons to just get one of these which I will go over. 00:10:49.841 --> 00:10:52.484 But first, what about the toaster ovens? 00:10:52.560 --> 00:10:57.119 Well, for these I went back to air frying without preheating. 00:10:57.119 --> 00:11:01.894 They’re claiming to be something special so I treated them specially. 00:11:01.894 --> 00:11:05.397 The Hamilton Beach machine allows you to set any temperature 00:11:05.397 --> 00:11:12.484 so I did the same 400 degrees,  and I put in the fries with the oven cold then ran it for 20 minutes. 00:11:12.484 --> 00:11:17.229 And those fries came out… almost exactly like the other two air fryers. 00:11:17.229 --> 00:11:26.770 They were not quite as crispy but they were quite satisfactory and another 2 maybe 3 minutes would have produced identical results. 00:11:26.770 --> 00:11:30.832 So this thing is actually a good air fryer. 00:11:30.832 --> 00:11:37.980 The Black & Decker model got the same treatment, but its temperature couldn’t be set to anything other than 450 degrees. 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:43.350 Also, it uses the same heating element arrangement for baking as it does for air frying, 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:50.883 so about half of the heat is coming from below the food rather than all of it being blown down from above. 00:11:50.883 --> 00:11:53.415 That’s not super critical since there’s a fan, 00:11:53.415 --> 00:11:57.724 and I had a drip tray below the basket which was shielding the fries from the heat 00:11:57.724 --> 00:12:02.542 but anyway after 20 minutes the fries were… 00:12:02.542 --> 00:12:05.062 not quite done. 00:12:05.062 --> 00:12:12.226 They were acceptable but not as crispy as I would have liked, which shows this is not that great of an air fryer 00:12:12.226 --> 00:12:18.688 especially since, once warmed up, it was 450 degrees in there rather than 400. 00:12:18.688 --> 00:12:25.285 Despite that, it would have needed another 5 minutes at least to get the fries where I wanted them. 00:12:25.285 --> 00:12:27.560 But now comes the wrinkle here. 00:12:27.560 --> 00:12:32.489 The Hamilton Beach machine, while it does do a good job air frying, 00:12:32.489 --> 00:12:36.145 sucks at being a normal oven. 00:12:36.145 --> 00:12:46.259 I love toaster ovens and I have had one on my countertop essentially forever  because I much prefer using them when I need to bake a small quantity of food. 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:54.292 They preheat faster than a full-size oven and they don’t make the kitchen nearly as hot which is especially nice in the summer months. 00:12:54.292 --> 00:13:02.041 Though I think they suck for making toast and question anyone who thinks toast out of a toaster oven is better than toast out of a toaster - 00:13:02.041 --> 00:13:09.988 toaster ovens dry out bread much much more than a toaster does so even if I didn’t have the best toaster ever, 00:13:09.988 --> 00:13:12.237 I’d still want a toaster. 00:13:12.237 --> 00:13:20.307 I mean even the $10 plastic Walmart toasters of the world make nicer toast to my taste than any toaster oven I have ever encountered. 00:13:20.307 --> 00:13:24.896 Anyway, that wasn’t the point, the point was this guy is a bad oven. 00:13:24.896 --> 00:13:31.174 And the reason is that it does not turn off the air fry fan when in bake mode. 00:13:31.174 --> 00:13:35.924 The fan is a two-speed fan and it slows down in bake mode 00:13:35.924 --> 00:13:44.464 but it doesn’t turn off and that means there is no functional difference between the bake mode and the convection bake mode. 00:13:44.464 --> 00:13:47.329 Now, why does it do that? 00:13:47.329 --> 00:13:53.107 I wasn’t in the room where it happened so I can’t say for sure but just like the standard air fryers 00:13:53.107 --> 00:14:03.293 that fan also serves to cool the fan motor and wiring since it’s directly above a box which can have 450 degree air inside. 00:14:03.293 --> 00:14:07.607 I believe that fan has to run whenever the machine is on. 00:14:07.607 --> 00:14:14.435 This means you cannot use this device as a regular oven without making significant adjustments. 00:14:14.435 --> 00:14:23.492 When I first used it I burnt the Brussels sprouts I was roasting to a crisp despite following the same procedure I have always done for Brussels sprouts. 00:14:23.492 --> 00:14:30.596 And it’s not the thermostat - I used an oven thermometer to verify and the temperature dial is close to spot on. 00:14:30.596 --> 00:14:35.634 It’s the fan - this thing is always quite a forceful convection oven, 00:14:35.634 --> 00:14:43.572 and I found myself constantly lowering the temperature by at least 50 degrees to get similar results to what I was used to. 00:14:43.572 --> 00:14:49.074 I eventually got tired of this, and that’s why  I ended up buying the Black & Decker machine. 00:14:49.074 --> 00:14:56.350 This guy is not great at being an air fryer,  but you can use it like any ordinary oven without thinking. 00:14:56.350 --> 00:15:02.979 And its pseudo-air-fry mode does come in handy for some things - including roasting Brussels sprouts. 00:15:02.979 --> 00:15:09.776 But I think of this as a conventional oven with a single convection setting and not an air fryer. 00:15:09.776 --> 00:15:18.147 These two machines have revealed to me that combining the functions of a toaster oven and an air fryer presents an insurmountable design compromise 00:15:18.147 --> 00:15:24.344 and has turned me against suggesting one of these over a “regular” air fryer. 00:15:24.344 --> 00:15:29.347 And that’s before we even get into the ergonomic benefits of an air fryer. 00:15:29.347 --> 00:15:32.057 The basket with a handle... 00:15:32.057 --> 00:15:40.361 it's quite a lot easier to deal with because you don’t need a towel or potholder or ‘Ove’ Glove to take a hot wire basket out of a hot oven. 00:15:40.361 --> 00:15:46.805 You can simply grab that handle and dump the contents onto a plate or serving bowl. 00:15:46.805 --> 00:15:51.848 That doesn’t work for all foods, and it’s not like the air fryer replaces an oven, 00:15:51.848 --> 00:15:55.459 but for the foods where it does work that’s a neat trick. 00:15:55.459 --> 00:16:05.604 And an even neater trick is that some air fryers (even this really cheap one) have baskets which are dishwasher safe and that makes cleanup effortless. 00:16:05.604 --> 00:16:15.351 So, believe it or not, I think these are more than just a fad and having one in your life (if you don’t already) is probably worth it. 00:16:15.351 --> 00:16:20.064 They’re cheap enough now that quite honestly if you’ve been wanting to try one you should go for it. 00:16:20.064 --> 00:16:22.481 This one wasn't even $30. 00:16:22.481 --> 00:16:25.696 But personally, I would stick to simple ones. 00:16:25.696 --> 00:16:33.050 I like this fancier version for having a window and a light which lets you peek into the basket while things are cooking 00:16:33.050 --> 00:16:39.762 (though… that light is an unshielded halogen capsule sitting above oily food which feels like a design flaw) 00:16:39.762 --> 00:16:43.867 but the control situation is overly complicated. 00:16:43.867 --> 00:16:46.543 I don’t want to have to interact with a touch panel, 00:16:46.543 --> 00:16:47.815 put it in the right mode, 00:16:47.815 --> 00:16:49.552 press buttons to pick the right temperature, 00:16:49.552 --> 00:16:50.343 press start, 00:16:50.343 --> 00:16:53.231 then press buttons again to set the right time. 00:16:53.231 --> 00:17:00.252 These two knobs win me over, and the dumb controls are much less likely to be a problem in the future 00:17:00.252 --> 00:17:08.727 than the electronics in here such as the power supply, microprocessor, touch panel, and relays which you know were cost cut as much as possible. 00:17:08.727 --> 00:17:14.205 And I don’t even know how all these modes are supposed to do anything different. 00:17:14.205 --> 00:17:17.678 The fan doesn’t seem to be a variable-speed fan, so 00:17:17.678 --> 00:17:26.474 I figure all these modes might be able to do is fake you out as far as the temperature set point vs. the actual temperature. 00:17:26.474 --> 00:17:34.798 Like, just how I had to set the temperature down by at least 50 degrees to get the Hamilton Beach toaster oven to behave like I expect an oven to behave, 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:44.876 I think it’s likely these modes are just tinkering with the set points to make the same 400 degree setting produce different results in those different modes. 00:17:44.876 --> 00:17:50.957 And personally I don’t like machines which do that sort of fuzzy math on my behalf. 00:17:50.957 --> 00:17:53.972 I like using my own brain, actually. 00:17:53.972 --> 00:17:56.217 And that’s the end of the video. 00:17:56.217 --> 00:18:03.292 I’ll be honest, I was a huge curmudgeon about these things because I knew what they were. 00:18:03.292 --> 00:18:09.695 The same basic parts of a toaster oven just rearranged and then with a fan and a basket. 00:18:09.695 --> 00:18:19.047 And it really annoyed me that we decided to call these “air fryers” as if there’s a connection between baking and frying. 00:18:19.047 --> 00:18:24.438 But, just as Taco Bell sometimes manages to come up with a Crunchwrap Supreme, 00:18:24.438 --> 00:18:28.760 new ideas from the parts bin of life can actually be pretty useful. 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:31.874 And that’s good to remember. 00:18:31.874 --> 00:18:32.534 Kay bye. 00:18:33.326 --> 00:18:35.942 ♫ crispy smooth jazz ♫ 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:41.985 ...air fryer sticker on them so your’ll be more -eh beh beh bah. 00:18:41.985 --> 00:18:48.438 That cooler air next to the food forms something  of an insulating layer which slows the payk-- oof. 00:18:50.005 --> 00:18:56.090 This simple one has just two control knobs, one  for the temperature and one for the time. 00:18:56.090 --> 00:18:56.906 Crap. 00:18:57.201 --> 00:18:59.153 Yours might be just fine. 00:18:59.153 --> 00:19:07.727 And if you don’t already have an air fryer but you do have a convection oven and you don’t want to dedicate counter space to yet another small kitchen appliance, 00:19:07.727 --> 00:19:09.685 you might considering order... 00:19:09.685 --> 00:19:11.146 [confused] 00:19:11.146 --> 00:19:12.879 [laughs] 00:19:16.035 --> 00:19:17.630 How did that happen? 00:19:17.630 --> 00:19:18.696 [clears throat] Anyway that 00:19:18.696 --> 00:19:20.610 [coughing fit] 00:19:20.610 --> 00:19:21.351 well… 00:19:24.825 --> 00:19:32.194 if you think i can bother to put a captions gag here, ya forgot what month it is.