Fat fryers vs Air fryers

You mean there's another way to cook chips except twice fried in lard? (my way)
I think you'll find there isn't.

Must add that chips are a rare treat in our house.

Ooooo chips!

Never heard of an air fryer , interested

DH bought an air fryer about 2 years ago. It's still in its box!

I plead ignorance. What is an air fryer? It sounds like a contradiction in terms.

I have heard excellent reviews of an air fryer, but I’m still happy with the old fashioned chip pan and the twice fried chips ( in beef dripping!)

We bought an air fryer a couple of months ago and use it almost every day, not just for chips but anything that you would normally grill, fry or oven cook -chicken portions, fish fillets etc. Also cooks frozen food brilliantly without any added fat. Does potato wedges and chips well if sprayed with a little oil first but most of the time no fat is needed and any in the food drains thru the food basket. Ours is small, but just big enough for two, think larger family models are available.

Daddima, if my fryer hadnt broken I would have happily kept going with my unhealthy chips, but seeing as I need to do something about it (I dont mind chip pans, but a fryer is less hassle - I am out of the house from 7.30 AM to 9.PM most days, anything to make my life easier and involving less cleaning is fine by me) I might as well see what is on offer
Mother Hubbard, sounds interesting, I would certainly be going for a bigger one as i still have two kids at home.

Lialou I find it much easier to bang a solid block of beef dripping out of my chip pan than to mess about with a litre or so of gunky oil!

Air fryers make amazing roast potatoes and wedges.

So they don't need fats?

Anniebach, so it would appear, about a tablespoonful is all you need. (Or one of those oil spray thingies)
CherryHatrick, thing is, I live in Spain. Beef dripping or any other kind of dripping is not available. Either you fry with oil or you can fry with oil if you see what I mean. Lard is not easy to get either. I quite like oil fried foods, but i do know that it aint great for my health.

I love chips cooked in dripping or lard but my tummy doesn't

I had one when they were new to the market and I was very unimpressed with it ,it ended up at the tip.I have a deep fat fryer that gives good results so I'll stick with it.If anyone has a new air fryer and they work better I'd be interested in hearing about them

You can use a mist oil. Either bought or do your own, works great and less calories.

I am learning so much, have never heard of mist oil

Frylight is a mist oil that you get in the supermarkets(there are other brands), but it can ruin your pans so better to make your own. You can make your own with olive oil/sunflower etc and water, google the quantities.

Thank you glassortwo

Lisalou I live in Spain, and beef dripping is the only thing I buy from the very overpriced "Iceland" shop in the next town. Lard, (manteca) however is available in every supermarket, and I use that for Yorkshire puddings, frying potato cakes and anything else that needs a high frying temperature. I use a half butter half olive oil mix for fish and roast potatoes when cooking English style, and olive oil for most other cooking.

Hi CherryHatrick, Where in Spain? I cannot get beef dripping for love or money! But then I dont have an iceland either! Manteca is available, but not always, and certainly not in every butcher, I dont really use it much, to be frank. I suppose it is partly just what you are used to using. I use mainly olive oil. Yorkshire puddings are not an issue, as my lot don't like em much. I do a lot of Spanish cooking, as I have lived here most of my life, and my first husband was Spanish.

A girl at work brought one to cook chips in the office once. I found them hard and not very tasty, and the worst thing was, they took ages and you could only cook a small batch at a time so it was hardly a communal meal.

Lisalou I have lived in the Marina Alta of Alicante Province for 31 years, so we have seen a lot of changes. In the old days I used to ask my butcher for a big chunk of beef kidney fat to render down as I was brought up on bread and dripping. Even then lard was always available. Although fine for sauteéing and cooking potato for tortilla, etc., it is my experience that olive oil, like butter, burns at too low a temperature for crisp frying, so I use sunflower or rape seed for that.

CherryHatrick, will pm you