Can We Talk 2

Ninja Foodhi

         I got an air fryer/pressure cooker for Christmas. We've been experimenting. So far, I like the pressure cooker part the best. The meat comes out so tender and moist. And it's not nearly as dangerous as the old-fashioned manual ones. It does have a lot of parts to keep clean and stored.

         I've made chili, beef stew, macaroni and cheese. all by the book that comes with it. I warn anyone who gets one of these, the book has a lot of errors. So far all of the recipes have been over-salty. Try two teaspoons when it calls for two tablespoons. Even that may be too much. I knew two was too much on the first one I tried, but even one tablespoon was too much. On the second recipe, I went with teaspoons, and that was borderline over the top. All the spices seem excessive, you just have to adjust to taste. My family liked the extra black pepper in the macaroni, and the cumin in the chili.

         We "air-crisped" a bag of French fries for the kids. It takes just as long as the oven method, but the result was a crispy outside with a tender inside. I air-crisped some cauliflower, but my dad thought it was too crunchy for hot cauliflower. I'm doing acorn squash right now. That may have dubious results, because I have a very difficult time peeling raw squash or pumpkin. By the time we slice off the green part, we might not like what's left. Steaming is another option. I have also used it to saute the meat that later went into the pressure cooker. I have not baked, broiled or made yogurt yet. I have used the "keep warm" feature.

         There is a cookbook on Amazon, but I want to be sure this isn't just a temporary plaything before investing more money. There are plenty of how to videos online.