Excerpt from the Introduction
First, I love my air fryer. And that’s thanks to my Mom – back in 2018, just before air-fryer hype took over the world. Funnily enough, she only bought one because the house was being renovated and she needed to cook for the family while being oven-less for a few weeks. And she was soon telling me all about how she was impressed by the speed, ease and end results. Potentially one of the earliest air-fryer converts in the country, my Mom has always been a trendsetter.
Talking of my Mom, one thing I’ve inherited from her (apart from a love of cooking) is a terrible habit of leaving the washing up until the next morning. I wish I was that person who could get everything sorted straight after dinner, clean down the table, get all the plates washed and away, and wake up to a beautiful fresh start. But even after years of working in a professional kitchen, where it’s so important to end the shift with a spotless kitchen, when it comes to my home life, I’m a ‘worry-about-it-in-the-morning’-er.
This is where the air fryer really started to sell itself to both me and my Mom. I love the lack of having to wash up so much. Having it all cooked in the one basket. Not having trays of oil and food all over the kitchen. The air fryer really is the weekday dinner’s answer to ease and comfort in the kitchen. The fewer dishes there are in the morning to sorrily clean up, regretting last night’s decision and vowing to be a better person today, the better.
Ease is one thing, but I’m all about taste. The air fryer does everything an oven can do when it comes to getting the best out of your produce. Whether it’s honey-glazing your carrots or lemon-roasting your chicken, there’s no falling short with an air fryer when you compare it to your usual ways of cooking. Secondly, texture. And this is super-important in my line of work – you don’t get the title "Potato Queen" by accepting a soggy chip (or fries to my friends across the Pond). It was in the crisp and crunch department where the air fryer really won me over. In fact, the first thing I ever cooked in an air fryer was chips. I was expecting a quick and fairly satisfactory result, with the benefits being the time it took rather than a perfect stick of potato deliciousness. However, after the potatoes went into the air fryer RAW and cooked for only 35 minutes, I pulled out the tray, and, to my wonder, there stood a batch of perfectly cooked chips. I ate one in shock; ate a second in disbelief – and most likely ate every single one just to re-confirm that this little machine was the machine of dreams. Dreams of perfect chips.
An air fryer can get your chips closest to deep-frying – without the deep fryer. The health benefits of this are obvious, but also it’s so much easier than having a big vat of oil that you somehow need to get rid of without putting it down the sink. With an airfryer you get that crisp, you get that crunch – and that’s across your potatoes, your fried chicken, your pastries, or anything you might normally fry.
And if you know me, once you’ve won me over with the potatoes, we’re friends for life. Chicken was next. It was lovely. Then a full English breakfast, one lazy (probably hungover) morning. Convenient and delicious. Then I cooked my famous crispy cube potatoes. And they were as crispy as always. I was entering my air-fryer era.
The possibilities are also endless. You can bake in an air fryer, which blew my mind. In this book are some of the most delicious cakes and desserts (I can’t wait to make them again and again once I’ve finished writing). And who knew the air fryer was the secret to the perfect dippy egg? I need people to know how versatile this little machine can be.
My favourite things in life are simple, versatile and a little chunky. Potatoes. Pugs. Myself. My air fryer.
Another reason I wanted to write this book is because a lot of people in the culinary world turn their noses up at an air fryer. As you know, I’ve been a chef for 12 years now and despite an apprenticeship in a Michelin-starred restaurant and working my way up through fine dining in Birmingham and London, it was my time working in the care-home kitchen that actually established my view of good food. It can be fancy, perhaps – but it definitely has to be easy and accessible to all. Yes, I was only making cottage pie (minced/ground beef topped with mashed potato and baked – a simple, yet delicious British classic), but I saw first-hand how easy, simple food is so important; how it can still be delicious enough to be the highlight of someone’s day. The care-home residents didn’t want a jus splashed across the plate with foams and deconstructed dishes served over a 20-plate tasting menu. They wanted real, delicious, hearty food and I loved being able to provide that. I’m proud to have all the skills that I learned in fine dining while still having a love for everyday delicious cooking.
This is where some in the culinary world might look down on our friend, the air fryer. They might see it as a bit of a fad, a lazy option for quick results. They might say there’s no way they’d have it in the kitchen – like they wouldn’t have a microwave. Well, don’t worry kids. This is a judgement-free zone and I’m partial to a ping in the microwave when time calls for it.
That’s the thing. Good food needs to also be about accessibility and convenience. As a chef, I know that millions of people are at home using an air fryer, so I want to teach them how to get the most out of the food they’re cooking every day. Because it can be actually delicious!
Copyright © 2023 by Poppy O'Toole. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
