Footage of our kitchens sometimes so small that such an important and necessary appliance as an oven eats up a good half of the space. It also happens that the apartment is rented, the oven is old and does not work well, but the landlady refuses to change the equipment. What kind of house is it if it doesn’t smell of pies, buns and crispy baked meat?
In such cases, instead of a standard oven, you can purchase a more compact appliance by choosing a suitable “substitute”, keeping in mind the tastes of the family. For lovers of baking, roasters and bread machines are suitable, for supporters of a healthy lifestyle - steamers, gourmets - microwaves and convection ovens. Most of these devices do not need to be built in, so you can always put them out of sight, take them with you to the dacha, and even on a trip.
Roaster
The easiest way is to replace the oven with its miniature copy - a roaster. This small-sized appliance can bake pies, cook roasts, brown sandwiches, defrost food - in a word, you can do almost everything in it that you can do in a regular oven, from crackers to baked meat.
A mini roaster oven (volume from 5-6 liters) is suitable for preparing small portions. For a large family or dinner parties, they are too small (although there are models up to 20 liters), but for two or three people they are quite enough.
They are easy to control: unlike modern electronic ovens, roasters are still equipped with a mechanical switch. If your family doesn’t have a weakness for baking, you can save money and energy by choosing a roaster oven without convection or grill.
Microwave
The most common alternative option today is the microwave oven. This device saves the housewife’s time, takes up less space than an oven, and is not inferior to the latter in culinary talent, although it is often used only for heating ready-made dishes. In vain! Depending on the set of functions in the microwave, you can bake pies, make casseroles, stew chicken, steam rice and vegetables, or grill meat.
The operating principle of a microwave oven is different from an oven and a roaster. Products undergo heat treatment under the influence of electromagnetic microwaves (they are also called ultra-frequency, or microwave), which heat not the food, but the liquid contained in it (the water evaporates, rising upward in the form of steam).
It is believed that with this cooking method, food retains natural moisture, vitamins and salts. For lovers of buns, pizza, and pies, convection ovens are available. Meat eaters should take a closer look at models with a grill: chicken or baked pork turns out very tasty in it.
There are two types of grills in microwaves: heating element and quartz. The first is a metal pipe with a heating element inside, which takes up part of the chamber space and makes it difficult to clean. A quartz grill with a lamp hidden in the ceiling of the chamber is more convenient. It heats up faster, requires less space, and is easy to clean.
The size of the microwave also matters. If its task is not just to heat a plate of soup, but also to cook, then you can get by with a medium-sized model (20-28 l), which has both a grill and convection. A microwave with a capacity of up to 41 liters (there are some) can fit a huge saucepan or a pork leg, but in this case it is close in size to an oven and also takes up a lot of space.
What is an air fryer?
Reference! An air grill is a heat-resistant glass bowl, which varies in volume, covered with a lid.
It contains a heater and a fan. The heater makes the air hot, and the fan distributes it in different directions, which allows food to cook evenly.
Technical features and capabilities
How are air fryers different? can act as a heater in an air fryer
- TEN – tubular electric heater;
- Halogen lamps.
Air grills with heating elements have a longer service life, on average 8-10 years, while halogen heaters - 3 years.
The heating temperature of such an element is much higher than that of halogen lamps.
For your information! Among the advantages of halogen: the glass of the bowl does not oxidize or corrode, the price of such a device is much lower.
According to the type of control , air fryers are divided into:
- Mechanical;
- Electronic.
A mechanically controlled convection oven has only one mode specified by the manufacturer. Electronic control adds capabilities to this device.
You can adjust the heating and air speed, you can use a timer, temperature maintenance and self-cleaning functions. Mechanically controlled devices are cheaper.
The volume of the air fryer bowl can also be different: minimum 2 liters, maximum 12.
Functionality and price largely depend on the volume of the bowl - the larger it is, the more functional it is, but the price is correspondingly higher.
The airbag cover can be stationary or removable.
You should know! The air fryer can be supplied with grates of different heights for preparing several dishes at the same time, a skewer, a spit, and a tripod.
There may also be a stand in the form of a grid for steaming and deep-frying and a metal ring to increase the volume of the bowl.
What can you cook?
If we are talking about a device in which the heating temperature is regulated (as a rule, its range varies from +60 to +260 degrees), then, without exaggeration, you can cook everything there without using vegetable oil. You can cook first courses, stew, fry until golden brown and deep-fry, bake. He can also easily prepare porridge and baked goods, make jam, and dry mushrooms and fruits .
also make yogurt, steam it, and even smoke it. The air fryer can also defrost and reheat
In fact, this device can replace several other kitchen appliances: microwave, oven, multicooker, kebab maker, dryer, steamer, etc.
Disadvantages of the device
- The larger the glass bowl , the more capabilities the device has, but the more space it takes up and the more weight it has. to wash such a bowl due to its size . And even if you don’t wash it, since the device has a self-cleaning function, you still need to remove food and fat from it, and with a large volume this is not so easy to do.
- Lid and bowl get very hot. If the lid is stationary, you need to be careful when tilting it so as not to get burned. And if the lid is removable, then it needs to be attached somewhere when opening. And whatever it can be placed on must be heat-resistant. When taking out food, you can get burned on both the bowl and various devices such as grates and nets. If dishes are prepared in several tiers at the same time, then getting them out is problematic: you need to remove the previous level to get to the next one.
- Do not let water come into contact with a hot glass bowl - it may burst.
See our ranking of the best air fryers at this link. We have selected the most popular devices with characteristics, pros and cons, as well as current prices.
Bread maker
If you only need the oven for baking, it can easily be replaced by a more convenient bread maker. This device will prepare muffins for breakfast, fresh fragrant bread for lunch, and scones and homemade jam for evening tea.
even forget about tedious kneading of dough; the bread machine can handle this too. Its lucky owner will only need to choose good flour (the quality of the bread depends on this), put the necessary ingredients into the chamber and set the program. When the baked goods are ready, the device will allow it to cool slightly and only then notify the owners with an audible signal.
You can refuel the device in the evening and get warm bread in the morning - for this, the device has a delayed start function. At the same time, the choice of bread can be like in the best bakery: honey, mustard, with nuts, herbs, vegetables, raisins. You just need to look at the recipe book that comes with the bread machine.
A special device for making preserves and preserves is a godsend for those with a sweet tooth. In addition, he can make jelly and cook porridge no worse than a village stove.
Double boiler
She is the best au pair for those who lead a healthy lifestyle. Just by the name it’s easy to guess how the device works: dishes are steamed. Cooking in a double boiler retains more vitamins and nutrients than frying or baking.
Modern appliances have up to three levels, on each of which you can cook different foods, and at the same time. It is better to place vegetables at the top (they reach readiness faster), and meat and fish at the bottom. This method will save cooking time and rid the kitchen of unnecessary odors: food on the lower level often absorbs the juice flowing from above. If this is undesirable, take a closer look at models with independent baskets located next to each other - odors will not mix in them.
Advantages and disadvantages
First, let's look at all the advantages and why you can use an air fryer in the kitchen:
- The product can be used in the country house, in the courtyard of a private house, for example, by installing it on an open veranda or in a gazebo. During operation, it does not smoke and does not emit unpleasant odors, like its counterpart in the oven, because the lid closes hermetically.
- The product can be used to stew vegetables, cook meat and fish, and sterilize jars for preservation.
- Having set the optimal temperature, you can simmer food, smoke it, or cook porridge according to an old recipe, like in a Russian oven.
- The product helps prepare healthy food without adding oil or fat, which is especially important for dietary nutrition.
- It saves a lot of time: in half an hour you can use it to prepare a full three-course meal - first, second and dessert.
- During the cooking process of different products, their flavors do not mix.
- You can cook shish kebab or fried ribs equally well; the finished product looks tempting and exudes aroma.
- User participation is only necessary during the preparation of the dish - cut the meat into portions, put all the prepared ingredients inside the working bowl. All further preparation takes place offline; you can only watch the process through the glass.
- Odors from under the lid do not leak into the room, so people who are allergic to strong odors can calmly go about their business.
Now a few words about the shortcomings:
- the versatility of the product is a skillful marketing ploy by the manufacturers;
- baking turns out much worse than in the oven, because the bottom of the pie or pies is not baked to the desired condition;
- The capacity of the product is not enough to bake chicken or duck, not to mention goose or turkey - you need to cut it into pieces so that everything is fried completely.
Therefore, many consumers wonder whether such a device is needed in the kitchen.
Air fryer
An air fryer or oven is an equivalent choice. This device can work as a double boiler, as a grill in the microwave, as a deep fryer, and even as a mini smokehouse. It got its name from the principle of operation: cooking in a convection oven occurs under the influence of hot air pumped by a fan.
inside the glass bowl , but when cooking several dishes at the same time, you need to remember that the smells of different dishes are sometimes incompatible.
In this device you can
smoke or stew meat, cook ham and kebabs, fry fish, cook soup, porridge, mulled wine, jam, bake pizza and pies, dry mushrooms and fruits, sterilize jars for homemade pickles - it all depends on the chosen model.
The performance of the device is directly related to the number of fan speeds: the more there are, the more recipes the convection oven can handle.
Comparing technical specifications
Before purchasing this or that device, you need to find out how a convection oven differs from an oven.
Coinciding functions of a convection oven and a home oven
These units have several identical capabilities, namely:
- Heating. Air fryers have a built-in program for heating food, and in the oven you can set the required temperature;
- Drying. Any air fryer or oven will do a good job of drying mushrooms, berries and preparing crackers;
- Convection. Modern ovens, like grills, have a fan function for uniform baking.
To understand whether a convection oven or an oven is better, you need to identify the advantages of each device.
Air fryer capabilities
The distinctive qualities of this kitchen device include the following functions:
- Smoking. Due to high temperatures (up to 300 degrees), it is possible to cook various types of sausages and hot smoked fish. Due to the complete sealing of the flask, no pungent odors or smoke are released during the cooking process;
- Sterilization of jars. Due to the convenient shape and the presence of a special mode, you can quickly and safely prepare glass containers for making pickles;
- Cooking several dishes at the same time. The process occurs without mixing odors, heating food evenly at all levels;
- Stewing, defrosting.
Air fryer
Distinctive features of the oven
Ovens have a more limited set of functions, so they cannot act as a universal kitchen appliance. The positive properties of this unit are:
- Baking function. Pies, cookies and any baked goods turn out tastier due to the heating characteristics of the equipment;
- Baking speed. Cooking food in the oven is faster due to the large temperature range.
- Amount of food prepared. Even a small oven is larger than the largest air fryer.
Multicooker
This miracle pan
appeared on the market not so long ago, but has already managed to win the hearts of millions. Now this is one of the most purchased kitchen units. And all because the multicooker saves our time and cooks practically without our participation.
Load the ingredients, install the desired program, and you are free! Everything else is a matter of technique. You don’t need to stand over the stove, nothing will burn or run away, and the food always tastes excellent. The most amazing thing is that in a slow cooker you can not only cook soups, porridges, compotes and stew everything you can, but also bake biscuits, muffins, charlottes and bread. You just need to choose a model with a baking function.
In general, it is not surprising that modern housewives are increasingly asking the question: “multi-cooker or oven, which is better?”
