If you’re not a homeowner with the budget to create your own, built-to-order kitchen, you’re most likely just stuck with what you’ve got. As an apartment dweller, I am at the mercy of the landlord — whether or not they’ve upgraded the appliances in my 3-bedroom since 1989 is entirely up to them, and as a result, my kitchen isn’t exactly what you’d call well-equipped. The dishwasher opens up directly in front of the sink, and only one person can be in there at a time without feeling totally claustrophobic.
Perhaps most importantly (or awfully), the stove that I use day-in, day-out, is a total piece of shit. Since moving in less than a year ago, maintenance has already replaced the heating element in my electric oven, along with repairing connections for two of the wobbly, uneven burners on the stove. Even with those repairs, it is still an relentlessly terrible appliance. Forget baking or roasting anything approaching evenly, I do well to avoid burning everything I throw in there to a complete and total crisp.
Which is why when I received a sous vide machine for testing, I couldn’t have been more excited. I was initially skeptical of the sous vide method, but once I got the hang of it, I found that I hadn’t turned my oven on in more than a month. I was still using the stove to sear meats that had been slow-cooked into mouthwatering delicacies, but that was about it. The appeal of perfectly-cooked chicken, steak, and pork was just too much for me to consider ruining a nice cut in my awful oven.
Then, I started looking for more ways to avoid using that hideous hunk of junk. I used a torch to sear meats after a dip in the sous vide, to uneven results. I wasn’t using a pricey Searzall attachment, so some corners of my steak were far more browned (read: burned) than others. In my quest, I quickly learned that it was possible to replace most, if not all, of my oven’s functions with just three gadgets — my sous vide machine and vacuum sealer, an air fryer, and the trusty old microwave. The results were surprisingly impressive.
The sous vide had already taken the place of those heavy-ass roasting pans in my cabinet, but it wasn’t good for much of anything that needed to be cooked in less than an hour. Beyond that, it couldn’t fry, bake, or sear a damn thing. After a little research, I discovered the Philips Airfyer, a machine that promises to fry and roast traditionally unhealthy foods like French fries with less than a tablespoon of oil. As if I didn’t need enough motivation with my stove mishaps, the idea of preparing delicious fried foods in a healthy manner was incredibly intriguing.
Once I received my Philips Viva Collection Air Fryer, I set to work in making just about anything I could get my hands on. The machine is basically just a small convection oven that is capable of heating up quickly, reaching 400 degrees in just four minutes. The first recipe I tried was simple — naked chicken wings. I had high standards for these wings, and was skeptical that the air fryer could produce the crispy, dressing-drenched wings that I craved. I asked a butcher for two pounds of split chicken wings — who wants to do butchering when they’re trying to make their lives easier — and prepared them for the air fryer.
To really test Philips’ “one tablespoon of oil” brag, I measured out a single tablespoon of safflower oil and tossed it with the chicken wings, along with a little garlic salt and pepper. I layered the wings into the air fryer’s “oven,” a small drawer with room to prepare about two or three portions of food. The directions included with the fryer said to let the machine cook the wings for about 20 minutes, so I closed the door, set the timer, and said a little prayer to the culinary gods.
When I opened the drawer of the air fryer, I was met with an incredibly delicious odor of crispy-fried chicken skin. The wings hadn’t quite crisped up to the point that I wished, so I simply shut the door and waited about three more minutes. I then had a batch of chicken wings that rivaled any deep-fried bird that I’d had at any wing joint ever. These were the best chicken wings of all time, and I could technically call them healthy. Perhaps even better, the fat that dripped away from the wings was pure, decadent schmaltz — which I quickly strained into a jar for future use.
From there, I just threw different foods into the air fryer to see what happened. Leftover French fries and falafel were surprisingly returned to an edible state after lingering in the refrigerator for a few hours, and any frozen Trader Joe’s convenience entree came out better than putting it in the oven. Carrots, brussels sprouts, and potatoes all roasted perfectly, perhaps even crispier than when in the oven. The biggest challenge I faced was when I removed a 1-pound ribeye steak from the sous vide, and realized that the single large burner on my stove was totally broken. How the hell am I going to sear this thing?
