I have never been catfished by a kitchen appliance before, but I was always going to be vulnerable to the air fryer’s promise of “fabulous chips – just add air”. “Next level amazzzzing,” one Instagrammer panted. Another called it “a total gamechanger when it comes to cooking”, while Gordon Ramsay claimed the results are like food “cooked in oil, but [the air fryer] locks in the juice and the flavour is extraordinary”.
Admittedly, Ramsay was starring in an advert for the Philips Airfryer at the time. But if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is: Philips was rapped over the knuckles by the Advertising Standards Authority in 2012 for that “just add air” tagline, given that the small print specified that oil was needed to produce the crisp, golden chips seen on screen (Philips now claims, more modestly, that its product requires “90% less fat”). To be honest, that wasn’t a deal-breaker for me. Anything that significantly reduces the litres of oil required for deep-fat frying is still an attractive prospect.
