hi Mary ann. as the owner of both a deep fryer and an Actifry, I find they both have their merrits. While you may well be right regarding the fat content of fresh fries, most of the fries I cook are frozen and i feel there is a lot more than one or two tablesppoonsful of oil absorbed in them. either that or i'm not draining them properly. The only issue i have with your message is your implication the ActiFry is not a real kitchen gadget and therefore a waste of money. a lot of people choose for one reason or another not to use a deep fryer, the biggest reason i've found in the blind community is lack of confidence in dealing with large quantities of oil. The ActiFry is great for people like that, or for people like me who enjoy the taste of the food out of it. There are a lot of appliances and other kitchen products out there that I'd never dream of purchasing, but i wouldn't go so far as to say they're not real gadgets. What suits one person is obviosly not going to suit another. Anyway, I guess we can say you won't be buying an ActiFry in the future. lol! Cheers Andrew
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Ann Marchand" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 6:19 PM Subject: [CnD] The Activfry The Actifry from Tefal purports to "fry" potatoes in a tablespoon of oil. This is, apparently, a healthier way to make French Fries. You drop in a couple of pounds of cut potatoes and a small scoop of oil and the Actifry goes to work, stirring the 'taters to cover them in a film of oil and blowing hot air to cook them. Let's look at a little bit of food science. When deep frying something starchy (like a potato), as soon as the food hits the hot oil, water inside vaporizes, creating an outward pressure and preventing the absorption of fat. If you pull out the fries as soon as they are fluffy and brown, the only oil will be on the surface. And if you drain them properly, then not much of that sticks around. Compared to your "healthy" mayonnaise drenched salad (mayo is almost 100% oil), French Fries are virtually fat free. Back to the Actifry. Cold oil will soak in and then be heated. Almost all of that oil will stay in the potato. And you've just wasted $150 that could have been spent on real kitchen gadgets. _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list [email protected] http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list [email protected] http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark
