I think one thing you are overlooking in your comparison, is cooking times. I am not interested in these combi oven things because I agree if you have one then the savings will take ages. But when you are comparing an air fryer to a conventional fan assisted oven, then the oven is required to warm up firstly. Secondly, the cooking times as my chicken example, were three times the length………

https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

    What does meat cooked in an air fryer taste and feel like, I occassionally watch the shopping channels where they throw in a joint of beef and 10 minutes later it’s cooked and they say tender but I find that hard to believe unless it was a very pricey top quality piece. Surely meat needs a long slow roast in its own fat and juices. I might be a philistine on coffee beans but not with meat.

      dfk41 the article I posted included this factor, and the shorter cooking times and shorter warm up time were the benefit. Once up to temp the oven used less electricity to stay warm than the air fryer, which makes sense as modern ovens are very well insulated.

        SurreyAlan Have not done beef yet although I did do a medium sized gammon joint in about 55 minutes that had perfect crackling and was succulent. A trick I learnt recently, was to cook a shoulder of pork in the slow cooker. Stick nothing in but the meat, turn it on low (or high if time pushes) and leave it for 5 hours. Then take the rind off and air fry for fantastic crackling!

        https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

          SurreyAlan I have a slightly different situation, as I don’t have a dedicated air fryer. I have a countertop convection oven that has an air fryer function. For typical things that you would use an air fryer for, it does quite well.

          I agree that it seems a little hard to believe that meat that you would normally roast would benefit from an air fryer. IN general, the reason for slowly roasting a piece of meat is to give it an environment where the collagen in the piece of meat can break down. Collagen in its native form is not a lot of fun to eat. But given (lowish) heat and time, collagen breaks down into gelatin. Gelatin adds the sensation of moisture to the meat, and makes it super yummy.

          When roasting a piece of meat, there are several things you’re trying to accomplish at once. The combination of heat and time causes fat to render, collagen to convert to gelatin, and the proteins in the meat to transform from their raw state to a cooked state if they are on the inside, and the proteins on the surface to undergo the Maillard reaction that causes browning. Low and slow BBQ smoking sets up the same sort of environment.

          Most conventional roast beef recipes call for an initial roast at a relatively high temperature, followed by a longer roasting time at a lower temperature. The initial blast of heat gets the browning going, and the second part accomplishes the cooking of the fat, protein, and collagen.

          An air fryer would help with the browning, but is probably not ideal for inducing collagen breakdown. I suppose you could make the argument that part of air fryer is the fan that moves air around, and that air movement leads to faster cooking between getting rid of hot and cold spots and increased convection. But that’s also what a convection oven does. I would say that’s really the difference between roasting in a convection oven vs. a non-convection oven, and not a factor for the air fryer specifically.

            Who waits for an oven to fully warm!? Just whack your food in and leave it a few minutes longer.

            And I’ve just had a thought of what could probably save more money, a decent food thermometer. Most food doesn’t need cooking as long as the instructions say, especially things like chicken. You’d use less energy and have better food

            Here’s another helpful tip to save money on cooking - go to the chip shop. You’re welcome. :-)

            Many years ago we went to restaurant and ordered roast beef, the chap came out with slices of raw beef, popped it in the oven and a few minutes later roast beef appeared. This Sunday we went to a pub and had roast beef. I wondered if they adopted a similar method as the slices were so uniform they must have been cut on a ham slicer, I suppose the joint could have been roasted then sliced and warmed up by the gravy or could you cook a joint by slicing first and cooking quickly. More thin steak than a roast but caterers must have lots of tricks they use to get meals out quickly.

              Yeah used to go to Preto once every two months or so eat as much as you can if I remember correctly was £15.99 and weekdays lunch time £9.99. Loved their kupim. Could eat only that :)

              Good old days.