T-Fal ActiFry Review: 4 out of 5 wine glasses:
Mike and I eat a LOT of potatoes. If we’re eating anything other than a sandwich or pasta, chances are there is a potato involved. We almost had a potato baby when one fell off the side of the refrigerator and we found it weeks later; it had grown what looked like arms and legs and… well, if it had eventually danced out of there on its own, wearing a top hat and spats, we probably would have chased it down and eaten it, too.
One of our standby potato dishes is the humble french fry, which for years we’ve been making in a big pan with olive oil or just Pam if we’re feeling healthy. We’re really good at them, but sometimes we put them in the pan and start watching a movie and drinking wine, and the next thing you know they’re a little burnt. We’ll set the pan too low the next time for fear of burning them, and then they’ll take two hours to brown.
T-Fal ActiFry Review: For the distracted chef in you.
For all these reasons, we splurged and bought ourselves the T-fal Actify which promised to cook perfect fried potatoes using only a table spoon of oil.
Damned if it doesn’t.
We cut potatoes into cubes or fries, toss them in the T-Fal Actifry, and 45 minutes later they are perfect. They’re not McDonald’s dropped-in-fry-grease amazing, but they are nice and crispy and soft on the inside.
Our T-Fal Actifry Successes thus far:
- Fried Mushrooms (no batter, just the mushrooms)
- Fried Shrimp (battered with flour and bread crumbs)
- Fries of every conceivable shape and size
- I’ve also successfully substituted no calorie spray butter for the oil, though I know one day they’ll tell me spray butter is what killed me.
- Tried shaking some vinegar on the fries when they are getting close to done. Yum.
The T-Fal Actifry comes with a large recipe book and there are more recipes online at the T-Fal Actifry site. It can make soups and sauces, too, but I have other things for making those, so I haven’t tried.
It’s sort of bulky, so you have to have somewhere to keep it, but it is easy to clean. Also, it’s like T-Fal called in Playskool to do the Actifry’s timer. When it goes off it isn’t terribly loud and it doesn’t shut off the machine, so you do have to pay a little attention. Easy fix: just don’t start the second bottle of Malbec until it’s done.
I offer this T-Fal Actifry review because if there is someone in your life who wouldn’t be offended by a cooking appliance Christmas, the T-Fal Actifry makes a great, if a bit pricey, present.
It’s gotta be better than when you gave her the complete Steven Seagal gift set just so you could watch it, you selfish bastard.