T3 - UK (2022-03)

MORE FRYING

TONIGHT

INSTANT KORMA

22 T3 MARCH 2022

Horizon

SOMETHING IN THE AIR

Instant Vortex’s air fryers will whip up healthy meals pronto

Instant Vortex is the air fryer range from

Instant Brands, which also makes Instant

Pot. Now, in an instant, it has released

three new Instant Vortex air fryers, each

of which has its own killer feature (from

£120, instantbrands.co.uk).

People love air fryers because they’re a

convenient way to cook and they have

some health benefits. And because people

just love kitchen gizmos – just look at the

success of Instant Pots, which are quite

literally pressure cookers with knobs on.

The health benefits of air fryers are

easy to overstate, but if you usually deep

fry all your food or pan fry it in a ton of

oil, lard, dripping and butter, you will

definitely reduce your fat intake if you buy

an air fryer and use that instead. They

may not literally fry food using ‘air’, but

only a little tiny bit of oil – about a

teaspoonful, or a few quick squirts from

an oil spray.

The top-of-the-range entry here is the

Instant Vortex Plus Dual Drawer 8-in-1 Air

Fryer with ClearCook. With two 3.8-litre

drawers, it’s got a capacity vast enough

for ‘up to 8 servings’, although that might

depend on how greedy you are.

The standout feature here, at least

according to Instant Vortex, is the

ClearCook Window technology. As the

name suggests, there’s a window on each

of the two baskets, so you can see how

your dinner is progressing on its way to

golden brown crispness.

A SyncCook setting lets you cook both

drawers on the same temperature for the

same amount of time, while a cunning

SyncFinish mode will delay whichever

basket takes less time, so that both are

ready to eat simultaneously.

Also in the range are the entry-level

Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air Fryer with

ClearCook. This is a scaled down fryer

with only one drawer, and a 5.7-litre/

six-portion capacity. Instant Vortex says

the ‘ClearCook Window and easy-to-use

interface will transform the way you cook

and will have friends and family asking for

more,’ and who can say fairer than that?

Arguably the most interesting of the

three new friers, however is the – deep

breath – Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air

Fryer with ClearCook + OdourErase. The

potentially killer feature here is the

presence of two grease filters that stop

grease and odours from ending up on

your food.’ Over time, grease build-up can

become an issue with air fryers, and it can

have quite unpleasant effects on the food.

So the addition of a filter is good news,

especially if the two things you really like

to cook in your fryer are heavily spiced

and garlicky curries, and cup cakes.

VORWERK

THERMOMIX TM6

This one is a little pricier, but

then it has just travelled here

from the future. Replacing

over 20 appliances, it slices,

mixes and cooks meals using

an online recipe database. All

you do is toss in ingredients

and press a few buttons.

£1,149, vorwerk.co.uk

NINJA FOODI

SMARTLID OL750

With its built-in temperature

probe, this makes meat

cookery all but foolproof. The

SmartLid part of it somehow

houses all the elements

needed in order to be both an

Instant-Pot-style pressure

cooker and an air fryer.

£300, ninjakitchen.co.uk

TOWER 10-IN-1 AIR

FRYER XPRESS PRO

COMBO

The UK’s favourite air fryer

brand serves up a microwave-

sized air fryer and multi

cooker that includes – yes! – a

goddamn rotisserie. Now you

can cook like it’s the 1970s

and eat like you’re Henry VIII.

£140, towerhousewares.co.uk

IMAGE SOURCE: INSTANT BRANDS

IMAGE SOURCE: TOWER

IMAGE SOURCE: NINJA

IMAGE SOURCE: VORWERK