Salter EK5196 Dual Air Pro – 7.6 L Digital Air Fryer, Sync & Match Cook Function, Oil Free Fryer, Sensor Touch Display, 10 Cooking Functions, 60 Min Timer, Non-Stick Cooking, Stainless Steel, 1700 W

Product Information

Air fryers are surging in popularity, as we all become increasingly health-conscious and try to cut down on our calories, as well as our energy bills. They're well established now, and more and more innovations are appearing as manufacturers try to create the perfect multi-function kitchen tool. Overall though, the Salter performs brilliantly. It's a big machine, but it's keenly-priced, easy to get to grips with, comes with good instructions and a recipe book, and it has the loudest "beep" of the two. Which is handy for those of us with kitchens a fair walk away from the living room. While the Salter comes with a recipe booklet, there will obviously be some of your favourite recipes that aren’t included.

One of the most popular foods to air fry is potatoes with different options for chips, potato wedges and roast potatoes. If you were cooking meats, you would do exactly the same but insert the temperature probe once done - which will tell you how cooked it is in the middle. The drawers are bigger, too. Nine and-a-half litres of cooking space overall with the Ninja. Although it doesn't make all that much difference in the real world to be honest. Just like the Salter there's a sync and match setting and, just like the Salter, it swallows up a small basket of chips with ease.The process for roasting in an air fryer is much the same process as air fried foods. While the setting may require a little longer time, it is worth it for that classic taste. Rather than rely on an array of buttons, the Ninja comes with a rotary nob which sets up most of its six functions. It's easier than you'd think to use, and I actually started to prefer the nob over the Salter's array of buttons. It has a good weight to it, and feels very responsive.

What makes this product so good is its versatility. As well as Speedi meals, it can also act as a slow cooker, and it can sear food with the lid open. That’s handy for starting ingredients off before slow cooking, or for finishing meals: I cooked rice, and then added some pre-cooked beef strips, onions and peppers, sautéing the food to get it piping hot. That’s hugely flexible, and we found that this air fryer made short work of all dinners, letting us cook two different parts of the dinner to finish at the same time, or just increase the total capacity for one part. Testing, we found that chips came out perfectly, and frozen food was dealt with brilliantly. It’s quite a beast, but if you use an air fryer all of the time, cook large portions (or for lots of people) and want quality results each time, then there’s nothing better than this model. Some other foods were less impressive. I couldn’t get frozen hash browns to crisp up quite as much as I wanted, for example. Doubtless the limited top temperature is partly to blame here, but I did get perfect results from the Proscenic T22, which only goes 5℃ hotter. And while corn on the cob was fine, it wasn’t browned evenly and as deliciously caramelised as you might get from a grill. Still, it did a good job when cooking Quorn sausages from frozen. Most also come with a recipe booklet for culinary inspiration, which is ideal if you’re new to air frying.It works brilliantly, too. Mid-week we made halloumi kebabs and rice in one pot, in just 15 minutes. That’s good going, and there’s very little mess at the end.