How’s that for a chip butty? |
I don’t usually do reviews on my blog. To be fair, I’m never asked! However, I must have become rather excited on a review post by Tim on “Bringing up Charlie” when I commented on the Tefal Actifry he had been asked to test. I recalled a defining moment in the relationship with my lovely husband, when, for our first Christmas together, he bought me a deep-fat fryer on Christmas Eve. He didn’t even wrap it: bought it from a local supermarket and hoisted it out of the boot of the car to show me. If I remember rightly, when I asked him why he had chosen such a thoughtful gift, the best he could come up with was “I really fancied some chips”.
Our deep-fat fryer kept us going for a few years but I wasn’t keen on the huge slabs of lard I had to put into the machine. Then there was the smell: after a few sessions the whiff was so unpleasant we had cook our chips on the back step of the kitchen so the pong would waft outside. The neighbours must have loved us.
We have managed for the last 15 years with no fryer: oven chips have sufficed. But they’re not the same, are they? So Dougie and Rory were just a bit excited when we were asked to test the family-sized Tefal Actifry over the holidays.
Chips in….press start |
Approx 40 mins later….ping! |
Beautifully-cooked chips
No horrible smell
Hardly any oil needed so very healthy
Capacity for up to 1.5kg chips
Very simple to use
Ability to cook potato wedges, stir-fries and even chilli con carne
Teenage boys and their friends loved it.
Cons
It is big and bulky – would need its own cupboard.
Price – about £200, but shop around for discounts.
I didn’t have the urge to cook anything bar potatoes in it: I do prefer a wok for stir-fries so I can pretend I’m a celebrity chef.
Husband craved an unhealthy, oily chip after a while. Caught him looking wistfully out of the car window as we passed the local chippy.
Would I buy one?
I would have to have a clear-out of gadgets before I contemplated spending more money. Out would go the pasta maker, the grilling machine, the sandwich maker, the electric fondue, the Simpsons doughnut-maker and the ice-cream maker…. and then I might find a home for it.
Probably cheaper to go to the chippy.
Used to do ours in big pan wiv oil plopped onto a teatowel afterwards and Bob's-yer-unc but then I kept having more children. Just not enough time and teatowels in the world. Crap oven chips-R-Us.
Chippy chips a true treat.
Try saying that 10 times after a slug of onion vinegar.
Chips…. waaaaaugh…..! Sorry. Having a Homer Simpson moment…
Madame SG – I always used teatowels for drying the potatoes before frying – never after. You must have had drawers full of the things!!
Steve – would you like the Simpsons' doughnut maker? Mmmmmm donuts…..
I'm a fan of Jamie Oliver's oven baked chips. Heated olive oil on baking sheet, chips spread over, tossed half way, come out great.
They are more roast potatoes in the shape of chips though but taste FAB.
I wouldn't buy that machine. If you're gonna have chips you might as well make them properly with plenty of good oil. Taste is all and if they're unhealthy, just don't make them too often.
I'm impressed at the number of gadgets you have. Do you use them? I have a sarnie/waffle maker which I rediscovered the other week and made a toasted sarnie, first one for a decade or so… 🙂
I think I threw my chippy out as it stank.
Sarah – I use a similar recipe for chips/wedges and find it works really well too. Just as easy to use a baking tray than a big machine.
I'd be worried about a proper chip pan from the safety point of view – didn't a man and his son die in their house recently when the chip pan caught fire and they couldn't find the key to their front door? I couldn't trust myself: I leave the gas on as it is!
All the gadgets mentioned are now gathering dust after the novelty wore off (though the electric fondue, a gift, has never been used). The only gadget I swear by is my Nespresso machine. I absolutely adore it and have never gone back to instant coffee at home since I bought it 2 years ago.
I did consider buying that machine briefly, after reading about it on BUC but as we are 'empty nesters' now and there is a chippy a few minutes away we just buy them there…and I used to make home made chips and dry them on a tea towel just like you did Trish…oh those long gone days of smelly kitchens and telling the kids not to have too much ketchup….I do miss them!
Libby – we've managed for years without one so I'm sure I can resist. There's always mash!
No can't see us clearing out to have one but deep fried sausages are a weakness of mine…on occassion I might add, honestly I AM on a diet!!!!
Chip butties are a must have. I used to use a deep fat fryer but didn't like it. Have had oven chips ever since and they're not the same. I look forward to my chippy night on a Saturday!
CJ xx
Tattie – deep fried bangers! Blimey that sounds good.
CJ – The chips done in an Actifry certainly look far better than oven chips because they are hand-cut (by me!). They tasted better than oven chips but Hubby not convinced they tasted as good as a chip-shop chip.
If I were dithering between a deep-fat fryer and an Actifry I'd definitely go for the latter.
You have an unused fondue machine? Unused? Wow, I love cheese fondue! I have a crappy old fondue set that I can't use because it burns the bottom of the cheese the metal is so thin, so I have to use a le Creuset pot and balance it on the burner.
By the chip pan I meant a safety fryer. Actually I looked in the cupboard and didn't throw it out, it's still there. Must remember to chuck it at my next trip to the dump.
Sarah – I don't like cheese! What an admission haha! I could do a meat or chocolate fondue though. Maybe I will dig it out from back of cupboard and give it a whirl. Will report back.
Was quite taken with the idea of this chip maker until I read the price and then said out loud (to an empty room) "Bloody Hell!". Sounds a very expensive way of making chips.
My mum always did them in a wire basket in a chip pan and they were delicious but Mrs Troy insists on oven heated chips which are hard, dry and tasteless.
Thanks for the marital advice – will remember to wrap up a chip-maker if I buy one for Mrs Troy's birthday.
Finally, why can't these Scottish people be honest and say they bought it for the Mars bars?
Troy – they do a smaller one which seems to sell on some websites for about £100. That might tempt me. I do think they are one up from an oven chip but husband would still prefer the grease (and doubtless the mars bar batter).
I had my revenge the year after the fryer debacle – I bought him a trouser press and didn't wrap it either.
The Tefal Actifry looks brilliant but I can't get one because it'd be chip butties for breakfast lunch and dinner and I'd be the size of a medium sized lorry. Ah, but a girl can dream, I suppose …
Emma – at least they would be healthy chip butties: less than 3% fat. You would just overdose on carbs instead.
Wasn't the Actifry the one that kept catching fire?
Wylye Girl – Good point. Have checked: looks like there were some complaints about it smoking and sparks coming from it. Manufacturers say it's passed all the tests and is safe – though I would always keep an eye on any electrical item with a heating element.
Two hundred pounds!! Mr Chippy could do you a lifetime's worth of visits for that price! Mind you, having said that I've just shelled out for a breadmaker…Just back from a very cold Lincs. With flu.x
Kate – you can probably get it a bit cheaper but it's still pricey. Bread-maker sounds good; let's hope the novelty doesn't wear off!
It has been really cold here – sorry for that! Hope you're better soon x
The meanies – didn't they let you keep it?
I was the same as you and bought a deep fat chip pan years ago, and we absolutely lived on the bloody delicious things for weeks as it was such a cheap and easy option to be a lazy, fat, spotty slag. And that horrible smell! It had to go. We wore black arm bands for weeks.
Now I have an Aga and it does cook lovely potato wedges cooked in olive oil and garlic – no smell and I kid myself it is slightly healthier! Once or twice a month only, though!! (sorry hubby – I know egg and chips are your favourite but I don't want you to be a middle aged chubster!!)
Diney – no, I had to send it back. Huh!
I think if I really, really had to have chips it would be worth the investment but a baking tray full of wedges is very easy and, with olive oil as you suggest, is a perfectly healthy, Mediterranean-style option.
Mind you, just reading 'egg and chips' is making me salivate. As I now have no frier, a fried egg buttie will have to do!
They do look good however £200 for a chip pan is extortionate.
Did Rory put them on a pizza?
Very Bored – I know! Although most websites offer it cheaper than that, it's still a big purchase. But hey you can fry sausages in it too!
Rory would happily have put them on a pizza but I do have standards… *coughs*