Dr Rupy: I personally love my air fryer. I've been using it at home and in the Doctor's Kitchen studio since the start of the year, but can they be considered a healthier cooking method? This is a question I'm often posed online, so we thought we'd do a bit of research and look at a few studies. Air fryers aren't a new invention. In fact, they've been around for a number of years, but the popularity of them has soared over the last two years, particularly in response to the cost of living crisis, as it was seen as a cost-effective and cheaper cooking method. The way air fryers cook food is by circulating hot air containing tiny droplets of oil around food to actually mimic the effect of submerging food in hot oil, but using significantly less oil. So it allows quick and even cooking and creates that glorious crispy coating on the outside of food with less calories from oil. Hence the reputation for being a healthier alternative. On today's episode, we're going to look at the pros and cons of air frying across a number of domains, including cost and convenience, preservation of nutrients, the detrimental impact of excessive heat on the oils and the fats used, how they compare with other methods, including oven roasting and sautéing, the environmental impact, considering the materials that they are made from, as well as the cost savings, plus our overall take on how I'm now using my air fryer and newer gadgets to look out for. Remember, you can watch this podcast on YouTube where you can see me and Sakina Akoko, science writer and researcher at the Doctor's Kitchen, and our smiling faces as we talk about the research and my shock horror when she tells me about some of the studies that she's surfaced. Plus, you can check out our seasonal Sundays and eat, listen and read newsletters, which are for free, and we give you recipes, interesting articles that will inspire you to eat well and live a healthier, happier week. Remember, the Doctor's Kitchen app is available for Android on the 29th of January. It's available to everyone from that time and you can get 14 days for free, no questions asked. Go check it out on the doctorskitchen.com website. For now, on to my podcast about air fryers and whether they are healthier or not.
Dr Rupy: Is your air fryer toxic? That is going to be the question we're going to be diving into today. I personally love my air fryer, so I'm a little bit scared about the results. I'm going to be reacting to the pros and cons because Sakina Akoko, science writer and researcher at the Doctor's Kitchen is here with me today on the podcast to discuss this very popular gadget. I'm a little bit nervous about this because as you know, I love my air fryer. I think it gives a lovely crust on certain types of food. I have Tuesdays, we have salmon and gochujang marinade, one of my favourite meals, but I'm always getting questions about whether air fryers are harmful, not just to human health, but potentially to environmental health. So that's going to be the topic of conversation we're diving into today. Air fryers, what even are they? Because this is news to you, right? You haven't come across them before.
Sakina: I was saying earlier, you see them on your countertops and you don't really know how it works. You just know your food comes out cooked and crispy in a few minutes or however long it is. I don't have one. It's like magic. Honestly, it's like so quick. I love it. It's a magic trick.
Dr Rupy: So I was like, how does it work? So I looked into it and I found a quite cool diagram. I think we'll put it on the screen.
Sakina: Yeah, we'll put it on now.
Dr Rupy: But it works by circulating hot air containing tiny droplets of oil around the food. And so the food is placed in a basket and it has vents and chambers that allow the air to circulate evenly, so it cooks the food evenly and it makes it, because it's such a small space, it makes it cook really quickly compared to an oven, for example. So it's kind of a mix between an oven using a fan and like deep frying.
Sakina: Yeah. So it's kind of like a misnomer, right? Because I guess it's not a fryer in the sense that you're dumping the whole product in hot oil. It's more like a turbo-charged oven. Just something that has a confined space, circulating air, so you get that consistent temperature across the product that you're trying to cook.
Dr Rupy: Yeah.
Sakina: Which is why it gives such great results.
Dr Rupy: And crispy because it only uses tiny droplets of oil compared to deep frying, for example, that uses a lot.
Sakina: Totally, yeah. So on the face of it, most people might think, okay, I'm using less oil, it's quicker and it's basically an oven, ergo, it's definitely going to be healthier. We're going to dive into some of those claims as well.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so it can be it can be compared to a mini convection oven because convection ovens also use hot air and a source of heat. And it's quite different from a conventional oven because a conventional oven would only use a source of heat, like the little heat pipes on the top and the bottom of the oven.
Sakina: Got you.
Dr Rupy: So yes, it could be compared to a mini convection oven, but it does use that hot oil that's dispersed and this is where it kind of can be a sign of concern maybe, but we'll look into that.
Sakina: Yeah, and we should probably put a little diagram of a convection oven and a conventional oven just to sort of clarify exactly what oven somebody might even have in their household because I don't think many people would know, okay, is my oven convection or conventional? Like how do you tell the difference?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, absolutely. I think when there's hot air being blown, so a fan, normally it would be a convection oven. So I think probably most modern ovens should be convection, but we should definitely make sure to clarify that.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think a lot of modern ovens right now have the ability to to do both as well.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, for sure. So the main difference between air fryer and oven is that the air fryer circulates hot air very rapidly in a small space. So that's why it cooks so quickly. And that's why it's way quicker than a convection oven when you're trying to cook food.
Sakina: Yeah, which is great for time-poor individuals who are trying to knock out a meal really, really quickly. And actually, you know, whilst now we have a full kitchen in our studio, before the kitchen was being built, I was relying on literally two air fryers, a chopping board and a chef's knife to knock out like meals. And that's actually how I came up with the whole diversity bowl thing, which is, you know, just collections of different foods and then you just air fry some potatoes or air fry some tempeh pieces and a bit of marinade. And it was like, it was a bit of a revelation for me because I haven't actually, I've always been very snobby about the air fryer.
Dr Rupy: Have you?
Sakina: Yeah, as a lot of sort of home cooks and chefs are as well. I never really jumped onto the air fryer train until the start of this year. And now I'm fully on and now I feel like I'm about to be derailed. So let's dive into some of the the pros, I guess, for whether air frying is healthier than the other modes of cooking.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so we looked at a few, I looked at a few studies. There's not a lot of evidence and a lot of the studies compare air frying to deep frying because it is considered an alternative to deep frying. So I didn't find a lot of studies that compared it to other cooking methods like oven baking or or sautéing. So there was a bit of a gap in the research, I think about that, which is probably because it's, I guess the popularity of air fryers is quite recent.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah.
Dr Rupy: And maybe there's not a lot of interest in in funding those studies.
Sakina: Yeah. I mean it's definitely popular. I mean, there's so many cookbooks that I'm seeing out there, like, you know, healthy air fryer books and then there's the companies that do the air fryers that are putting out their own books, but then also sort of influencers and chefs putting out air fryer dedicated books. And we should actually caveat that our newsletter has been sponsored by an air fryer in the past. So there is that sort of like conflict of interest. Obviously, I really want air fryers to be good because I enjoy them so much. But we're going to be as sort of measured as we as we can be.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, it definitely meets a need. I think like the fact that it's so popular right now, it means that we want quicker cooking and efficient, easy, just throw everything in a basket and then you get your meal. So I think we can still be aware that there is a need for people and for everyone and you to have these quick meals, especially for lunch and stuff like that at work. But what can we use and is air frying the best way to to get there? We'll see. So I think, yeah, so in terms of, I started with the pros. So I started with what would make air frying a healthy option. And basically the main argument is that when you compare it to deep frying, air frying is much better for health and it produces similar results. So most of the research compared with deep frying and overall, air frying produces way fewer harmful compounds compared to air frying. That's because heating cooking oil at high temperature produces very harmful compounds, like advanced glycation end products.
Sakina: I always call them AGEs because it's easier to sort of pronounce, but advanced glycation end products are really important molecule or compound because in excess they can cause what is described as rusting inside the human body because these AGEs, they sort of bump into things, cause inflammation. It's one of the reasons why you want to keep your glucose spikes as small and as gradual as possible because this can lead to issues that lead to a metabolic problem down the line like type two diabetes. So advanced glycation products, if they can be minimized, is a good thing.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, and as you said, it's frequent consumption. I think that's a good point to make that it's not because you eat deep fried food one time that it's going to cause a major health problems. But frequently eating those deep fried food often every day can cause a lot of problems for health and high risk of chronic diseases. So there was one study that we can call the fish cake study because we'll refer to it a few times and it's one of the main studies that was comparing different cooking methods. So they compared air fried fish cake with different types of cooking methods like deep fried, oven baked. And they found that the air fried fish cake had lower harmful compounds, so those AGEs, compared to deep fried fish cake. And there was another study that found that air frying decreased the acrylamide content by about 90% compared to deep frying. So it's a massive, massive difference. So I think that's the main argument for going for air frying compared to deep frying is this decrease in harmful compounds that we see.
Sakina: That's really interesting because a couple of years ago there were headlines about toast and burnt toast having an excess amount of acrylamides. And acrylamides, just for a bit of background, is a type of carcinogen. It's one of the reasons why in excess sort of barbecued and burnt food can be toxic and lead to cancer and is associated with cancer. So if there's something a cooking process that can reduce the number of acrylamides, that's actually a good thing. Going back to that study actually on fish cakes, which is getting me hungry.
Dr Rupy: Yeah.
Sakina: Because I'm just thinking about a fish cake, like deep frying it and stuff and sautéing. Did they have any suggestion of air fryers being better than oven-based?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so we'll go a bit more into that after in terms of the the cons of so they basically classified the different cooking methods in terms of the production of those harmful compounds in an order. So they, so yes, oven baking was better than air frying. So air frying, it was like deep frying, air frying and pan frying in a similar level to air frying depending on the the time of cooking, how long the food was cooked for. And then oven baking was the least harmful in terms of those products, those end products.
Sakina: Got you.
Dr Rupy: But in compared to deep frying, air frying was better.
Sakina: Okay.
Dr Rupy: And that's that seems to be the case for a few studies. So it seems like we can kind of confidently say that.
Sakina: That's a good takeaway, I think, because, you know, there are a lot of families, you know, from from different backgrounds that might be deep frying pakoras. I'm just thinking about a pakora, which is this veggie-based dish that's covered in batter and then you dunk it into a ton of oil and it creates this beautiful, gorgeous sort of crust that is like deeply spiced and, you know, a pakora is like one of life's best things with like a cup of chai and it's, you know, I've got all the memories sort of baked in my in my head now. If there is a way to achieve a similar end product by air frying, you probably need a big air fryer because we tend to do pakoras in big batches. But if there is a way to sort of minimize some of those acrylamides and toxic chemicals.
Dr Rupy: So do you think that if you were to use an air fryer compared to deep frying, it would produce the same results for those foods, for example?
Sakina: That's a really good question. I think you wouldn't get that sort of glutinous feel of like a little bit of oil that comes and that sort of greasiness that a lot of people would like. I would prefer it to be a little bit less oily, but that's because I'm sort of a bit adverse to those kind of textures after eating so healthily over, you know, 10, 15 years now. So you probably wouldn't have exactly the same texture, but certainly something that is comparable. And if it had markedly lower harmful compounds, I'd feel a lot better about it.
Dr Rupy: It could be worth it. And so another potential advantage compared to deep frying was that one study compared air fried and deep fried onions. So I guess like it's a similar. And they found that air fried onions had a higher concentration of polyphenols.
Sakina: Oh, I love it. Air fryers are back in my good books.
Dr Rupy: Compared to deep frying. Compared to deep frying. So it's same, it's like it's always about what you compare it to. So compared to deep frying, they had higher amounts of polyphenols, bioaccessible polyphenols in that study.
Sakina: Okay, well that's good. That is good to know. That is good to know because like again, you know, deep fried onions that you put over, I don't know, it could be a hot dog, it could be biryani, you know, those like crispy onions that you have. We had a lot of those actually when we were travelling in Malaysia for the healthy travels with Dr. Rupy in Penang series. And just that little crisp of like onion is really nice at the end. I haven't tried onions in the air fryer, so I don't know whether it's going to have that same sort of crunch and flavour.
Dr Rupy: If it would work.
Sakina: But I would love to figure that out. And the fact that we're preserving polyphenols, big tick in my book.
Dr Rupy: Good.
Sakina: Green tick. Okay, two green ticks. This is great.
Dr Rupy: Two green ticks. And there was another study comparing, so that's quite an interesting one. It's a small study in a journal that is not one of the most reputable. But it's still, it's still interesting. And they compared um, air frying different cooking methods for brassica vegetables like kale, broccoli, sprouts, Brussels sprouts, cabbage. And using the same instant pot, they compared different cooking methods like sautéing, steaming and air frying. And they found that air frying at 160 degrees for 10 minutes showed the highest total phenolic content and antioxidant activity compared to sautéing that showed the lowest.
Sakina: That's really interesting. Sautéing had the lowest.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, which I also found quite surprising because normally when you sauté food, it will be for a lower amount of time and at a lower temperature. So I would expect the opposite. Um, obviously the study is a bit limited because they use one instant pot, so it's not necessarily reflective of a real life situation in terms of cooking. I think it could have been interesting if they compared with sautéing in a pan, maybe it would have had different results. Um, and it focused on phenolic content, so it's not it's one marker.
Sakina: It's one marker of healthfulness of a food.
Dr Rupy: So it's still, we need more research, but it is an interesting, I found that quite surprising.
Sakina: That is interesting. And I guess the other sort of caveat to that is most of the time when I'm air frying, I'm doing it at quite a high temperature. So around 200 to 205 degrees centigrade, which is really high. But if we're trying to mimic a sauté, then I would consider doing it at a lower temperature, but I tend not to use an air fryer for that purpose. It's not to simply cook the food, it's to get a crisp on it. Like a cube of sweet potato or a tempeh sort of crumble and you want to try and get that sort of texture of like almost burnt meat. Um, so 160 degrees centigrade, I'd have to try that out to see what it the taste and texture is like because in my mind I'm like, well, I'll just put it in a stainless steel pan with a little bit of olive oil and some water, put the lid on and then I'll sauté my veggies. It's quicker, easier, less cleaning hassle, that kind of thing.
Dr Rupy: So it seems like the common theme is that it depends what you're comparing it to and what you want to what result you're trying to get to. So if if you're trying to deep fry foods, it could be worth trying the air fryer in that context. Like for onions, like you were saying, different foods, like chips and stuff that you would normally eat deep fried, it could be worth trying the the air fryer because compared to the deep fryer, it will be better in terms of health.
Sakina: Yeah.
Dr Rupy: What about cost? So what do you think? Do you think it's cheaper?
Sakina: I, my hunch is that it is cheaper. Um, because, uh, and I have a little bit of an insight into this as well because about a year ago when we were doing some BBC food related stuff on the cost of living crisis, which is still obviously a an issue, um, they compared conventional ovens to air fryers and they went through a whole bunch of different use cases. And from my understanding, air fryers definitely do reduce the amount of energy required to cook food and particularly if you're in a household of one or two people, it's a lot more convenient and overall you do save money. Am I correct?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, that's what I saw as well. I think you're completely correct. That's what I saw. So there was a energy saving trust and then there's also eco experts, which is a blog written by experts in terms of environmental. And they say that it's generally cheaper to run an air fryer than an oven. Um, they say that an air fryer costs around 51p per hour to run while an electric oven costs around 85p per hour.
Sakina: Okay.
Dr Rupy: Um, but as you said, it depends how many portions you're cooking. So if you're cooking for multiple people, more than two, or if you're batch cooking, then the electric oven would be um, more energy efficient.
Sakina: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense because most air fryers are pretty small. There are some on the market that are big and you can put like a whole, you know, chicken in it and vegetables and all the rest of it. But I guess the amount, uh, or as in the types of air fryers that were used in that particular comparison are going to be the smaller ones.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I don't have the detail, but I'm I'm guessing it would be that.
Sakina: Definitely not the size of a conventional oven because an oven is like massive compared to it. And even if you've got a really, really big air fryer, the cost of that of running that would definitely go up.
Dr Rupy: Would go up. Yeah, absolutely.
Sakina: So for one, two people with a small air fryer seems to be more energy efficient than an electric oven unless you're cooking for a whole bunch of people that are coming around for Sunday lunch.
Dr Rupy: Yeah.
Sakina: Okay.
Dr Rupy: That's that's what that's what the that blog was saying.
Sakina: Yeah. Okay, great. We'll link to all these in the show notes as well.
Dr Rupy: Absolutely. There was one more study that was quite interesting in terms of the health impact of air frying compared to deep frying. And it was a randomized control trial. They found that compared to deep fat frying, air frying led to a 74% reduction in the total fat content of the meal, which makes sense. And that resulted in a 67% reduction in the post-meal triglyceride response.
Sakina: Brilliant.
Dr Rupy: Um, so it really
Sakina: Green tick again.
Dr Rupy: So that same is compared to deep fat frying, but it does make sense in terms of the oil content.
Sakina: Ah, okay.
Dr Rupy: And the use of oil.
Sakina: That that is really good to hear because so just a little bit of background, um, after you consume a meal that has fat in it, you're going to be dumping a lot of that fat into your bloodstream by way of um, the liver partitioning it or packaging it into uh, lipid molecules that ferry your fats around the around the body. One of the markers that we look at is triglyceride level and it kind of makes sense because if you're using less oil in the air frying process, you're going to have less of the excess fats that you'll find that can raise your triglyceride levels anyway. So that kind of makes sense for me. So basically, less oil used in air fry means less triglyceride response in the blood after a meal, postprandial, fancy word for after a meal, compared to deep fat frying. I would sort of expect that.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I think so. And it comes back to that mechanism of how air fryers work, which is hot air with tiny droplets of oil compared to um, large amounts of oil with deep frying. But it's quite interesting to see it in human subjects and I haven't found a lot of studies like that. So that was quite an interesting finding as well.
Sakina: Okay.
Dr Rupy: So overall, compared to deep frying.
Sakina: I'm feeling pretty good about my air fryers at the moment. You're about to bring me back down to earth now, aren't you? Yeah.
Dr Rupy: Compared to deep fat frying, it seems that there are quite a few advantages. Um, and I think it could be interesting for fast food chains, for example, or restaurants. I don't know how it would work, as you said, in terms of the size. Um, but, you know, if we were to invent large air fryers, it could maybe be a healthier alternative for those um, fast food chain who rely on deep frying a lot.
Sakina: Yeah, it's a really, it's a really good point. And uh, sorry, Nutmeg, if you're watching this on YouTube, Nutmeg who's been sleeping on my lap has just suddenly decided to wake up. She's got a good life. I think her sort of her ears popped up when you mentioned fast food because she's thinking of lunch. Um, that is a really interesting point. I mean, most of the ovens that I think of in a catering environment are like these big sort of rational ovens that have like incredible heat and incredible efficiency and they're almost like air fryers in themselves. I remember actually once I went to cook at a at a corporate event and I got to use one of their catering ovens and I had to half the time that I would actually put in my conventional oven at home because these ovens were just so powerful. Yeah. And the sort of the the thing I was cooking, I remember it vividly actually because I remember just being blown away by this oven. I was cooking these cauliflower bites and they're actually the same cauliflower bites that we've got on the Doctor's Kitchen app. They're really good. They're delicious. Yeah, yeah. They're um, they're sort of like in this ranch dressing, like this chili sort of sauce. And uh, I put them in the oven and then one of the chefs was like, uh, we need to take them out at like 11 minutes. I was like, 11 minutes, that's not long enough. I took them out and they were like beautifully crisp on the outside, got a lovely flavour, you have that caramelization effect. And I that was sort of like probably my first experience of what an air fryer would be. That was a few years ago now. Um, so yeah, there's probably a difference in the quality of machine that caterers are used to compared to what your average chef at home or home cook is is used to. So whether or not there's a use case for air fryers in in the catering industry, who knows? But it is an interesting point about the the the reduction of of oil required.
Dr Rupy: Of deep deep fat frying. Yeah, or even using those ovens more than using deep fat frying, for example, and trying to get that crispy element without using deep fat frying too much. It could be that. Um, should we go into the cons?
Sakina: Yeah, let's go into it. Let's do it. Bring me back down to earth.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. Okay. So I think in terms of cost, for example, so we said it's more energy efficient, especially if you're cooking small portions. But there is still the initial cost. So if you already have an oven, for example, buying an air fryer when you already have cooking equipment at home can make it a bit less accessible. Um, especially that the price can range and can change quite a lot. There's some that are quite cheap, like 50 pounds, but it can go up to 250 pounds and maybe even more.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dr Rupy: Um, so that can, the initial cost could be a con, especially if you already have cooking equipment at home.
Sakina: Yeah, definitely. I always say that like, you know, there are certain gadgets that I think are necessary for a home cook to be able to produce healthful, delicious food. Chef's knife, cooking, uh, a chopping board, uh, pestle and mortar, a good selection of spices, uh, an oven and a decent hob and a stainless steel pan. Would I add air fryers to that mix? I think it really depends on your likelihood of using, uh, air fryers regularly, how often you would do deep fat frying, for example. Um, and how much you want to invest in your own kitchen. But I mean, after today's, and I haven't heard all the cons yet, but like, I could be going back on that.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I think it's a good point. There's other equipment that you would invest in first if you want to cook home home meals. Um, and I, yeah, I don't think air fryer in terms of the price could be one. Yeah, it depends on your need, but I think it's a good point in starting with other equipment.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah. I've got family members that like spend money on everything from all the gadgets, all the different types of grinders and like slow cookers and a lot of it ends up in the garage, but you know.
Dr Rupy: Some people just love testing everything. I'm the complete opposite. I have like one knife, like one of everything and I just like don't want to.
Sakina: Even in the studio kitchen, like, you know, we've got obviously a ton of crockery here and we do have all the necessary gadgets, but like, I've tried to be as minimal as possible because I just don't like waste and I just like to use the things that I know I'm going to get the most value from. Um, so, so yeah, but I mean, I'm saying that as an air fryer convert, but yeah.
Dr Rupy: Um, so that was cost. In terms of health, so the fish cake study, we'll go back to that one as we mentioned a bit more. Um, so they found that air frying could produce more harmful compounds than baking or pan frying. So air frying, so baking resulted in fewer advanced glycation end products compared to air frying. Um, and it could be due to the fact that AGE content is negatively correlated with moisture content. And oven baking tends to retain moisture a bit more. So that's one possible explanation.
Sakina: Okay.
Dr Rupy: Um, in terms of pan frying, it they resulted in a same
Sakina: Just to add more context to that actually. Um, one of the good things, quote unquote, about an air fryer is that it's incredibly drying. So it does take out a lot of that moisture effectively because of the efficiency of which you are distributing that hot air around the product itself. Whereas baking, you know, you'd want to keep some of the moisture for a lot of reasons. You know, I can't imagine most people want like a particularly dry cake, you know, when you're when you're using the oven.
Dr Rupy: So air frying for the texture element removes the moisture and makes it more dry. But then the oven and that could maybe be related to the formation of those products.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, that's interesting.
Sakina: Super interesting.
Dr Rupy: Um, and in terms of pan frying, it first they created similar amounts, but as the cooking time increased, um, air frying produced more uh, harmful compounds compared to pan frying. So it kind of aligns with the idea that the longer the food is cooked, the more there is an opportunity for um, AGEs to accumulate.
Sakina: Okay, okay. That's that's, okay, a negative point for for the air fryer compared to sautéing and and and baking.
Dr Rupy: Um, so yeah, so that's in terms of the harmful compounds which we've mentioned earlier. In terms of the kind of nutritional content, there was one study comparing looking at sardines.
Sakina: Oh, sardines.
Dr Rupy: Sardines fillet.
Sakina: Sardines fillet.
Dr Rupy: Um, and looking at um
Sakina: What do you call those in French?
Dr Rupy: Sardine.
Sakina: Sardine.
Dr Rupy: I mean it's the same but different pronunciation.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sardine.
Dr Rupy: They're my favourite fish.
Sakina: Yeah, they're really good.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, they're great.
Sakina: They're really good. How do you make them then?
Dr Rupy: Oh, so I I I've actually air fried them recently just to see like, you know, what they would taste like. They they are okay in the air fryer. They are incredibly dry because you are drying it out. My personal preference is butterfly and uh, or you can actually just take the backbone out and then just a little bit of olive oil in a cast iron or a stainless steel pan, but uh, just um, uh, sort of sauté it on both sides and then add your like grated garlic, loads of herbs, uh, a little bit of um, extra olive oil at the at the end and that's all you need. Just like
Sakina: And it's really quick, no?
Dr Rupy: Really quick and just like just allowing the, as long as you get really good fresh sardines, allowing the flavours of the sardines to come through without overpowering it. Um, I mean, I've learned a lot about Italian cooking, I think through obviously my wife and like travelling around Italy and stuff and like for me it's just about getting the best quality ingredients and allowing those to sing the song rather than trying to like get loads of backup dancers and pyrotechnics and all the rest of it.
Sakina: And simple cooking techniques and simple ingredients to allow them to shine. I like that.
Dr Rupy: I tell you what is really good in the air fryer though, from a fish point of view is um, mackerel. I know I'm derailing this completely to like a food. But uh, mackerel is amazing. Um, but again, butterflied and then I put a green pesto on one side and a chili red pesto on the other side. And then that in the air fryer for like nine minutes, I think it is at a high heat, gives a beautiful texture. Um, a lovely sort of crust to it without overly drying the fish because it's obviously a bigger fish than sardines.
Sakina: Ah, okay. Yeah. So maybe it is that maybe that's the point we'll come to is that it depends the food and you can choose which one you prefer in the air fryer and which one you prefer in the pan or the oven. Maybe that we can we can have a rank of a food or something.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah.
Sakina: Well, in terms of the nutrition content, there was one study looking at the sardines fillets and they found that um, a decrease air frying decreased the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Dr Rupy: Oh, the beneficial fatty acids.
Sakina: Um, yeah. Um, so and it increased the levels of cholesterol oxidation products, which are linked to detrimental health effects. Um, so there was a bit of a negative effect of air frying those sardines fillet in terms of the beneficial compounds decreasing and potentially harmful compounds increasing.
Dr Rupy: Was that compared to sautéing as well in that study or was it just looking at it?
Sakina: So I don't have access to the full study, which is kind of one of the things I wanted to mention as well. So I'm not sure if it's compared to raw or compared to pan, which would make a big difference. Um, so I think that's one thing uh, to mention for sure.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, because by virtue of cooking anything like a sautéing or oven baking, you're going to create some oxidation of fats, um, which could be deemed as unhealthy, um, because, you know, anything that's going to cause that little bit of inflammation. Um, but there's two ways of looking at it. You've got to look at it compared to what, as in like which cooking method are you comparing it to. And then another way of looking at it is, okay, what if we used an entirely different cooking method that didn't require any oil whatsoever. Are you just like, I mean, I can't even think about just poaching it, uh, because it wouldn't taste anywhere near as good if you didn't have any sort of like element of fat added to it. Um, but just poaching it or steaming it, for example. Um, would that reduce the amount of oxidation of the fats that are in the fish itself? And does it preserve a lot of the other healthful compounds? There's probably, there's a probably a few unknowns there.
Sakina: Yeah, I think that really highlights the problem with these studies is that often there's not enough different cooking methods that are compared. Um, and it so it doesn't give a really clear idea of in real life, what cooking method is the best to get a nice result. Um, so it's always, that's why we always kind of take them with a pinch of salt.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah.
Sakina: Literally.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah.
Sakina: Literally, we're going to take them with a pinch of salt.
Dr Rupy: Yeah.
Sakina: Because it's just not, it doesn't, it doesn't really give a clear answer as to the best cooking methods for health. Yeah. Um, but what I think was quite interesting about this study, I thought it was quite cool is that they also looked at the results of adding a mixture of fresh herbs.
Dr Rupy: Ah.
Sakina: Um, to the air fried sardines. And they found that when they added a mixture of fresh herbs, I think it was parsley and chives, they it reduced the levels of cholesterol oxidation products. And so they suggest, the authors of the study suggested that fresh herbs could act as natural antioxidants and be protective against the formation of these products, um, which are formed during cooking.
Dr Rupy: This is, this is mirroring another study that was looking at again, the same oxidation products as a result of barbecuing or grilling meats, um, that most people, you know, in the UK summertime and and and anywhere in the northern hemisphere will be having around June to August time, mitigating that with a selection of herbs and spices has been shown to reduce some of those inflammatory effects. It's a study that actually me and Professor Robert Thomas talked about on a podcast.
Sakina: I think I remember. And you talked a bit as well about dietary sunscreens and stuff like that. Yeah, so interesting.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. I think these results are even more interesting than comparing all cooking methods because in reality, we will be cooking foods in different ways. Like you will be eating deep fried deep fried foods and all of that. But what can you add or combine those foods with to kind of mitigate those um, effects on health and also um, have protective elements in your plate instead of just classifying all the ways we can cook foods and and banning certain ways of cooking foods.
Sakina: Totally, totally agree. So like, you know, if you're going to have an air fried fish cake or whatever you want to put in the air fryer, having some fresh herbs, finely diced, put into like a little dressing and then put over your sardines or whatever you might be eating, could be a way to mitigate some of those harmful effects of any sort of cooking method, I would say. And actually, you know, there's so many benefits of having that food matrix of all these different anti-inflammatory compounds. And and the other thing I I want to just sort of um, hasten to add here is we don't eat ingredients in isolation and we're not necessarily having sardines or any other sort of uh, animal-based proteins purely for an anti-inflammatory effect or some of those anti-inflammatory uh, fatty acids. We're getting it for protein, we're getting it for some of the other constituents. And we mitigate some of that trade-off with herbs, spices, vegetables, and what is largely, you know, going to be uh, vegetables on your on your plate as well.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, which is what we talk about a lot. I think it's like diversifying and combining different foods with other to to provide more benefits. There was another one, um, looking at marinating food or meats. So that that study was not on air fryers. It was is in nature, um, review. But it's quite interesting because they talk about marinating food or meats with acidic ingredients like lemon juice and vinegar to decrease the amounts of dietary AGEs that are formed. You've heard of that?
Sakina: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it.
Dr Rupy: So it decreases the amount of um, harmful compounds formed during the cooking process. So that could also be a thing if you are frying your foods, make sure to add fresh herbs and um, maybe a marinade with acidic elements like lemon or or vinegar.
Sakina: Definitely, yeah. And again, you know, there's so many sort of um, elements of ancient wisdom that are introduced through recipes, I feel, like having an acidic element, having a fresh element, having a cooked element, you know, and how everything is sort of balanced on your plate. And you see I see this in like when we start learning about things that have been shown in some of these small studies, you kind of piece it together with some ancient wisdom and you're like, ah, that's why we have pickles or that's why we have these certain ferments and that's why we start a meal with vegetables. All these different elements. And I feel like every time we chat about like a theme or uh, any sort of like topic that we're going to do a podcast on, we always come back down to the same thing. It's about diversification, about making sure it's mainly plants and enjoying your food and dose and
Dr Rupy: Absolutely. It's so interesting to see that. It feels like we're kind of um, you know, untangling things that people have been doing for centuries. And we're now just adding scientific evidence and with with studies that are, you know, a bit limited, but we're trying to prove why or understand the mechanisms behind things that people have been doing. And that are quite simple. And it is true, like every time we come back to the same things, it's simple tips and it's all kind of linked together, which makes it nice, but also um, applying in real life is the difficult element.
Sakina: Totally, yeah. It's about the implementation.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, that's what you always say and it's true.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, the solutions are simple, the implementation, that's the hard stuff, you know, putting this stuff into action every single day, which is why, you know, we started the app and, you know, we want to try and integrate healthy eating seamlessly into people's lives by doing the meal planners and and the health goal algorithm and and all the other things we've got in store for 2024 for the app.
Dr Rupy: Um, so yeah, so in terms of cons, we have maybe the initial cost, the production of harmful compounds with the cooking process, maybe a reduced amount of some beneficial compounds, especially fatty acids, beneficial fatty acids. Um, and then the last point is that I think one of the main argument for air fryers is that it uses less oil. And I wanted to know what you think about that because I think there's a lot of things that we hear is less oil, so it's less calories, so it's healthier, which is kind of the the common thinking process behind air fryers. What do you think of that?
Sakina: I think um, uh, this sort of idea of using less oil, which equates to less calories and therefore is healthier, sort of speaks to the dietary dogma that we've been inundated with over the last three, four decades, probably more, about calories in, calories out. And whilst I concede that it is useful for a general ballpark figure of how much energy you're consuming on a day-to-day basis, I think everything else is chucked out the window for that sole formula without really thinking about the quality of your ingredients. And so I don't buy the idea that purely because it's less calories as a function of it having less oil, that is necessarily healthier. If you were asking, let's say, you know, not all personal trainers, I don't want to I don't want to like just say every personal trainer is just, you know, wedded to this idea, but certainly if you ask with big food, they would say, well, it's less oil, it's less calories, it's ergo going to be healthier for people. And that's like a hard line that they can stick behind because it's a comfortable truth. The uncomfortable truth is nutrition is a lot more complicated than calories in, calories out. Um, so I don't buy that. Would I say it's better to have a tablespoon or two of oil versus a cup? Yeah, I probably would. I would say definitely it's better to have less oil in that context. But a tablespoon or two compared to a few sprays, I don't think it's going to make a massive, massive difference in the grander context of things when we are comparing different cooking methods and different ingredients and all the other elements that go toward a healthful diet. Um, so it's interesting, but I don't think it's necessarily going to be this groundbreaking breakthrough for a lot of people that's going to allow them to lead healthier lives.
Dr Rupy: I think, yeah, that makes a lot of sense and I think it also comes back to a quality of the source of oil. Um, like we were talking for fruits, for example, it's not about sugar is bad. Um, so we should never eat it. It's about where is it coming from. Um, and with with oils, for example, some oils also have beneficial, potentially beneficial effects on health.
Sakina: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I'm a big fan of extra virgin olive oil. Um, I love the fact that it does have those anti-inflammatory compounds. We've talked about all the different elements of those on another podcast all about olive oil. Um, so, you know, having zero of that is actually probably going to be at the detriment of someone's diet rather than at the benefit of it, even though it does contain more calories. So again, that's a great example of how it's a lot more complicated than just calories in, calories out.
Dr Rupy: What about the temperature? Do you think um, I haven't looked into this, but uh, do you think air frying because it usually uses more high temperatures compared to pan frying, for example. Do you think that the use of oil if you're pan frying a sardine fillet, for example, would be more beneficial um, than air frying using oil?
Sakina: Yeah, so it depends on the oil in question. So if we're looking at olive oil, the smoke point of an olive oil tends to be around 180 to 190 degrees centigrade. So when you're sautéing, as long as it's like a low to medium heat, you're not going to be hitting those upper uh, elements. And a good sort of like guide to see whether you are exceeding the temperature of an olive oil is just to look at whether it's smoking and whether you can smell the acrid smell that is representative of those bonds breaking down and you actually destroying some of those polyphenols that are why olive oil is so healthful. When you're using an air fryer, yeah, you're taking it to quite a high temperature. Um, if you're using it like I do to get that nice like sort of crust on the outside. But if like one of the other studies you were talking about earlier where you take it to 160 degrees centigrade and you're comparing it to a sauté, that's going to be within the boundaries of what is acceptable as a smoke point for olive oil. Um, other oils have higher smoke points like coconut oil famously, which is why like every sort of health influencer went for a coconut oil like five, six years ago because it's a high smoke point. Smoke point is around 200 degrees centigrade, so not markedly different. Um, and whether or not that would mitigate against some of the acrylamides and the other harmful compounds as a result of high heat cooking, I doubt it. If I'm honest, and I don't think it would be a a massive difference. Um, so if we were to deep fry uh, chips in a vat of coconut oil versus canola oil, is that going to have a market difference on health? I don't think so. You might find a study that shows that it has less AGEs and less acrylamides in the coconut oil, but is that going to make a market difference over, you know, the healthfulness of that particular meal or what it's served with? I I don't think so. That's a hunch though.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, I think I don't know if there are studies like that, but it seems like generally that order that was um, highlighted in the fish cake study, which would be deep frying um, is more harmful than air frying, is more harmful than pan frying, is more harmful than oven baking. Um, or we can maybe put it the other way around to be a bit more positive. Um, but uh, it seems like that's kind of the order we're getting to. So pan frying because of also that oil element of not reaching such a high temperature could be better, a better choice in terms of cooking.
Sakina: And I think it's nice actually as a visual for me to think about like, okay, how often am I going to be now on the basis of what we've just been chatting about, using my my air fryer? Am I going to use it every day? Am I going to use it once a week? And where do I position it in terms of how often do I have deep fried food? Probably not more than once a month for me. Some other people might be once or twice a week. And there lies a an interesting decision for a lot of people as to whether they want to invest the 50 to 250 pounds in getting an air fryer if they know that they're going to be reducing their number of harmful chemicals that they're exposed to. Everyone has that decision to make, you know. Ideally, it seems like, you know, it would be steaming and low temperature cooking and sautéing all of our food.
Dr Rupy: Which is not always realistic.
Sakina: Exactly, yeah, but from a convenience point of view, it's just not there.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so we can go into more practical tips, I think of what what we should do with that um, with those results. Before that, one last con that you mentioned earlier when we were talking about this topic is the environmental impact. So we said that it's better in terms of energy efficiency, but what about um, you call them forever chemicals.
Sakina: Forever chemicals that are present.
Dr Rupy: This is an uncomfortable truth again, actually, about um, the ubiquity of these chemicals in non-stick pans. Um, these, uh, they're called PFOs and PFAS and there's a whole bunch of other products, as well as new products that haven't been deemed as unhealthy or unfit for the environment yet, but they're due a labelling system. So I don't know if you know about the the issues around BPA. BPA is now banned. I think France banned it before the UK.
Sakina: It could be.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. France was really good on that.
Sakina: I mean definitely Europe before the US, no?
Dr Rupy: Definitely. Yeah, yeah. Um, but the replacements for plastic products that proudly label themselves as BPA free have another form of BPA that just hasn't been banned yet or hasn't had as much evidence to state that it should be banned yet. But we're sort of like, you know, just kicking the can down the road when it comes to these chemicals. And I think there is a parallel there with some of these forever chemicals. So certain air fryers will have non-stick uh, elements that can be deemed as forever chemicals. So when it comes to the time where you have to remove your air fryer, and that's another thing we haven't really talked about because they're quite a new gadget, how often do you actually need to replace them? Are these gadgets that can last a lifetime, like a good cast iron pan? Or is it something you're going to have to replace every two or three years? In which case, if it does have forever chemicals, that's not a great thing for the environment. On the positive side, there are some air fryers that are made out of glass. Uh, they are a lot more expensive. Um, but they seem to be something that could be uh, an argument against the fact that, you know, there's an environmental cost uh, to to purchasing an air fryer every couple of years or so. I don't know about the effectiveness of these glass air fryers though. And I doubt that they would have been used in those studies when it came to, you know, the comparison of of the chemicals.
Sakina: Yeah, they seem less common, which I wonder why. So it might be because they don't produce the same results or because they're more expensive. So, yeah, I think that's a, that's a tricky one.
Dr Rupy: There's also ceramic air fryers. Um, but again, that they're there are some really interesting marketing techniques that a lot of these manufacturers uh, use whereby it can be ceramic, but it's coated. And the coating can sometimes have some of those harmful chemicals that we want to remove out of our cookware. Um, so, you know, as a rule of thumb, particularly, you know, even in the studio here, we don't use non-stick. We only use stainless steel, which works really well as long as you take care of your pans. We use ceramic, but proper ceramic, which is cast iron with a ceramic coating and no other non-stick coating on it. And then we also use um, uh, cast iron, obviously. Those are the the three things that I think are safe and glass. Pyrex glass, natural materials.
Sakina: And I guess that's kind of a, it would be an interesting um, topic as well to look at how to read those labels and how to get through those marketing claims because it can be very difficult. When you see BPA free, you think it's a good thing, you know? So you're like, oh, perfect, it's BPA free, I'm going to buy that. There is always a compromise that is made by the manufacturer um, when they're removing one compound and one chemical, they're replacing it by another potentially, which is, you know, for just uh, um, business purposes. So how do we get through those claims and choose products that don't have those forever chemicals? It's a bit of a difficult one.
Dr Rupy: It it comes down to education. There's a similar parallel to be had with um, uh, health claims on packaged foods, right? Because it's very easy to say contains a source of fibre or like, you know, rich in vitamin D and and all this kind of stuff. And it's like, well, that doesn't negate the fact that it's a highly processed product. And I think there's a a comparison there with certain uh, other elements in your kitchen where they're being marketed to you as like, you know, natural and safe and, you know, BPA free versus actually, what what's it made out of? Just tell me what it's made out of and I can make that decision myself. I don't need to be told that this isn't, you know, uh, doesn't have a forever chemical that I'm aware of just because I've been told about that forever chemical and how it's bad for the environment. I should know cast iron, glass, stainless steel are my go-tos. Everything else, a bit murky. That's sort of probably the rule of thumb that most people need.
Sakina: Yeah, I think that is a good rule of thumb, especially for appliances that you're using every day. I think that's kind of the um, the idea that what you're using the most regularly is what you should be a bit more aware of.
Dr Rupy: Totally, yeah.
Sakina: Just a a point on like uh, opinions about air fryers because a lot of people ask me for my opinion on air fryers and I think that is a function of what they've heard about air fryers from other sort of experts and they can be very reputable experts as well. But ultimately it's someone's opinion and I don't think necessarily everyone has taken the time to dive into the research like you did for this particular podcast episode and actually looked at the studies, the quality of the studies, the number of studies that are available out there and, you know, just how lack uh, how much of a lack of information there is about these air fryers. So rather than us telling people you should or should not buy an air fryer, hopefully people are getting an idea of, okay, we've laid it out, there's pros and cons and you can make the decision yourself based on your your own ideas, your own convenience, your own sort of household needs.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, absolutely. I looked at some of the reputable um, sources of information online and generally it's quite negative. They say that uh, air frying should still be considered as uh, fried foods. Um, and it shouldn't be a daily uh, occurrence. Um, if you're not eating deep fried food every day, you shouldn't be eating air fried food every day, basically. That's kind of the general idea. But I did like what Zoe, Zoe did a bit of a dive in it into it and I liked what they say because they said that no single way to cook is automatically better at all times. And instead, it's about diversifying the different cooking methods and making sure that you're not using the same thing all the time if you can. Um, and that the health impact of air frying is a nuanced topic. And I think that's kind of a conclusion which maybe is a bit annoying, but it is true. It is true. There's pros and cons and it's it's a complex, we can't just say it is great or it's good or it's bad. It is a bit of a nuanced topic. But we will talk about um, our take on it and what's our conclusion on the research and then maybe some practical tips for cooking quickly.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah, I think so. So from what I've heard from today, I think it really depends on what you're comparing it to. So whether you are a frequent deep fryer, a frequent oven baker, whether you love your sautéing or your pans, or whether you need a convenient option. And I think for me, as someone who cooks generally in a sauté pan or steaming or baking, I'm probably going to lean more towards those cooking methods that I'm comfortable with and use the air fryer just for my salmon gochujang bites that I love on Tuesdays and that is like my treat. Um, but other than that, I'll only use the air fryer probably when I'm in a bit of a rush and I need a quick healthy lunch. And particularly paying attention to some of the things that you mentioned about herbs and acids and other sort of ways in which to mitigate any potential harmful compounds.
Dr Rupy: I think it's a good point. If you're, if the alternative between using an air fryer is not eating a cooked meal, or if it's if you're in a rush and you don't have time to do anything else, and if you're if you're not using the air fryer, you'll be using a you'll be buying a ready meal, for example, I think it's way better to use the air fryer. Um, and I don't think it should be banned completely from from your tools, but it could be a tool for occasional circumstances where you need a quick meal or when you're tired and you're hungry and you just want something quick. Yeah. Um, but maybe not a daily staple. Um, and then the foods you're cooking them with, I think definitely make a big impact and what foods you're cooking if it's like a healthy foods and vegetables in an air fryer, it probably would be different than um, a processed meat in an air fryer, for example.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah. I would agree. I would say that it really does depend on the ingredients themselves. Um, and from the way you've articulated some of the studies, which I think is fair and nuanced, we definitely need more research, right?
Dr Rupy: Yes. Basically, we need more studies. We need human studies. We need more studies comparing different types of cooking to really have a clear idea of the impact of air fryers on health.
Sakina: Yeah.
Dr Rupy: And maybe it will come. So maybe we'll do another episode next year or like in two years.
Sakina: Yeah, we could do like an update to this for sure. Um, but for now, you you've got some really good uh, cooking tips here, right?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so I think if you're using the air fryer, make sure to clean it properly, um, to avoid using old oil.
Sakina: Yes.
Dr Rupy: Um, which I think is
Sakina: That's a really good point because I think a lot of people, um, probably myself included, don't clean the air fryer as often as they should do. And when you're adding some of those fats that are constantly getting burnt and then re-burnt and then re-burnt, it's almost the same as reusing the same deep fat frying oil uh, in the same vat that a lot of people do to save, you know, costs and and all the rest of it. But it's really not great because you're concentrating those harmful chemicals over and over again. Again, it's probably not as harmful as deep fat frying and reusing that oil, but it's still going to be harmful. And anything we can do to mitigate against inflammation would be a good thing.
Dr Rupy: Yeah. How do you clean yours? How do you clean your air fryer?
Sakina: Oh, so I've seen these things on Tik Tok actually, whereby you can uh, dunk the air fryer um, in in uh, water and and uh, fairy liquid. I shouldn't probably mitigate this because I don't think you're meant to use this way. And you close it and you put it on a low heat setting. And it basically cleans the air fryer just for like a minute or so and then you take it out and then you clean it. So and that way it's like you've taken it to a low temperature, it's uh, got rid of all the grime and the grease and then you can dry it and then put it back in.
Dr Rupy: And you've tried it?
Sakina: I've tried that and it works okay actually. But I mean, the easiest way and to make sure that you're doing it safely because I don't want to I don't want people to like overload their electricity or whatever. Like be safe with this kids. Um, you want to take it out and then just clean it and then I use baking parchment as well just to make it uh, easier to clean.
Dr Rupy: So you don't have to remove all the oil.
Sakina: I don't use foil anymore because of the other podcast that we did on foil.
Dr Rupy: I'm like I'm ruining all your favourite.
Sakina: It's not on purpose. I wish I was finding different results.
Dr Rupy: Um, and then the second tip is if you are buying a new um, air fryer, as we said, avoiding non-stick coatings, choosing natural materials like glass, ceramic or stainless steel, which can be more expensive. So it's if you can and if you're buying a new one.
Sakina: Yeah, yeah. I would definitely look into buying uh, a glass one actually and probably trying them out. We'll probably try them out in the studio and see what's up.
Dr Rupy: It would be good to know if they work as well.
Sakina: Yeah.
Dr Rupy: I wonder.
Sakina: Do a little comparison actually.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah, with some of the ones that we were gifted.
Sakina: Um, and then as we said, using protective food combinations, focusing on your overall diet before, I think the priority is really about increasing the quality of our diet, increasing the the ingredients we're um, consuming rather than um, perfecting choosing the perfect cooking method. I think the priority is really to eat more fruits and vegetables like we always talk about.
Dr Rupy: Totally.
Sakina: Um, and cooking method might not have that big of an impact.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, and I guess like um, one of the points that I gleaned from you is mixing up your cooking methods. So, you know, instead of, like I was saying at the start, instead of just doing uh, uh, air frying like every other day or every meal, uh, I'm going to, you know, start doing more sautéing and the other cooking methods that we know are tried and tested and uh, they're unlikely or less likely to have harmful side effects.
Sakina: So in terms of, so the the point of using an air fryer, which is I think, I don't use one yet because I don't have one at home. But I think a lot of people is to save time, less less cleaning, everything in one um, one cooking pot or one chamber. Um, so if we are to use it less, for example, or not to use it as a daily staple, do you have any tips to make cooking quicker and to kind of reduce that cooking time using a pan or an oven?
Dr Rupy: Yeah, so I do a lot of like one pan cooks and actually, you know, I wrote a whole book, 3-2-1 on this subject because I knew one of the pain points for a lot of people is just the the washing up. So getting used to tray bakes, casseroles, stews and curries are fantastic ways to ensure you're still getting uh, minimal washing up, but then also you're concentrating a lot of those flavours in the vessel as well. So I think like having a few master recipes that you know, I can quickly put this on a tray, a little bit of olive oil into the oven, and then I've cooked enough for today, my partner, whoever else, and then also tomorrow's lunch as well. So that way you're maximizing the use of your oven rather than just cooking like one meal at a time. And then also, like I use a big sauté pan as well with a lid. And uh, for potatoes, so if I'm doing a potato base, I'll finely dice the potato, put it in a little bit of olive oil and put the lid on. And that creates a sautéing effect and a steaming effect. So it actually reduces the amount of time that it takes for me to cook potatoes, um, or like diced potatoes. And then I'll add a bit of like grated garlic, some herbs and spices, some other beans, for example, maybe another sort of dressing and then like maybe some proteins on top. Again, put the lid on and then I've steamed it. I've just basically gone through a recipe here, but you get the point, like making sure that you have some one pan recipes in your repertoire that you can quickly just put together at the end of the day when you don't really need to think about it.
Sakina: I'm sure it's the same for squash as well and sweet potatoes and the steaming.
Dr Rupy: I do the same thing for all my starches. So whether it's parsnips or uh, even a courgette will work, even though it takes a lot less cooking time than other starchy vegetables, but yeah.
Sakina: Do you have a go-to one pan meal for lunch that if you're not to use the air fryer, what would you do?
Dr Rupy: Oh, so I have, I have a bunch actually. So one of them is uh, an almond curry that I always go to from the 3-2-1 book. Um, that for me is like, it has loads of spices in, but I cheat. So I'll just use like a garam masala, a cumin and like coriander seed. And then I'll add some like ground almonds to the base and then some tomatoes. Instead of cooking the tomatoes down, I use like chopped tomatoes from a can. And then add that to the base, let that cook down and then I'll add other elements to it. So whatever veggies I've got, whether it's sugar snaps or peas or tenderstem broccoli that I finely chop up. And then for protein, I'll add either cooked lentils or like a fish or something like that.
Sakina: And that would be really quick and I guess you could use um, frozen veggies maybe, like already chopped.
Dr Rupy: I always use frozen peas.
Sakina: So you don't have to chop anything.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always use that. I always use that.
Sakina: Yeah, that sounds good. I haven't had lunch yet, so I'm getting hungry.
Dr Rupy: Um, and then I think the last tip that was quite interesting is like quick cooking ingredients. So maybe prioritizing those. Do you have any preferred grains, for example, that cook quicker?
Sakina: Yeah, yeah. So uh, I mean, I always use short grain brown rice. I think that only takes around 15 to 20 minutes depending on the brand that you use. But my go-tos are those pouches actually. Now, it's a convenience product that you can put in the sort of camp of mildly processed because it's already been cooked and it has a tiny bit of oil in it. But wow, is it a time saver because you're adding that quality carbohydrate in the, you know, the appropriate amounts. Um, you can freeze them as well after you've opened them, so you don't need to use the whole pack if you don't want to. And there's such a big variety of them. And the ones that I think are unflavoured are the best. So you can get puy lentils, beluga lentils, you can almost get um, most of the legumes uh, out of the out of these packages. But then also things like quinoa, of which you can get tri-colour quinoa.
Dr Rupy: I love those.
Sakina: Red, white and black quinoa.
Dr Rupy: I love those.
Sakina: Plant points. You get all these different plant points.
Dr Rupy: And then it's just a case of like adding herbs and spices to those. Um, so it's, yeah, those are my sort of go-to quick cook sort of elements that I always fall back on.
Sakina: And then you would have, I guess, no cook meals, like um, our food photographer was just eating a salad. You made it in like two minutes.
Dr Rupy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sakina: With like mozzarella and tomatoes and I don't know what else she had.
Dr Rupy: We have a no cook category on the app actually, where it's just literally throwing stuff together. And like, actually one of my go-to ingredients is um, sprouted lentils. In fact, I've got some in the kitchen today of like sprouted lentils that are just um, like broccoli sprouts, alfalfa, radish sprouts and uh, sprouted lentils that are they're great. I throw them into everything.
Sakina: So there are ways to make quick meals without the air fryer. I think and for me, even if, you know, as we said, it's a nuanced topic, we're not saying ditch your air fryer, but I don't have one for example, and I was like, should I get one now? Everyone was getting one. And I think it's a good conclusion to know that you don't need all the gadgets to make quick meals. There are other ways to make quick meals and quick lunches without needing to buy the latest air fryer.
Dr Rupy: So you're not going to buy an air fryer?
Sakina: So I don't think I am.
Dr Rupy: Oh, wow.
Sakina: I don't think I am.
Dr Rupy: Okay, okay.
Sakina: Maybe, maybe, maybe for once in a while. Maybe I'll use the one in the studio for us.
Dr Rupy: Try it.
Sakina: They kind of scare me.
Dr Rupy: Because they're so big.
Sakina: It's like a big thing. Yeah. I like seeing my food cook. Maybe I'll get a glass one.
Dr Rupy: You can get ones with glass and then you can see into it.
Sakina: Yeah. Maybe I'll get one.
Dr Rupy: If we get a glass one for the studio, which I think we might do, just to for the test, try it and then yeah. And then maybe we'll get another sponsor who will sponsor us and then I'll take that one. Wink, wink. This is great. Thank you so much, Sakina. Thanks for allowing me to react to the research that you've done and like if people have any more questions about the air fryer, it's a topic.
Sakina: It's an open topic.
Dr Rupy: It's definitely an open topic. And I think there's going to be a lot more research coming out around forever chemicals in general and we probably need to do another episode on forever chemicals as it pertains to cookware and materials because we get asked about that a lot.
Sakina: Yeah, sounds good.
Dr Rupy: Good stuff.
Sakina: Good stuff.
