The air fryer has been given the grandiose title of the saviour of all energy bills, with endless think-pieces listing just how we can save money by swapping the oven for this small but powerful appliance because of its low wattage. The hype has certainly not slowed down over the past few years and really does serve as a way to make cooking easy, fast and well very crispy and tasty.
Not only does the Salter Dual Cook Pro Air Fryer promise to cut down your cooking time, but it does so with as little need for oil as possible. So you can still achieve that deep-fried effect without the unhealthy aftertaste.
An air fryer is essentially a small convection oven, circulating hot air around the food to get that crispy outer layer and fluffy or moist inside. It is also more energy-efficient due to its size and power, compared to heating your kitchen oven.
It does take some adjusting to get used to how quickly your food takes to cook compared to traditional oven times, and also what you can actually cook in the air fryer, because reader, it isn’t pasta in sauces or anything to do with eggs.
A Modern Kitchen's editor, Natalie Corner, put the Salter Dual Air Fryer to the test over a busy Christmas period in 2021, testing a series of recipes (mostly potato based) to see how it compared against deep-frying and oven-cooking. It's a year later and she's been putting it through its paces, so let’s see how she rates this appliance.
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The latest version of the dual drawer from Salter is available below
Specifications: 12 Cooking Functions Sensor Touch Display 9 Litre 1600 W 2 Frying Racks for Dual Cooking Sync & Match Cook Function 30 Minute Timer Adjustable Temperature Control
Pros: Easy to clean, sync and match cook functions, affordable
Cons: On the larger side, presets don't always apply, and fiddly frying racks
Best alternatives:
www.argos.co.uk
A deeper look at the Salter Dual Cook Pro Air Fryer
What’s to love?
After testing out the Salter Dual Air Fryer, I could happily see myself never using an oven or pan full of oil ever again. It’s honestly that useful.
I started simply by testing out a variety of potato recipes because cooking potatoes seemed like a very safe option, and what could possibly go wrong? I quickly found that it was a case of trial and error, depending on how you wanted your food to end up. A jacket potato, despite the recommended time of 25 minutes for a whole potato in the companion Salter recipe book, was still raw in the middle. Instead, blasting the potato for seven minutes in the microwave and then popping it into the air fryer for 15 minutes achieved crispy perfection and a fluffy inside.
I turned to the help of potato extraordinaire and chef Poppy O'Toole's Instagram account, as she had shared an air fryer brunch potato recipe, following the super simple steps these came out perfect and crisp.
Upping the game ahead of Christmas dinner, I tested out Brussels sprouts cooked with bacon. This time, too long meant they'd reduced to barely the size of a pea and were very crispy. By Christmas Day, I’d figured out the perfect cooking time of 10 minutes and they were plenty flavourful. Bacon is also a great meat to cook in the air fryer if you like it crispy, but a beefburger dried out and didn’t retain its moisture, so it was almost inedible.
The big draw here, ahem, are the dual drawers the Salter air fryer has. You can match cook your ingredients if it’s a big batch and you need to cook them at exactly the same. Or you can sync the drawers, so they finish together. Place your ingredients in each drawer, select sync and set your timers for ‘drawer 1’ and ‘drawer 2’, it will start the shorter cook time automatically. However, I would point out this is a more advanced way of using the Salter Dual Air Fryer. Get familiar with your recipes and end results first, otherwise, you may end up disappointed and waiting for dinner longer than you expected!
What’s okay about the Salter Dual Cook Pro Air Fryer?
I was particularly surprised just how much depth the drawers have on the Salter Dual Air Fryer. From the frying rack to the top of the drawer, it measures 12cm, with space underneath the rack for the air to circulate and catch any crumbs from food.
But the frying racks prove fiddly to remove from the drawer because the metal nook is too small to pick up, let alone when it is covered in grease and other foodstuffs. If you tip the drawer out, then all the crumbs end up in your washing-up bowl.
And despite reading the instructions that say you must not tip the cooked food onto your plate, it is so easy to forget. I thought I could get away with tipping out my brunch potatoes and hash browns I made onto my plate only for the crispy crumbs to also topple out. It’s my own fault, but be aware, your dish may end up ruined and if the rack falls on your hand, you can end up burning yourself.
I’m also the type of person that likes to press buttons without instructions, but the Salter Dual Air Fryer has several auto cooking functions – like different meats, muffins, fish, chips, and vegetables – that will help you select the right temperature and time for your chosen dish. If you’re unsure of the buttons (and the little images they represent) and it’s too much choice, I recommend selecting manual cook and winging it with your own time and temperature. Always go lower and shorter than you need.
Any negatives?
Kitchen countertop space is a precious commodity, so if you’re considering the Salter Dual Air Fryer, be aware of how much space it takes up. It measures 40cm in length, 36.1cm in width, and 32cm in height – that is bigger than your average four-slice toaster. If you already have a microwave, kettle, toaster and perhaps a food blender, you may have to think about where your air fryer will go, or do you have cupboard space for it?
Currently, my kitchen has the space, but if I were to move to somewhere smaller, I would need to factor in how important my air fryer is compared to other appliances, which is a bit of a problem, but because it only needs a plug to work, it makes the Salter Dual Air Fryer portable.
OUR VERDICT: Is the Salter Dual Cook Pro Air Fryer any good?
The original Salter Dual Air Fryer started from £119.99 an was certainly on the lower end of the price scale when it comes to good quality air fryers. The kitchen brand has over 200 years of experience and is a well-trusted and established name among home appliances. The updated model released for 2022 is available for £229.99 on Amazon and £249.99 directly from Salter.
The Salter Dual Air Fryer may sound like a luxury addition to your kitchen, but until you have one, you don’t realise how much of a necessity it is. It gives you the luxury of extra time to improve your skills as a cook, to produce tasty food quickly, without complicated recipes and cooking times.
While the main selling point of an air fryer is about reducing the amount of oil you use in cooking and enabling you to pick healthier options, it’s not just a gimmick. It’s a solid appliance that will be used time and time again.
UPDATED FOR 2022: After using this appliance for a year, I can safely say that I remain firm in my original verdict. Investing in an air fryer will change how you think about cooking and especially now more than ever reduce those energy bills. My favourite part about the dual air fryer is that you can cook two different things at once, and sync the timing so they both finish cooking at the same time.
Score: 4/5
FAQs
Why are our household bills rising?
It's a complex range of factors, including the rise in wholesale gas, international politics, and climate change. In the UK, we rely on gas to produce a third of our electricity, this is why the price of electricity is increasing along with gas. While the Energy Price-Cap is hugely worrying with the Energy Price Guarantee there is protection for households from the eye-watering bills that were predicted.
What can we do to save money?
Firstly, identify the bills where you can make changes to save money. There are simple things that we can all do, such as switching off 'vampire' appliances rather than leaving them on standby (saving £147 a year). Buy new electrical appliances which have been designed to be more energy efficient. Larger electrical goods, such as ovens and washing machines, have an energy efficiency rating from A to G. If your appliance is rated A to C it is efficient, and the running cost is low.
Which kitchen appliances cost the least to run?
Air fryers, slow cookers, electric pressure cookers and microwaves all consume significantly less energy than a standard oven. They cook faster, have a lower wattage. For comparison, a typical microwave costs just 8p a day and an electric cooker works out at 87p. This statistic is current to energy bills before the new energy price cap.