Rant: My sister's air fryer advice made me throw away my recipe binder

My sister came over last Sunday and saw me flipping through my old recipe binder, the one with all my handwritten notes from 15 years of cooking. She asked why I was still using recipes that called for half a cup of oil when the air fryer needs maybe a tablespoon. She pulled up a chicken wing recipe on her phone and said, 'you're not cooking for a crowd of 12 anymore, you're cooking for two people who want dinner in 20 minutes.' That hit different because she saw me struggle with a soggy batch of fries the night before, and she was right about me holding onto old habits. I spent that evening testing her basic wing recipe with just salt, pepper, and a light spray of canola oil, and they came out crisper than anything I made in my old deep fryer in 2019. Now I'm wondering how many of my other 'tried and true' recipes are just overcomplicated versions of what the air fryer does better. Has anyone else had to ditch a bunch of old recipes after switching over, or am I the only one stuck in the past?

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ryan_ellis1mo ago

My 1985 cast iron skillet and I have a serious disagreement with that take. Air fryers are basically tiny convection ovens, and they do some things great, but they can't brown a pot roast or build a fond like a real pan can. I ditched maybe two recipes for wings and fries after getting one, but my binder's got 40 plus years of stuff that the air fryer just can't touch, like braises and stews. Sounds like your sister gave you a push in a good direction for quick meals, but don't toss the old stuff, just file it under "when I have time and want flavor that actually sinks in.

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