A very nice family from Paris checked into the gite this afternoon. Happy with all the equipment but asked if I supplied a frieuse (auto chip maker…). First time I have been asked!
Question for gite owners - should one supply one?
Question for gite visitors - would you expect one in a gite?
I am happy to supply one. They are cheap enough BUT something tells me they could be a bummer to clean - yes/no?
Then I got to thinking about air fryers, not specifically for chips, but a larger one in place of a oven (or would you still need an oven??)
I am looking for the first time at a Ninja dual compartment air fryer and see many questions answered except two - can they be abused and are they easy to clean?
Can one buy a machine that cuts a potatoe into chips for an airfyer to take over the cooking part.
Many questions, but I’d appreciate comments so that I can/should move up a notch or stay as is…
I wouldn’t expect a chip fryer in a gite. And if I were an owner, I’d worry about the fire hazard (and cleaning and smell!).
We’ve talked about air fryers on here before. C’est un sujet un peu clivant, it’s fair to say. I use ours a lot, and would be very happy to see one in a gite (but I wouldn’t expect it). They’re easy to clean, in general, but anything can be abused of course.
An air fryer can be used in many situations where you might also use a fan oven, but I would not say it replaces an oven (you couldn’t do a lasagne, or a roast chicken, for example).
It was a big, sorry massive NO when we had our gites ( the smell, the cleaning, the changing and disposal of the oil, the safety and the smell. Tell them to use oven chips.
It is basically a big no, and by the sounds of it asking for problems!
I have already suggested oven chips to them. I must admit, thinking on the question - why with the modern convenience of oven chips, would one want to wheel a machine into action… maybe it is a Paris thing!
I cant fault my dual air fryer they are very versatile and you can cook virtually anything in them. They are easy to clean, I also use silicone inserts in mine so cleaning up is a breeze, the actual fryer just needs a wipe with a paper towel and the inserts can be washed conventionaly , in dishwasher or by hand. No nasty lingering smells as with a conventional chip fryer.
Quite apart from damage in your gîte, would you need accident insurance to cover visitor mishap medical expenses? People on holiday sometimes are not supervising their children as well as they should.
Oven chips are definitely the way to go! Possibly also marginally healthier.
A spatchcocked chicken in my fan oven only takes 45 minutes - can’t believe they don’t have poultry shears on the other side of the Atlantic (never liked not ‘the Pond’ - but also implies a closer relationship than is actually the case nowadays).
Mark - you’re even politicising chip making! Too right I am - love double cooked French frites and Freedom fries suck.
If people want decent frites they should go to a resto. Maybe you could provide your guests with a list of the best local frites…
Ironically(?) the best pair I’ve ever owned were bought in NYC, my current Sabatier ones too often very painfully trap a bit of the hand with the clip - need a new pair…
No, No, No…we had lovely family in February who have been several times before. Father with three boys. He bought his frying equipment with him and I think they ate nothing but fried food the whole week. The place stank, and was a nightmare to try to get rid of the smell. Everything round the cooker was oily, and extractor fan gunky - in 7 days!!
Don’t do it.
We have a raclette (and outdoor BBQ). That’s quite enough.
Our luxury add-ons are things like a knife sharpener, lids for saucepans, scissors and so on.
I know of one gîte owner who has a sign up saying no fish cookery! That’s a step too far for me, but anything fryer is a no.
But why bother, if as posted above , a spatch-cocked chicken can be cooked in ten minutes less, and is a lot easier to joint.
I cook every evening and make a lot of other things beside, but our only electrical kitchen appliance is my late mother-in-law’s Moulinex hand-held blender, which is at least fifty years old. Used it only this evening when making some minced lamb kofta kebabs
I threw out the deep fryer a good 20 years ago, mostly because of the grease that you can’t see via the steam covering kitchen units etc nearby. The OH was diagnosed with type 2 so we only ate oven chips which were allowed and got used to them. I often cut potatoes into chip shapes, coat lightly with some olive oil and oven bake, they are delicious and much better for you especially if you cut them very thick so you have plenty of the potato to eat, add herbs, dried garlic or anything you fancy. Family here only fry real chips on a table outside in the garden, never ever in the house, too smelly. I would never put one in a gîte if I let one, too many risks and smells.
and I don’t miss the cleaning one little bit 