Ease of set up
It’s extremely easy to set up the Tower Air Fryer Oven as it comes with a thorough instruction manual that takes you through everything in a step-by-step process.
Once removing all the packaging, the instructions talk you through how to make sure you have enough space (10cm) around the air fryer to allow the hot steam to release uninterrupted.
Then you have to switch it on for 15 minutes at 200°C to allow any manufacturer coating residues to burn off.
This did fill the kitchen with a slight aroma of chemicals for that time, but this disappears quickly and doesn’t come back after the initial run.
Getting to grips with the settings and accessories
The digital screen at the top of the air fryer is easy to navigate, with the menu bar allowing you to rotate through the pre-programmed settings for things like chips, or you can set the temperature and time yourself to give you more control.
Again, there is a handy chart in the instruction manual which guides you through different types of food, what they should be cooked on (for example racks, the grill plate or skewers), at what temperature, and for how long.
If you’ve never used an air fryer before, it really does make it incredibly easy and user-friendly.
The air fryer also comes with lots of different accessories to get you started, including:
- Oil drip tray – this is used whatever you’re cooking and catches any oil or liquids. You just take it out and clean it at the end, meaning your air fryer stays nice and clean and you don’t need to use any parchment paper
- Air flow racks – these are sturdy wire racks that most things can go on and allow air to flow around the food, crisping it evenly
- Reversible grill plate – a very heavy plate which comes into its own when cooking things like sausages, as well as pizza
- Rotisserie fork and handle – designed really to roast a chicken, but I’m sure could work for mock-meat joints
- Wire rack – this is designed to cook toast in the air fryer, who would have thought?!
- 10 skewers plus rotating wheels – who needs the barbecue when you can air fry your veggie kebabs?
- Heat-proof silicone finger mitts – more flexible than an oven glove, these are perfect for pulling out the trays and racks without burning your fingers
The Tower Air Fryer Oven also comes with a great recipe book showing just how versatile it can be, so you are reassured from the outset that your new bit of kit will do more than make good chips in a slightly healthier manner.
The recipe book isn’t vegan (although it does have a veggie and vegan chapter), so some recipes will need a little adapting, and the meat and fish chapters can just be ignored, but there are some nice recipes for tropical muesli, onion bhajis, aubergine and chickpea curry, and blackberry and apple crumble.
Anyone curious about experimenting with a raw vegan diet might also be interested in the dehydration section, which includes recipes for dehydrated bananas and curried parsnip crisps.
There’s also a QR code you can scan to get a digital recipe book too.