Rant: Air fryer steak is great but the smoke alarm hates me every time

I was at my buddy's place in Austin last weekend and he swears by searing steak in a cast iron pan inside the air fryer at 400 degrees. It came out perfect, medium rare edge to edge, but his tiny apartment filled with smoke in like 2 minutes flat. I get that high heat gives you that crust, but isn't the whole point of an air fryer to be less messy than a stovetop? Some people say just lower the temp and cook longer, but then you lose the sear. What do you all do to keep the smoke down without ruining the meat?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_jones212d ago

Wait @sam530 are you saying avocado oil actually makes that big of a difference or is it just a bandaid on the smoke problem? I've been using canola oil and the smoke alarm still goes off like clockwork.

sam5302d ago

Yeah I gotta disagree. Air fryers are just small convection ovens so putting a screaming hot cast iron in one is gonna create the same smoke as doing it on the stove. If you want less smoke you need to either use a higher smoke point oil like avocado or just accept that a good sear comes with some smoke no matter what.