Beef

What it does in fast-moving hot air

A steak in an air fryer is a compromise: moving hot air browns a surface well but not as fast or as hard as a pan, so the centre gains temperature during the time the crust takes to form. Thickness therefore decides whether air frying is the right tool at all — thick cuts do well, thin ones overcook before they colour.

Why the cut matters

Beef is the exception that makes the safety model worth having. A whole steak may be served rare because its interior was never contaminated; the same beef minced into a burger may not, because mincing moves the surface into the middle.

Cooking pages

• Steak — Air frying is a compromise for steak, and it is worth knowing which way the compromise runs.
• Beef burger — Minced, so it must be cooked through — and the published times run from seven minutes to twenty-four, depending on the machine, the amount and whether the table names a state.
• Meatballs — Seven minutes at 190°C for inch balls — fast, and minced, so cooked through.
• Roast beef joint — A fresh 750g top rump joint gets forty-five to fifty minutes at 160°C on one manufacturer's roast setting; a 1.8kg figure elsewhere names no state.
• Thick-cut steak — A 3cm steak, which is where this appliance stops being a compromise.
• Flank or bavette steak — One manufacturer grills two flank or bavette steaks, 2cm thick and 475g between them, for seven to eight minutes; it does not say fresh or frozen.
• Beef jerky strips — Five to seven hours at 70°C for 6mm strips marinated overnight.
• Meat loaf — Fifty to sixty minutes at 150°C — the lowest, longest published figure in the catalogue, and it needs a tin.