Now I could spend this evening soldering another tantalum capacitor onto that troublesome Seagate hard drive, or I could do something completely different and make dinner. Dinner wins! Today we’re having a look at the Tefal ActiFry, which promises to cook a rather substantial quantity of potato chips using only a spoonful of oil.

I’ve already had a quick go with this thing and was rather surprised that it actually worked. Apparently you can cook up to a kilogram of chips at once, although I managed to overload it during an earlier experiment. Perhaps following the instructions might be a good idea this time.

First up, potatoes! Four of them, weighing around 824 grams altogether. Safely under our one-kilogram limit. Now all I need to do is peel, slice and wash them.

Simple enough, except I don’t have much of a kitchen. I actually had to go out and buy a chopping board and a few other bits and pieces for this little adventure. I’m certainly no Gordon Ramsay, as my efforts at cutting evenly sized chips will probably demonstrate.

I also discovered that potatoes are rather annoying to peel. They’re slippery, they’re covered in dirt, and occasionally they’ve got strange little roots growing out of them. What are potatoes trying to achieve with all those roots anyway? I know surprisingly little about potatoes, other than the fact that they’re delicious.

Eventually I had a bowl full of reasonably chip-shaped pieces. A few were larger than the others, but that’s hardly the end of the world. After washing and drying them, it was time to load up the ActiFry.

The machine has a rotating paddle that slowly moves the chips around while hot air circulates through the cooking chamber. Add a spoonful of olive oil, set the timer and away we go! It’s quite a clever little arrangement, although the chips occasionally seem determined to pile up on one side rather than cooperate.

I set the timer for roughly 45 minutes and spent a considerable amount of time watching the potatoes move around. Exciting stuff! After about 15 minutes they were starting to show some signs of cooking, although there was still a fair way to go.

As the timer counted down, they became a lovely golden colour. I even prepared a special plate for the occasion. A piece of A4 Reflex paper! That’s what single living is all about.

Finally, the alarm went off. What an absolutely terrible noise! At least it meant dinner was ready. I carefully removed the hot pan, transferred the chips onto my magnificent paper plate and added a little salt.

And the result? Very good! Lovely golden chips, cooked with hardly any oil, and considerably less effort than standing around with a frying pan.

I approve. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got dinner to eat.

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