Omorc Air Fryer Review

Air fryers - the saviour of the universe? Maybe not, but certainly a great way to cook 'fried' foods without drenching them in unhealthy fat. In this article and video, I review a big shiny 5.5 litre fryer from Omorc. UPDATE: this product is no longer available.

The first thing you'll notice when you unpack the Omorc air fryer is its enormous size (421 x 343 x 381 mm). It weights just over 6 kilos. The 5.5 litre (5.8 quarts) capacity is easily big enough to accommodate a whole chicken and some sides. The design is sleek and uncluttered.

Controls
Controlling the Omorc is very simple. There's a rotary knob with a push-button in the centre. When you press the button, the screen lights up. It's a touch screen, so there are no physical buttons to trap dirt and harbour bugs. The Omorc air fryer features seven presets (fries, ribs, shrimp, cake, chicken, meat, fish) which are selectable by pressing the Menu button and rotating the knob. In addition to this, and probably more useful, are settings for temperature and time. In the UK/Europe model, temperatures are in Celcius, while the US model is hard-wired to Fahrenheit. There are 4 mode buttons - temperature, time, menu, and keep warm (this keeps cooked food warm for up to 2 hours). There's also a stop button.

Using the Air Fryer
Preheat the air fryer to the temperature you want. When this is happening, you'll see an animated fan icon with a red dot in the centre. When the red dot goes out, you've hit the temperature you set - this shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. Pull out the frying basket. As a safety feature, this shuts off the fan and the heating element. Put the food into the basket - to get things like chicken nicely browned, you'll need to spray the bottom of the basket and the food with a little oil. Things that are already fatty, like sausages, don't need extra oil. Cook for the required time, but pull out the basket and give it a shake every 5 minutes or so to help get even colouring.

Clean Up
One of the great attractions of air fryers is how clean they are - you don't have gallons of dirty oil to deal with. All you need to do after using it is to pull out the basket, slide forward the safety cover on top of the handle, and push the basket release button to, well, release the basket from the pot. Wash the pot and the basket in hot soapy water (don't use a hard scourer or you'll damage the non-stick coating), dry them and you're done.

How Does It Work?
Air fryers work by circulating hot air around a container, so they are very similar to convection ovens. And that means that the stated temperature of the device has the same cooking effect as a conventional oven that's 20°C hotter. So setting the air fryer to 200°C (the Omorc's maximum) is the same as a normal oven at 220°C. A point to note, the Omorc is quite well-insulated, so the outside of it gets warm, but not uncomfortably so.

Conclusion
The Omorc air fryer is well-designed, well-made, and does what it says on the box. I found the touch screen to be a little bit temperamental - you have to hit some of the buttons just so. And it would have been useful if it came with a trivet or shelf of some kind so you could pack more burgers in. Oh, and when I first opened it, there was a screw loose from the basket handle. Apart from these minor criticisms, it's worth considering. If you do want to buy it, there's a discount code. Go to http://bit.ly/2GkpzbV  and enter 'save30off' at checkout to get a $30 discount.

Full disclosure: I was sent this item for review by Omorc, but have received no other payment. All opinions expressed are mine own.