Big, bright and green!
I have had this health fryer for about 3 months now and I have cooked with it a variety of meals including: freshly cut chips, frozen chips, sweet potatoes, lamb shanks, fish, fish finger, jacket potatoes, nachos...
The Breville Halo Plus Health Fryer, is a significant chunk of kitchen gadgetry and, for some, it may be a bit too big, bright and showy!
It takes up a fair space on a kitchen worktop and you will also need a clearance of about 20 inches (or 51 centimetres) between your worktop and any wall cupboards, to allow the lid to open fully, otherwise you will have to pull it forward, clear of any wall cupboards and may end up with it overhanging the worktop edge.
It is also worth noting that the lid has to be opened to add the ingredients and therefore you would need space above. You cannot put it underneath a cupboard as you will not be able to open the lid to add the ingredients.
Operation is, however, fairly simple, although it took me a minute or two to master the means of operating the tilt lock. Setting the timing and turning the machine on is very straightforward. Two buttons: combined cooking (halo+fryer) or just halogen. And then two other buttons to decide the time you want the ingredients to cook for (add more minutes or decrease minutes). Press Start and you are good to go.
So, how does it cope with cooking food? The quality of fresh chips was reasonable, but the timing may need adjustment to suit personal preferences. It coped very well with frozen chips, as it did with roast lamb shanks. The fresh, roast potatoes were excellent.
I have cooked sweet potatoes in it and my family really enjoyed them a lot!
You should note that the only timings given for this machine are for fairly large portions, so, if you are cooking for only one or two you may have to adjust the timings. You also need to keep a close eye on progress as food can very quickly become overcooked. So don't leave the kitchen for half-an-hour and expect to come back to perfectly cooked food - it could be underdone, perfect, or charcoal.
Efficiency.
I cannot find out its energy efficiency rating, but it operates at 1.3kw, and will cost about 18p per hour to use (depending on your exact tariff).
This compares with the approximate hourly costs for the following electrical appliances:
Electric grill - 48p
Electric oven - 30p
Cooker ring - 28p
Microwave - 10p
Slow cooker - 2.5p
The actual costs will of course vary between different makes and power ratings.
In general, it compares favourably with grills, ovens and rings, but is not as efficient as microwaves or slow cookers. At the same time, however, it is a little more versatile than the latter two.
I also looked at cooking times and found little variation between using an oven and using the Breville fryer, which makes the Breville, in general, cheaper to use (per item). However, if you wish to cook a meal of, let us say, pie and chips (both from frozen), the total time taken by the Breville fryer will be 50 to 60 minutes, as both have to be cooked separately (and whichever is cooked first will have to be kept warm). Alternatively, using a conventional oven to cook both at the same time will take only 30 to 35 minutes (allowing 5 minutes for the oven to heat up), cancelling out any saving that the Breville may give on lower power usage.
So, while the Breville can be economic to use when cooking single items, it is likely to be the case that your cooker oven is likely to be more efficient if cooking two or more items at the same time.
Price.
I bought mine from very.co.uk at sale price of £99 RRP £150. It is expensive for what you get and it is equivalent to about 400 hours of oven time. It clearly falls into the category of a luxury and not an essential
Last thought.
I enjoy cooking with it; it's quick, clean , efficient, different yes but your kitchen will not smell anymore of frying and lastly but not least it is healthy!
My score.
4/5
The only reason why it does not get my full mark it is because of the colour (white and green) which does not really match with my kitchen design.
