So I recently discovered that there is a class of kitchen gadget that combines an air fryer with a steamer, called a “combi steamer” or similar.
I got one a few months ago, a Ninja Combi:
I was skeptical at first, but to my surprise, it actually works very well — at least in terms of the cooking part. Being able to steam-cook a pasta plus a protein together is a game changer, or being able to airfry things while still maintaining a little moisture so they don’t completely dry out.
I love the heck out of this thing and use it almost every day. But as a first-generation product, it has some design flaws… cleanup is terrible (there is a liquid runoff, well, trough, but not a removable tray), it’s just a little small to comfortably make 2-portion meal, etc.
So I love the underlying design: steam + radiative heat + bigass fan. But are there better implementations of this same basic thing, just done better?
Apparently these are somewhat common in commercial kitchens, but what about at home? Have you ever used one, and any tips for them?