Image from ©Quik n’ Crispy® shown for review purposes.

Quik n’ Crispy Greaseless Fryers are commercial models of basket-type hot air fryers. They run very hot and cook very fast.

The product has been made for some time before 1990 — long before home hot air frying devices were available. At that time, a man named Paul Artt bought the patent for the devices from the Tidel Systems company, where he had previously worked with the product as a Vice President. ^[1] “He had exclusive management responsibility for the Quik n’ Crispy product line from its market introduction up until the time of its sale to QNC.” About us. https://q-n-c.com/about-us-2. Retrieved October 2014.

As of 2014, there are two models.

• The regular model (GF II), shown on the right above,  cooks up to 1 kg (2 pounds) of food at once, with an average cooking time being around 4 minutes depending on the food being cooked.
• The large model (GF 5), shown on the left above, cooks up to 5 pounds (2.5 kg) at once.

Both are counter top units. The food is cooked in a mesh basket, which is attached to the lower front drawer panel of the units. Though both models look like they might be two-drawer devices, the top front panel on each actually hides heating elements behind it.

The machines use radiated heat plus forced hot air that cycles on and off. The hot air is forced up through the bottom of the perforated drawer basket tray. Underneath the basket is a drip tray.

The machines beep to let you know when cooking time is complete. At the same time, the timer turns off both the heater and the blower.

Being commercial machines, these machines necessarily have to, and do, prepare food far faster than home hot air fryers. Part of the reason they can do this is that they are very powerful: the wattage of the machines ranges from 1740 watts to 5760 watts depending on the model ^[2] Quik N’ Crispy model information from https://q-n-c.com/products/products/. Retrieved October 2014. . Another part of the equation is the “type” of food you use.

Foods appropriate for Quik n’ Crispy fryers

Quik n’ Crispy fryers are designed for frozen (or chilled) snack-type foods that are already partially cooked or prepped to be “oven ready”, and therefore requiring only a very short cooking time to do or finish the cooking.

You can also use the machine as a super concentrated convection oven to rapidly bake  items such as buttermilk biscuits or cinnamon rolls from ready-made, chilled dough.

The machines can also be used to reheat foods that are completely cooked.

The fryers are aimed particularly at snack bars, pubs, bars, small restaurants, food trucks, assisted living residences, military bases, etc, where commercially-prepared snack foods are served.

Though there is only one tray in the machine, you can cook different things at the same time by arranging them in different areas of the tray, if they have the same cooking time and temperature.

For the larger GF5 model, you can buy smaller perforated cooking baskets that fit into the larger cooking tray, to help make sure separate food orders stay separate.

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy Model GF5 Operation and Preparation.” Demonstration video.

You can insert up to four of those smaller cooking baskets into the tray at one time. (To be clear, this is only for the larger model.)

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy Model GF5 Operation and Preparation.” Demonstration video

The Quik n’ Crispy manufacturers recommend that for the first cooking use at the very start of each day, you spray the bottom of the basket with cooking spray, then wipe any excess off with paper towel.

Quik n’ Crispy fryers and lower-fat foods

Here are some nutritional figures suggested by the Quik n’ Crispy manufacturer:

• Commercially-cut and frozen, ready to cook French Fries cooked in a Quik n’ Crispy will be up to 50% lower in fat;
• Items such as egg roll, corn dogs, battered snacks cooked in a Quik n’ Crispy will be 20 to 50% lower in fat.

The fat content on items such as the French fries will still appear high to those who make their own French fries from scratch at home in their home hot air fryers. Bear in mind, though, that if you were instead to use frozen fries at home, your numbers would be similar to Quik n’ Crispy’s. The reason is that frozen French fries, and frozen snack foods such as onion rings, etc, come already dipped or sprayed in oil by the makers of those foods, so you don’t have control over the fat content in that regard. (The oil coating on commercial frozen French fries may be necessary to prevent them from drying out or browning during freezer storage.)

So while the “fat savings” are substantial compared to deep-fat frying, they will not be as great as those that can be experienced when food items are prepared from scratch. But that’s the nature of the beast here: a commercial tool that people with minimal cooking skills can use to quickly prepare snack foods that approximate deep-fried with no prep work necessary. There’s probably no reason a more skilled cook couldn’t make even lower-fat French fries in a Quik n’ Crispy by cutting fresh French fries from scratch, tossing them in a few teaspoons of oil and then adjusting the machine for a longer cooking time.

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy at Howie’s Game Shack.” Promotional Video. 22 October 2013.

Quik n’ Crispy fryers compared to traditional deep-fat fryers

For small commercial kitchens, a Quik n’ Crispy fryer can have several advantages over a deep-fat fryer according to the manufacturer:

• it’s faster than deep fat: a Quik n’ Crispy fryer can prepare a portion of French fries in four minutes, far faster then deep-fat frying;
• smaller on-demand orders are easier to fulfill ^[3] “Efficient Food Service.” QNC blog. https://q-n-c.com/blog/. Retrieved October 2014. . For instance, bars can keep offering food orders after the kitchen staff has gone home, because your bar staff just has to pop frozen stuff in and set the timer. There’s no prep space needed, and no big vat of oil that has to be kept hot after hours;
• staff need less training, and it’s easier for staff to maintain as there is no oil to fill, filter, empty, dispose of, etc;
• there’s less greasy air in the kitchen;
• there’s far less set up cost: for instance, it does not need a vented hood though a special electrical socket may be required;
• there is less liability worry and it reduces insurance premiums compared to a deep-fat device.

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy at Howie’s Game Shack.” Promotional Video. 22 October 2013.

Controlling the cooking temperature on Quik n’ Crispy fryers

Both models seem to only offer temperature control under the older Fahrenheit scale.

Average cooking temperatures on the regular GF II model seem to be 200 / 200 C (400 F  / 420 F); on the larger GF 5 model it’s 210 / 220 C (410 F / 425 F).

You can, however, adjust the temperature.

The larger,  GF 5 model has actual separate temperature / time buttons, as well as an LED menu with a menu button offering pre-programmed cooking times.

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy at Howie’s Game Shack.” Promotional Video. 22 October 2013.

You can change the temperature and cooking time on the smaller GF II  model but it doesn’t appear to be straightforward.

Image from ©Quik n’ Crispy® shown for review purposes.

There is no separate temperature control: the temperature / time are selected via set, pre-programmed choices. To change that, you have to press menu buttons in a certain sequential order, and by doing that, it seems, actually reprogram the temperature on one of the 6 cooking menu selection buttons. See the user manual (page 15, 2006 Edition of user manual for GF II model.)

To reprogramme the menu choices on the larger GF 5 model, see: https://q-n-c.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/GF5-OMJan2010.pdf, under REPROGRAMMING THE MENU TEMPERATURE AND / OR TIME SETTINGS (page 7, 2010 edition of user manual for Model GF5.)

Sources

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy Model GF5 Operation and Preparation.” Demonstration video. Dated 9 November 2010. Retrieved September 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oKi8NqRwwk

QuikNCrispy / Paul Artt. “Quik n’ Crispy at Howie’s Game Shack.” Promotional Video. 22 October 2013. Retrieved October 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsRAjXkXHkA

Summers, Marc. Hot Air Greaseless Frying. Food Network. Retrieved September 2014 from https://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/hot-air-greaseless-frying-60148.html.