More complicated was ginger soy fish, half steamed in a mixture of lime, soy sauce and sesame oil. The recipe instructs you to place a shallow dish small enough to cook the fish in the cooking basket. Plus, it needs to be big enough to hold the fish, and your fingers will thank you for figuring out how to remove the hot dish before you hit the start button. Still, it was a surprisingly quick and delicious meal.
Chaos of both worlds
Next up was combo cooking, where I hoped to get the best of both worlds: steaming to tenderize the inside, then a hot blast to crisp up the outside. I quickly learned that combo mode means just steaming and then cooking. Programming felt like trying to figure out a Konami code. The touchscreen controls look slick, but they’re a complicated mess that’s best overcome by brute force memorization. Adding time at the end of cooking (steam or combi) means you have to reset the temperature, which defaults to 370 degrees at the end of each cycle. Then enter the extension.
If you want to cook something different, you’ll either be beholden to GoWise’s recipes or laboriously experiment with the times and temperatures adopted from them. I wish the book had a title 100 basic recipes, with times and temperatures and diagrams. I’d gladly take a simple instruction manual in exchange for GoWise’s mediocre or odd interpretations of broccoli—cursed but counterproductively covered in yogurt—or Italian stuffed peppers with “low-carb marinara sauce,” whatever that is.
I made stuffed mushrooms, a classic appetizer filled with three cheeses folded into cream cheese with Worcestershire sauce and garlic, which I kind of just wanted to spread on my biscuits. After eight minutes of steam and another eight minutes of a 400-degree blast of hot air, they came out fine. There’s not much not to like if you’re a fan of cheese and mushrooms, but the mushroom caps were a bit soggy. I wish I had pre-blasted them before adding the filling, but that seems contrary to the simplistic ethos of air fryer cooking.
Perhaps the biggest success in combination mode has been with honey soy chicken thighs. After poring through the poorly written recipe and adopting a few techniques and cooking temperatures from other recipes, they came out exceptionally well. They were tender and juicy, with a crispy, flavorful exterior, perhaps the best thing I’ve had at GoWise.
As with all smart kitchen appliances with apps, I was skeptical about GoWise. I don’t want to be happy or anything, but my opinion hasn’t changed here. I cringed when I noticed more one-star reviews than five-star reviews on the App Store, and little in between. The featured review happened to mention that the cookie recipe was “wrong.” I pulled up the app, guessing that the company must have corrected whatever it was by now, but no. The ingredients don’t require butter, but the first line of the process does. Did due diligence, I deleted the app.
Comfort
Still, I enjoyed my time with GoWise. It cooked well and was pleasantly quiet. I love that the basket and tray are dishwasher safe. No need to mess up this simplistic ethos by standing over the sink for five minutes to scrub out crusty bits! Although there were plenty of duds, I really appreciate that it includes 100 recipes, especially those that help users take advantage of the steam and combination cooking features. I would have been more interested in this if I could have controlled the heat during the steam cycle. You can do a lot of interesting things in a “normal” steam oven, but a fixed temperature of 212°C significantly reduces the fun you can have with it.
Photo: Amazon
The bigger problem with this air fryer is that of all dedicated air fryers: they only do one thing (or two in this case), take up a ton of counter space, and have surprisingly little room for cooking. If you enjoy air frying, use the convection setting you may have on your existing built-in oven or make sure the next built-in oven you purchase has it equipped.
If you Really If you want a countertop air fryer, go for the toaster oven style so you can air fry, bake, grill, or toast with more space. (Yes, the toaster oven style has an even larger footprint, can be harder to clean, and takes a little longer to heat up, but still.) If you’re convinced you want a standalone air fryer, the GoWise is just OK . The company should initially discontinue the app out of mercy. Just get a copy of it Air fryer perfection instead of the company recipe book and have fun.