Appreciation post: a line cook in Austin told me to preheat my air fryer like a real oven and it fixed my fries
I was complaining at a bar last Friday that my frozen fries always came out pale and sad, and this guy who works the fry station said the air fryer is just a tiny oven, so treat it like one. Now I run it empty at 400 for 4 minutes before the basket goes in, and the fries actually crisp up on the outside instead of steaming. Anyone else preheat theirs or am I just late to this?