Chips in an air fryer usually mean a compromise - less oil, less flavour, less crunch, and in the end someone says it is not the same anyway. The method explained by chef Jordi Cruz takes that resignation out of the equation, and it does so with a step most people do not associate with frying at all: the microwave.

The choice of potato is no small thing. Cruz recommends the Agria or Kennebec varieties, cut into sticks about one centimetre thick. Then comes the part most often skipped - the potato is soaked in water to draw out the excess starch. That is why the sticks stay separate and crisp instead of sticking to one another.

Step one: eight minutes in the microwave. Drain the water but leave the potato slightly damp. Add a little olive oil, cover with a glass lid - not airtight - and cook for eight minutes at 800 watts. This first pass essentially confits the potato from the inside, which is why the second step can then be so short.

Step two: ten minutes in the air fryer. The potato goes straight onto the rack, at maximum, 200 degrees for ten minutes. Halfway through, at the fifth minute, stir it so it browns evenly. That is when the first layer of aromatic salt goes on - fine salt ground with paprika, black pepper, fresh thyme, rosemary and a little cayenne. A second layer goes on before the end, with one more minute for the salt to take.

The small detail that separates the new version from the old

Cruz had published the same method before, but with foil over the dish in the microwave. His followers called him out, and he changed it - a glass dish with a glass lid instead of plastic, so there is no microplastic in food while it heats. His reaction was short: „Solving problems and learning.” That is a sentence rarely written by someone with stars on their restaurant.

And for those who think that is too long: classic frying at home takes at least twenty minutes anyway. The air fryer, Cruz says, uses around 70 percent less energy than a conventional oven and needs disproportionately less oil. The bill comes out shorter in both time and money - which is a different sentence from the one usually written about the healthy version of something tasty.