Cooking with an Aga or Rayburn is a little different to conventional cooking, and requires some flexibility, but once you’ve become a convert, you’ll never look back.
Why Buy a Traditional Range Cooker?
They are very attractive looking cookers that will complement any style of kitchen, and will quickly become the heart of the house. This is because they constantly diffuse a gentle heat which will warm most of the room.
Stumbling in late on a cold night, the first place you’ll want to head will be the Aga. It will dry your wet coats, warm you up and even (if you’ve been organised), deliver a hot drink when you walk in.
That’s assuming you can get near it of course. If you have dogs or cats, they love the gentle heat and will pile up against it in a furry heap. Our spaniel has to be gently edged out of the way every time we want to use the ovens.
The Aga runs all the time, meaning it’s always hot when you need it. It’s great if you come in late from work to start cooking immediately without having to wait for the oven to warm up. It’s also fantastic for slow cooking, and if you’re organised in the morning you can walk in to a ready-cooked meal at night.
Many people also think that food tastes better cooked in an Aga, as, unlike a conventional oven which heat the air, an Aga diffuses heat from a core source and food (especially baking etc) remains more moist.
Range Cooklers – What are the Disadvantages?
The main problem with these cookers is the cost. They are expensive to buy, and although they are available secondhand, the older ones (run on oil or solid fuel) tend to be expensive to run. The newer ones now run on a range of power sources including gas, and are more economical.
They can make the room quite hot in the summer, as the heat is constant and can’t really be regulated. You can turn your Aga off in the summer, but will need something else to cook on. And will have some explaining to do to the dog.
Range Cookers – What About Maintenance?
The cooker should be serviced every six months, and will need to be turned off overnight beforehand to allow it to cool.
Range Cookers – How Do They Work?
There are various sizes of oven available. The smallest and simplest has two hotplates on the top, and two ovens down the right hand side.
As you stand and look at the oven, the hotplate on the left is the boiling plate, and the right hand one is the simmering plate. The top oven is the roasting oven, the bottom one the simmering oven. The heat is constantly transferred from the core to the hotplates and oven, meaning that the cooker is always ready for use.
Range Cookers – How Do You Cook on Them?
Agas take a little getting used to. The two hotplates on top are covered with insulated lids, and as soon as you raise those lids then the heat loss starts, so you shouldn't use it like a conventional hob. Most of your cooking should take place in the ovens, and the hotplates only used for quick cooking or to start things off.
For example, if you were making mashed potatoes, you should start the pan boiling on the boiling plate, and then transfer the pan to the simmering oven for the rest of the cooking time.
Agas really excel at things like stews and braised meat. Fry the meat and bring the liquid to the boil on the hotplate in the morning, then transfer the pan to the simmering oven for the rest of the day. Because the heat is so gentle, it’s difficult to overcook things in the simmering oven .
As the oven temperatures are not adjustable, you need to get used to cooking in the relevant part of each oven.
The roasting oven will vary from approximately 240C/475F at the bottom, to 260C/500F at the top. Each oven will have one or more racks, which can be moved up and down the oven to "find" the heat. If you are roasting potatoes, they need to go near the top of the oven.
Baking should be done on the floor of the oven (with the rack resting on the floor instead of the lowest runners). You can reduce the oven temperature even more by putting a cold shelf above the rack, this is just a metal shelf than needs to be put in the oven cold.
The simmering (slow) oven ranges from approx 115C/225F at the bottom to 135C/275F at the top. This is the oven to slow cook in – all day, or overnight. Stews, fruit cakes, porridge....you can dry tomatoes out overnight, or even roast a turkey overnight if you like. Put your bowl of porridge in the slow oven overnight, and it will be creamy and perfect in the morning.
The top of the Aga is a great place for keeping plates warm or melting chocolate. Don’t put anything directly onto the lids, or they’ll scratch. You can protect them with special pads.
New Aga owners should invest in an oven thermometer, as the temperature can vary not only from oven to oven, but also from day to day.
Once you’ve learnt how to manage your Aga, you’ll never want to cook on anything else – and your dog will love you forever.
Sara Walker - I graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BA in English and French, and spent many years working as a software trainer and then ...
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