AGA tips please...

[Flowertop]

Hi, we are getting an aga on friday, 3 door oven. Never had one before and would appreciate any tips you may have that I should be aware of. Also if anyone has any fab aga recipes that would be great.
Thanks

[BoffinMum]

1. It is easy to leave things in the slow oven for weeks and forget about them until they are mummified.

1. Piles of washing air very nicely on the top burners (lids on, obviously).

1. You need a normal oven for the summer or else you will roast to death yourself if you leave the Aga on.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Second the normal oven as well, we had our AGA turned off since March and turned in on at beginning of November and the kitchen is roasting.

Did a lovely stew in mine yesterday bunged it in bottom oven at 10 in the morning and was lovely when we ate it at 8 last night.

[willthisdo]

You'll love it. We've had ours for 8 months now and am firmly in love! We leave ours on over the summer and it certainly wasn't a problem this year - if you could call that a summer)

In addition we haven't had to turn the heating on yet (apart from in the children's bedrooms)

You'll get a cookbook with it (assuming it's new??) and there are some great (if dated) recipes in there.

Enjoy - I'm just pondering my first Christmas dinner on the Aga.

[MrsRecycle]

where did you buy the aga from? My dream to have one and our potential new house has space for one.

[Millarkie]

I agree with BoffinMum- get a magnetic timer, stick it to the Aga and use it every time you put something in the oven - you can't smell the food cooking and we burnt so much in the first few weeks of Aga ownership
We only turned ours off for 6 weeks this summer, but the weather was atrocious and we have no other heating in our North facing kitchen.
We have 'The Aga Book' by Mary Berry for recipes but since we are vegetarian we just bung normal concoctions into the hot oven.

[Flowertop]

Thanks for all the messages. I am a little worried as don't have any other cooker supply. Does anyone here have an aga but not a back up for the summer? If I can't fit another cooker in is there any alternatives?

[BoffinMum]

Combination microwave perhaps, or a Baby Belling just standing on a worktop when you need it. You might want to look into installing a proper electric hob too.

[SquiffyHock]

this is a fab recipe - it's from 'The Aga Bible'. Also, buy some bake-o-glide - the circular ones fit on the top so you can do fried eggs, pancakes, toasted sandwiches etc with no pan. Also great for drying and ironing school uniform at this time of year.

as for turining it off, I think it depends on how warm your kitchen is - we would suffocate in ours during the summer but as Millarkie said, she only turned hers off for a short time. You'll love it!! What colour have you gone for?

[SquiffyHock]

MrsRecycle - we bought a reconditioned AGA from company and it was immaculate (they sand blast them, re enamel etc)

[Millarkie]

We could happily have ours switched on all year round, but we have a north facing kitchen with 2 doors that can be opened to create a through draught. We only turn it off in a vague attempt to keep the bills a little lower.

[MrsRecycle]

oh thanks squiffyh for the link. Didn't realize you can run them on electric thought they were all gas fired - makes it even more attractive as new house only has oil fired heating. Does anyone know how much they cost to run? Am assuming a lot cheaper than oil. TIA

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Don't get an oil aga.

[GentleOtter]

I don't have an Aga but would recommend the toast maker.
toast maker link

[GentleOtter]

tries link again

[Millarkie]

MrsR - Ours is a 2 oven electric version. We also have oil fired heating for rest of house. Ours heats up at night on economy 7 tariff and our total electricity bill is about £80 per month. (We do have low-energy everything else though, and I don't use the tumble dryer)

[othersideofthefence]

I did have an AGA but now I have an ESSE (same thing tho')
Mine stays on all year -I do have the electric add-on which I use occasionally.
I'd recommed getting some pans that can go in the oven. The circulon ones are excellent.
Then you can bring things to the boil on the hotplate and then stick the whole pan in the low oven (eg gravy/boiling potatoes). This means you lose less heat and it is more efficient.

It takes a while to get used to, but once after a few months you will never want to cook on anything else.

[PottyCock]

my parents have had an Aga for years - i love it. It's so warm and useful...i still can't cook properly on bloomin' gas.

[jellyshoeswithdiamonds]

re: the leaving food in oven until its mummified, I'd second getting a timer. In desparation I used to attach a peg to the tea-towel on the Aga rail to remind me I'd put something in .

[peonyflower]

Lurrrve my AGA.
We don't have a back up oven but then we have the 4 oven model and have to leave on all year round.

When we had a two oven the only problem I found was that the ovens were not brilliant for baking but that can be sorted with a cold shelf in the top oven to make the bottom part of the top oven a bit cooler.

Top tip - CLEAN the grease off the enamel top each day and then you won't be left with the nightmare amount of yak that I have got...

[NotanOtterOHappyDay]

o my lord i am sooooo excited

[MorocconOil]

Get this book 'Aga Cakes' by Lucy Young. It's fantastic as baking in an aga takes a bit of practice, but this book really helps. Also make sure you get proper racks, cold shelfs and grill pans. It makes it much easier.

[bluesky]

Lucy young book is brill I agree Mimizan, I've just got it. Mary Berry is fantastic. As is Sarah Whitaker. I wouldn't recommend Amy Willcock, the recipes never seem to work.

I keep mine on all year. Fold your ironing and put on the lid of your right hand plate and overnight it will have magically been ironed.

Your local Aga shop may do cookery demonstrations, you pick up so many tips. Or just type Aga Cookery Classes into Google and see if there is anything near you.

Obviously when you lift the lids, the heat is escaping so try and cook within the ovens, so for frying steaks or frying onions/mushrooms, just put the pan on the floor of the roasting oven, it's just as hot, doesn't splash and doesn't smell!

[bella29]

80/20 rule: do 80% of your cooking in the oven, 20% on the hotplates. That way you don't lose all your heat. Anything that needs longer than 15 minutes cooking time goes in the oven. Hence Le Creuset or stainless steel pots with no plastic bits are essential.

Best book: Little Book of Aga Tips by Amy Willcock - teeny book from Aga shops packed with invaluable advice.