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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think if AGA's really were that great

43 replies

rottentomatoes · 10/08/2013 18:03

a lot more top chef's would use them. I hear people raving about their AGA's and how good food tastes from them but I can't help but think it's more about status than anything else. I am willing to be proved wrong but
AIBU to think they are just an expensive way to cook and heat a small area of a house?

OP posts:

LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 10/08/2013 18:51

Well, they don't do it for me, but TBH there are loads of things top chefs do that I wouldn't, and I can believe they might give you a better result than you (not being a top chef) can manage otherwise.

Frankly, though, I've had some really badly-cooked food from agas so am a bit put off.

squoosh · 10/08/2013 18:55

I hate Aga's.

I never thought an inanimate object could be smug until I encountered an Aga.

SueDoku · 10/08/2013 18:58

I have a friend with an AGA who cooks like a dream, so I think it's the cook, rather than the AGA. Her cakes are wonderful, and she has always cooked wonderful creamy porridge overnight in the cool oven.... Mmmmmm

The biggest advantage was being able to cook a fried breakfast (bacon, sausages etc) for the whole family all at once in the huge, HUGE frying pan

WestieMamma · 10/08/2013 18:58

^^ What squoosh said.

matilda101 · 10/08/2013 18:59

I love my aga!! But saying that I'm impatient and it's great that its always on and ready to go rather than having to wait until its hot before you put anything in it!

LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 10/08/2013 19:04

Mmm. I think between them sue and the OP put their finger on why they annoy me, actually.

They're not for posh cooking - they're for basics like a fry up or a nice roast or whatever. If everyone I'd met who had one say that, I'd understand why they liked them, but I met the people who were going on about how special and amazing the flavour of the (pedestrian and boring) food would be. It's like, it's so hard to cook anything fancy on them, people expect extra credit for doing the basics and not fucking up?

Disclaimer: it may well be you can cook gorgeous exciting food on them too, and I've just met people who were both shit, pedestrian cooks and Aga smuggists, of course.

ChasingDogs · 10/08/2013 19:05

Because commercial kitchens have commercial, professional equipment; which these days is more "why does this oven have a computer more complicated and powerful than my new i7 laptop?" than AGA.

Maybe top chefs have AGAs at home. Then they can enjoy the blazing heat of their work kitchens, at home, during the summer months.

cozietoesie · 10/08/2013 19:14

They're great in old cold houses with a huge amount of free or cheap fuel and where the people concerned are around most of the day. (eg older farms with large log-piles.)

Having said which, I've never known an Aga owner who didn't also have an electric/gas cooker (with oven) and a microwave. I'm not saying there aren't some, just that I've never met any - and I've known a good few.

toastedteacake · 10/08/2013 19:20

I think AGA's have become a middle class status symbol.

I only ever hear people complain about how oil fired AGA's seem to drink fuel like it's going out of fashion and how the price of oil just keeps going up and up... (Is that stealth bragging about how monied they must be to keep the b*stard thing going?)

They're bad for your pocket and worse still for the environment.

Retropear · 10/08/2013 19:29

I utterly loathed my mothers Aga,the heat all friggin year round,lack of ability to precision cook (and indeed to cook anything huge), the needless damage to the environment.....

I have an uber rich friend who got rid of hers.It came with the house but she said if she wanted to feed a fire £50 notes she'd think of a more interesting way to do it.

Emilythornesbff · 10/08/2013 19:37

They are shit for cooking
The temperature control is horrendous.
But they are cosy in the winter.

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 10/08/2013 19:38

I cannot imagine having one in my kitchen during the weather we have recently had. In winter... maybe

Pawprint · 10/08/2013 20:06

I've never wanted one myself, but, my Grannie had one. Her kitchen and house were massive (and freezing) and the Aga was cosy and good for roasts and fry ups.

I don't want one, but my cat would love one as a humongous hot water bottle.

IndridCold · 10/08/2013 20:35

I think quite a few top chefs do have them at home. They wouldn't really work in a restaurant because they would lose too much heat during an evening, especially if there was a lot of frying to be done, and there is no grill.

Ours came with our house (stone farmhouse in Cornwall) and is very old and uncool. The house would be incredibly cold and gloomy without it. I don't have any other means of cooking and I don't feel I need one, although I do sometimes miss having a grill. There may be a few days each year when it is too hot, but this being Cornwall that doesn't happen very often!

It's great to cook on, it heats our water (and the cats) and I can dry all my washing on an airer above it. It is definitely not the greenest option, and I can't imagine wanting one if I lived in a town.

mrspink27 · 10/08/2013 21:23

I love mine and I disagree with quite a few of the negative comments - we have had to turn ours off as a result of the recent hot weather and use the gas module... but it's the first time in 7 years (since moving in) that I have ever used it. I dont have a microwave, kettle or toaster and I dry and iron some stuff on the aga. I wouldnt be without mine and I have cooked many an amazing meal! I HATE the preplanning required to use the electric oven and grill which I have ruined far more food on than I ever have in the aga.
Although I do see the environmental impact issues as pointed out earlier up the thread... but I have fewer electrical items and less heating required for the downstairs of the house and we tend to live in the kitchen....

CruCru · 10/08/2013 22:16

I'm sure that Nigel Slater has one at home - I think he wrote a column about it. I would be surprised if there were Agas in professional kitchens - those things are huge and need reinforced floors.

Doilooklikeatourist · 10/08/2013 22:28

We have an Aga , we have an electric cooker too , which I use about once a year . It's meant to be so we can cook when we turn the Aga off .

We don't , though we should have this summer !

We recently had it converted from oil , to electricity .

It heats our water too .

I am a good cook < modest too > and I love to cook on it . I can cook anything on the Aga , lovely toast , baked potatoes , roasts ....

Our house is an old , cold farmhouse which needs an Aga

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 10/08/2013 22:34

Why is it cooking on the Aga? Is that the way you say it? I bake my potatoes in my boring regular status-free oven.

LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 10/08/2013 22:45

Oh, I bet Nigel Slater has one. To go with his 'tiny herb patch' that has 97 varieties of thyme and his larder of odds and ends that regularly include kilos of fresh berries, litres of cream and the odd bit of foie gras.

mercury7 · 10/08/2013 23:18

I used to have one, it did cook lovely but I dont miss it because it cost a fortune to run and made the kitchen too hot in the summer!

Onesleeptillwembley · 11/08/2013 00:49

My parents had one (yes, with another cooker as well). They are great if you can cook, but the secret is actually knowing your own cooker. No two are alike.

WilsonFrickett · 11/08/2013 01:36

LRD I wish MN had a like button sometimes

OP, of course chefs cooking in a professional kitchen who are feeding hundreds of diners to time don't have Agas. Agas are about home cooking and heating - very different things.

LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 11/08/2013 01:38

Aw, I feel bad. I like his cookery books, I was just shocked by how he comes across on TV. It is truly awful.

Isabelonatricycle · 11/08/2013 01:59

We (my parents, I don't have a proper grown up house yet...) have an aga. Home is an old farmhouse, no central heating. It was put in before they became posh, and is what makes home bearable in winter. The aga heats the house, heats the water and is used for cooking - we don't have another stove or a microwave, the aga does everything.

Never had an issue making "fancier" food, never had an issue cooking in bulk - live in the middle of nowhere so when we have parties we invite everyone and they come for the weekend so it is cooking for 150+.

In the summer even with weather like we've just had it isn't too hot, because the thick walls which go with old houses keeps it quite cool (also the fact that no doors or windows fit properly so there is always a draft!)

Not trying to be smug at all, just giving another pov. Though anyone who says it makes food taste better is talking utter rubbish, and I hate the way it is now seen as the naice thing to have. Ugh.

LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 11/08/2013 02:01

It sounds perfect for that - that is what it is made for! And I can certainly get jealous at the warmth of it.

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