2 oven aga/slow cooking

[feistychicken]

Hoping someone with an aga can help! I have recently moved into a house with a two oven aga. The bottom oven runs at about 80degrees Celsius. The top oven sits at about 180. The previous owner had the aga on “setting 2” out of 5 to conserve oil, and we’ve stuck with that.

As our first winter here approaches, i’d Like to do some slow cooking. Is the bottom oven too cold for that? I’m wondering if I get everything super hot, liquid boiling and then shoved it in the bottom oven all day it would be ok for stews/casseroles etc, akin to a slow cooker? Or is it not hot enough to cook? I’m not adverse to turning the aga up but that would make the top oven hotter and 180 is quite a good temp for most things!!!

Oh I feel your pain ... well it was pain for me when we moved into our house & inherited a 2 oven Aga - soon christened The Bitch! Three years on we are now best of friends although I steer clear of baking!

^www.blakeandbull.co.uk/blogs/news/aga-range-cooker-oven-temperatures^

The Blake & Bull site states the roasting oven (top) should be 230 so yours is way down. Unless you increase the temp then the bottom oven will probably be too cool.

To answer your question, once you've got the temperature right the simmering oven (bottom) is perfect for slow cooking. Start all your stews/casseroles on the hot plates then once you've got it to a steady simmer move to the oven and leave for 4+ hours. I do soups, bolognese & chili this way too.

I usually put a piece of parchment/grease-proof paper directly over the food then a lid on top of that otherwise I find it creates too much liquid.

For me second hand Aga pots & pans from eBay and books from www.abebooks.co.uk are a godsend.

Good luck & enjoy!!