⭐️All Things Aga Related⭐️

[TheRealHousewife]

… From recipes, techniques, tips & tricks.

I have searched MumsNet and there isn’t really an ongoing positive/appreciative thread sharing the joys and tribulations of having an Aga.

My first experience of an Aga was accidental when the holiday accommodation we booked a few years ago had an Aga. As we’d taken our own food I had to crack on. I used it for warming up pre-cooked food in one of the ovens and I did a few things on the simmering & boiling plates including the famed Aga toast. We all loved the soft warmth it brought to the kitchen and to be honest for as big as they are we thought it look homely and inviting. We were hooked! From what I could gather it heated the water in the cottage too.

They have many uses and I’m interested in what other people appreciate their Aga for, their favourite recipes and any hints and tips you can share.

PS - Im not trying to be insensitive in the current energy pricing crisis and I understand that not everyone will see the merit of this thread ❤️

PPS - Photo isn’t my Aga x

Switching on and off in summer gets discussed on the Everhot FB page too. We got ours in 2021 and there was a short heatwave in which the temperature in the kitchen became unbearable (30°) and we had to rush out and buy thermal blinds to keep the sun out. We turn the hotplate off in the hotter weeks now (not just heatwave but general Jun/Jul/Aug) and put the main oven at 190 instead of 230 but it heats up again quickly if we need to and we have induction rings.

Has anyone had the Electrikit conversion by Blake & Bull? Ours was a 13amp AIMS but we got the conversion a couple of years ago. It’s good to be able to turn the hobs and hot plates on and off, but the ovens don’t cook as they used to. The base of the oven is so hot it burns things unless I use the cold shelf (took me several spoiled meals until I worked that out). I no longer have that pure unalloyed joy of Aga cooking 😢 But we couldn’t afford to run it all the time. A Catch-22.

I don’t have an Aga but am intrigued.

can somebody please explain to me the “on all the time” thing though?

also how do they heat the whole house? Do they not just heat the kitchen?

It depends on the layout of your house and how big the house / cooker are @IceColdChardonayPls if if you are open plan they can chuck out a fair amount of heat into the wider area. I think Agas radiate more than Everhots, we need a radiator in the kitchen for winter but at this time of year when the heating is off the EH makes the kitchen nice and cosy.

@IceColdChardonayPls An Aga takes about 12 hours to come up to temperature and then you just leave it. You never switch it off. It hovers somewhat about this temperature depending how much you use it. So when cooking you can't set an oven temperature, you have to learn how to position stuff in the oven or cover it in foil etc so as to cook correctly (especially with a small 2 oven Aga which has a really hot or really cool oven - the 4 oven is easier). Come summer, if your kitchen faces south as does ours, and you find you have to open all the windows to avoid heatstroke, you turn it off and reluctantly unearth the electric kettle, toaster and airfryer...

An oil fired Aga is a bit like an open fire - it has a chimney which heats up. The chimney from ours passes through the middle of the house so not only is the kitchen warm but the room which shares a wall with the Aga chimney and the two bedrooms above. It also keeps the loft aired and stops our pipes freezing up there - we have the old fashioned system of water tanks in the roof and airing cupboard etc. And we dry the washing on it - and regard it as an old and valued friend 😁

@MissyGirlie I know you asked this earlier in the month. Congrats on your house move. I inherited a gas aga when I moved 3yrs ago. I'd never used one beforehand, so completely new for me too. Along with the Mary Berry book (ebay/vinted) there is alot of info available online. From basics of which oven does what, to cooking demos etc. I bought alot of genuine pots/pans from ebay in the summer for a fraction of brand of new. Invest in a little egg timer, or set one on your phone. Unlike an oven, there is no smell to alert you to something burning inside the aga. I admit that I forgot hash browns 1 morning, and returned to hard, black blobs in the evening 😬

I can't advise on what type of oil to use, but would have a oil aga specific engineer have a look before you start it up. I had thought that oil ones have a constant feed of oil, so if they are 'turned off' the oil builds up and can flood areas. Maybe this is just older models, but its something I recall our engineer mentioning.

Did the previous owner have a regular aga engineer? Sometimes, they write their number/details on the inside of the door, otherwise, the aga website has a list. Unfortunately though, I found the list woefully inaccurate- don't cover the area the website said they did, no longer worked on aga, don't do gas etc etc. If you need one, I'm sure someone on here could recommend.

Sorry this is long, but its all the things I would have liked to have known when I got started.

@JC03745 @MissyGirlie
" I had thought that oil ones have a constant feed of oil, so if they are 'turned off' the oil builds up and can flood areas. "

They do have a constant feed. If you turn the Aga off and also turn off its electric supply (the electric operates the Aga's oil control valve) that doesn't stop the oil as they are designed to be run manually because they tend to be installed where the electric supply is unreliable. There should be a small valve in the oil pipe near the Aga to turn off the oil.

So if an Aga is the only thing that's using oil turn off the tap on the oil tank outside too for extra safety. Obviously if you have a boiler that uses oil you leave this tap alone unless that's off too.

The modern setup also has an automatic safety valve fitted to the oil pipe, designed to shut off the oil supply if there is extreme heat, eg. your house is on fire!

@IceColdChardonayPls This tells you a bit about the newer ones Aga’s

Traditionalists argue that they don’t make ‘proper’ aga’s anymore … but like everything else brands make changes and not always for the better.

@JC03745 he last towner left her engineer's number. I called on Saturday and left a message, and will try again on Tuesday when hopefully he'll be up and running after Easter.

I've got a friend who has been cooking for years on the same type of Aga as I have and she's coming over in a couple of weeks to share her wisdom. I'll probably have her on speed dial when we turn it back on in September.

Sharing a great website I’ve come across The Best Aga Recipes

Ben is a professional chef who lives on a farm and predominantly uses an Aga to cook 🧑‍🍳 He’s sharing his wisdom and great recipes free of charge 👏👏👏

PS I’m not affiliated with Ben or the website 🙃

The aga was here when we moved into our new to us but v old house. The kitchen is west facing has a large set of doors instead of windows and that first summer in the house was very hot.

With no other means to cook other than the aga I struggled to enjoy using it as much and it seemed such a waste to have it on while then opening up the doors to make the room bearable to be in. Added to that, with the price of utilities going through the roof it was obvious it needed to go off for part of the year.

We did some renovations a few years back and the utility room became our summer kitchen as well as where the laundry gets done.

I have it serviced every year before it gets switched back on so that part of it works out well.

Most of our food I cook from scratch, last year when the aga was off I found I was using my slow cooker so this year I've stocked up my freezer with things like lasagne base and chilli so that'll make life easier.

I do miss it when its off. The last two years its been timed with going on holiday so by the time I get back I've gotten over it, although from August I will be counting down to Aga Day when it goes back on in September 😂

Somewhat off-topic but I've just had another frustrating experience with our 'summer cooker'.

We are discovering that it is bloody useless. The oven doesn't hold its heat (blows it all at you as you cook anything on the hob), burns anything you have near the top (bang went a third of a batch of biscuits), so I've put a solid tray shelf in there to try and diffuse the heat a bit, and it is tiny (and even tinier with the solid shelf in place). The shelves seem to be designed to make it as hard as possible to get in there with the oven gloves and get things out.

The hob has a touch-sensitive keypad rather than dials so it takes bloody ages to turn anything up or down, as you stab furiously at the touch-sensitive-when-it-feels-like-it not-a-button. If the not-a-buttons are working, the hob is fairly responsive (but I'm used to gas).

Also the keypad bit beeps loudly if you have the temerity to put so much as a tea towel on it.

I'm channelling Gollum: I hateses it.

I'd better get on with the Aga when I turn it on in (counts on fingers) 4 or 5 months time.

We turned our four oven gas Aga off the other day, it was just making me feel ill cooking on it during the warmer weather. We have a regular electric oven and hob which we’ve used for ten or so years, and it takes getting used to again. But it’s a good opportunity to give the Aga a bit of TLC, although it’s old and battered, but I like it that way. We’ll turn it back on towards the end of September, so five months away!

Its nearly aga time again, I've chased my agaman to make sure I'm on his radar for servicing in September.

We get ours done in October, along with our oil boiler.

Ours is coming tomorrow, Aga and oil boiler both due.

The Everhot doesn't need servicing, but you have reminded me I need to book boiler service and chimney sweep. I put the hotplate back on last week, I think we've seen the end of the really hot weather.

Gosh, this seems to have come around quick. Can't beleive it's almost September. Ours doesn't get switched off, and thankfully it hasn't been a really hot summer for us (very dry, yes, but we only get 21 / 22 degrees max here)

Anyway. Thanks for reminding me to get the boiler booked in and ring the chimney sweep @ExquisiteDecorations

Its hot here, 30 in the shade, I'd be melting if it went on before September😂

Got my chimney swept in July, he told me a few years ago its a quiet time for him so moved my sweep to summer.

Boiler service due September, different person to do that. Thanks for the reminder.

Aga been on for a month, the house is cosy again😂

Called my aga man yesterday, the BP lid was wobbling the pin had popped out, turned it down last night and he called in this morning to fix it, he's very good I'm lucky to have found him.

Fired Betsy back up and tea is almost ready, jacket pots and the lasagne base is in the SO for tomorrow's tea.

I'm getting the hang of my Aga. Been on a couple of weeks, have baked cakes and bread and made toast... gearing up for a roast.

enjoy your roast.

IMO an aga roast is so much easier and less stressful than a conventional oven / hob roast.... especially if you have a warming oven where things can sit once ready for as long as required.

In case anyone needs gauntlets, pans, chefs pads etc, aga have a sale on currently

www.agacookshop.co.uk/sale.html

@JC03745 Thank you … I’ll have a little look 👀 x

@MissyGirlie That’s great to read … how did you4 Christmas cooking go?
Sorry I missed your post (I’ve missed a few from the end of last year as not had notifications)