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Produce => Recipes => Topic started by: tim on October 18, 2008, 09:34:28
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One for the theorists.
One tends to use it for everything because it's there. But would it not be more efficient/economical to use an Electric Kettle?
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Too many variables for my addled brain I'm afraid, but I'd be interested in the answer. I've always fancied an AGA but wondered about things like too much heat in summer (when I cook our kitchen gets really hot), whether it is ecologically sound and cost versus what I have now.
They cost a lot too and I'd need to make structural changes to fit one in the bricked up fireplace, still they are very attractive.
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I have always fancied one,a red one,however if I am honest I want it more as a style statement.My Cannon cooker is more than adequate for my cooking needs and I know from people who have them they can be a bit of a nightmare. :)
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You're so right Betula, for me it would simply be another pretty toy, functional but hardly necessary. Mind you I am a bit of a geek where gadgets are concerned. :-[ :-[ :P
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excellent question Tim - we have an Aga and i think it depends on your kettle, thick bottomed kettles will take longer but apart from that I would reckon no difference when boiling the same amount of water
it is a bit like the quandary with cold fill appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines - new ones only ever come with cold fill now as I guess the ecologists reckon it costs less to heat small amounts of cold water as opposed to filling up used hot water - not with us as we have a huge hot water tank, heated by the Aga which we now cannot use and our electricity bill has shot up (not because of prices rises either)
betula - an Aga is like the warm heart of a house (ours is red :)) and provides a warm backdrop even when central heating isn't on - doesn't seem to be a problem in summer, nothing to go wrong with them really as they are almost contraption free, designed by a man who was blind, hence the lack of gadgetry
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Oh stop it...............I feel an Aga coming on ;D
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a six hour cinnamon rice pudding cooked in the bottom Aga is to die for ;D
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Or 7 hour Lamb. And perfect Rice in the bottom oven and.................!!
Ecological? Probably not. And there's always the annual service. But they are working on it. For a couple in a flat, obviously de tros, but for an extended family in a country house, most certainly yes. Forgetting its water heating, it's the centre of the home & our main heat for most of the year. We mostly live & eat in the kitchen & run a cold house, so make significant savings there. Then there's the clothes drying; always a dry tea towel; even ironing on the plate covers; drying pans (no dishwasher); pre-warming dishes & melting butter etc.
And, back to the boiling of water, one seldom counts the cost of usage but our 9 (?) pint kettle is always on the stove top & most always hot, taking only moments to come to the boil. No - we'll boil a separate cup for tea aficionados!!
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Oh stop it Tim!! You're reminding me of all the reasons I want one! ;D ;D And I always have. Point is though I don't really need one...... Which reminds me about some comments that I was making on another thread about people that don't need them buying 4 by 4s. Am I being two-faced here? They shouldn't but I should?? But then if I can afford it....?? :-\ :-\ :-X
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so agree about the drying of anything you fancy, even socks 8) an alternative view, just for betula ;D
(http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3007/agasagavb9.th.jpg) (http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=agasagavb9.jpg)(http://img337.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif) (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
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Pretty please can I look too? ;D
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No,you said you don't need unnecessary things. :)
Now me on the other hand.............come to mummy little red Aga :)
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:'( :'( :'( :'( We wants it the preciousssss
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Snap on Quarries, Calendula?
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;D ;D grawc and betula
yes the tiles look the same Tim, ours were cheap Fired Earth, they seem to have to go together Aga and terracotta tiles, all adds to the warm and homely feel, with a kettle always nearby and a cosy chair - you are never alone with an Aga (just trying to wind up the girls ;D)
surely someone has a got a blue one but I reckon a green one for graw and red for betula 8)
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Green? No! But will Daughter-next-door's do??
Cons? Must say that, even in a 15'x19' kitchen, with windows on 2 sides, we do turn it right down for our 4 days of Summer.
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AGAs inspire me with at least some of the 7 deadly sins!!! We have a Chinese slate floor -mainly green with splashes of yellow. Will that do?
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The yellow is nice..............but red is still my fave :P
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Mine too - the deeper red rather than the lighter one! I actually have a cooker that colour already I like it so much but it isn't an AGA. On the other hand having had a google I'm not sure I'm willing to fork out all that money even for a thing of such beauty!! + installation and building works and delivery. :o :o
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OH and I were drafted to a 600yr + pub in darkest Somerset many moons ago, we managed and catered.
There in the ancient kitchen were 3 Aga's all in a row, black as the ace of spades and full of dirt
and ash - twas a sad sight, they hadn't been used in years !
Thankfully we had a fully fitted kitchen to fill our needs as I didn't know one end of an aga from another !!
Would love to know how they work and how you manage the heat regulations for, say a sponge
cake and anything that you have to alter the temp during cooking for .
Do love them as they remind me of my Nan's black range that always had a singing kettle on it.
My Dad took ours out of the house after the war - wonder where they went ?
floss x
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Changing temperature?
No - you just plan ahead & use heat shields etc. No - you can't suddenly blast the thing in the last half hour, but for only 2 1/2 years out of 60 we have had 'ranges' & I wouldn't hesitate to ask you in!!
And Daughter-next-door is one of the most dedicated & successful bakers, doing things that I would never have dreamed of. And with 3 boys!!
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Ooooh tis a whole new world tim that i would love to be in!
Thanks for your post and for asking me in x
The nearest I have got is 'redding the hearth ' [ Cardinal tile polish] and blacking the grate
on a Sat morning - cleaning the brass and still no Aga in site !
Suppose making toast on a fork with a coal fire doeasn't count ?
floss x
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Green? No! But will Daughter-next-door's do??
Cons? Must say that, even in a 15'x19' kitchen, with windows on 2 sides, we do turn it right down for our 4 days of Summer.
great colour Tim - colonel mustard, in the kitchen with the Aga ;D I think the only colours I wouldn't care for would be brown or pink - sky blue is quite nice though
grawrc, it is a myth about the credit crunch but this would be retail therapy big time ;D
you can cook anything in an Aga :)
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Nothing like toast on a coal fire. Oh, those school days!!
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Final thought - anything's better than what we had when we came 50 years ago!!
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Brilliant before and after pics Tim. :)
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I'm almost feeling homesick now. I left my husband and our oil-fired dark blue Aga in 1986. I have to admit it was rather hot in the kitchen in the summers we had then, and I installed a second hand electric stove for hot days and other crises.
Parents had solid fuel cream Agas throughout my childhood in various houses, and cooked everything on them. Sad when my mother died and my father moved into a smaller house with a gas stove. He never got the hang of it. He would put a casserole in the oven, come back 2 hours later, and it would be sitting there still stone cold.
I was seriously looking into cramming an Aga into the corner of his tiny sittingroom, when he suddenly died.
Husband no 2 doesn't believe in Agas, says it would be silly to have two boilers in one house (I suppose he is right......), so the closest I could get is a gas range in dark green with 2 ovens and 8 gas rings. I've managed to get quite fond of it after 10 years.
Like many people's Agas, ours revived chilled lambs and newborn pigs and baby pheasants, and was a magnet for cats and dogs.
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You don't have to have a water heating AGA??
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I had one of those cream solid fuel Agas, Artichoke. It was a nightmare to learn how to use initially, but when I got the hang of it....it was superb.
If I had the chance of another Aga it would have to be another solid fuel one..........ah memories.
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I am so jealous.. so very jealous, not having an Aga is terrible.. we had one when we lived in the UK before and it certainly was the heart of the house.. I am so envious.XX Jeannine
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Work for a fab lady in a huge country home with an even huger garden, and when I arrive she has the kettle on the top and the chair infront and I sit and sip, warming my toes on the Aga. And it was cold today, so when I went in for a coffee at lunch time, she opened the top oven so I could warm my hands. Bliss.
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Final thought - anything's better than what we had when we came 50 years ago!!
snap Tim ;D
URL=http://img247.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rebuild11ny7.jpg](http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6416/rebuild11ny7.th.jpg)[/URL](http://img247.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif) (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
we live in 2 houses that have been joined so the upstairs (shown here about 5 years ago) is the exact same space as downstairs where the Aga was built into - oooh the mess
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spent a week, last year, at a cottage in north west Scotland, only accessible by boat or a 2 mile walk in. No gas, no electricity. The lady owner made absolutely wonderful meals and there was always freshly made bread, cakes and biscuits - all on an AGA.
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Don't forget Rayburns, though. We've had 3 over the years before this house.
Excellent for hot water. We burnt Peat on the one we had in Northern Ireland. Used to add a couple of blocks to wake it up for the Breakfast fry-up. Lovely smell!
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Agh, now - Tim,
Going to show my ignorance and ask you what is the differance between an Aga and a
Rayburn, suppose the hint is in the name but sounds too futuristic to be in a past era. ?!! :-[
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Knew someone would ask that!!
And then there's the Esse.
And clones!!
Pass!!
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We had a Rayburn Royal for a few years... it was perfect for the north of Scotland. The difference? I think in general the Rayburn is a cheaper alternative, in a place where either would be very practical... I saw more of them than Agas where we lived. Perfectly good but not so stylish? I'd have a Rayburn, for purely sentimental reasons!
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And it would be me wouldn't it !! :-\
Not heard of the Esse -- sounds French ?
Wont ask about the ' clones '
Going for my dins and give your head a rest x
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Tim - what was the cut of lamb you used for the 7 hour in the bottom oven - would love to do this if you have time to send the details :)
amazing how quick google is - the ads at the bottom of this thread are all about ranges and stoves and agas - don't tell betula ;D
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So sorry for the delay - it was a Nigella recipe but it's no longer there. However, here's an idea:
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/recipe.asp?article=2762
There's also 3 1/2 hour Leg of Lamb with Garlic, Lemon & Beans.
Both a bit longer at bottom oven temp of 110C.
Then there's;
6 hour Shin of Beef
4 hour Shoulder of Lamb
(but both at 170C)
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many thanks Tim - will do this for bonfire night methinks, if I can wait that long ;D
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so agree about the drying of anything you fancy, even socks 8) an alternative view, just for betula ;D
(http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/3007/agasagavb9.th.jpg) (http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=agasagavb9.jpg)(http://img337.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif) (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)
Just having another little tiny look................so lovely,
mind you I have not got any tiny lambs to warm up nor would I put Jims riffy old socks in it :)
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Aga - Rayburn differences: the Rayburn can be fired with almost anything, newspapers, wood, anthracite, rubbish - have cooked bread using a bundle of newspapers and twigs from the garden in my many Rayburn years. The Aga is more specialised and has to have the right fuel.
I had a Rayburn for 13 years because the space in a small cottage was not QUITE big enough for an Aga. It heated our water and ran a couple of radiators (not very efficiently as I did without a pump and they were downstairs).
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And Oil.
Time comes when loading a cooker becomes too much of a chore. I also have an Esse & Charnwood woodburner to cope with.
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duh! I thought the 7hr lamb in the bottom of the Aga was straight from The Archers ;D
When we moved to the UK the house we rented in Banbury had an Esse....then, when we moved to Glos we had a Rayburn. Loved it!
Most of all tho, I specially love my gas cooker now....so economical, so quick, so reliable.....not missing for an instant the ranges I've left behind....well, not always :-\
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Oh no ! :o Now you've got me hankering after a wood burning stove !!
I know what it is, all those years watching dancing flames - no tele, the radio, a packet of sweets on a Friday [ payday ], the ' play ' on the radio at 8 [ special treat ], red and toasted knees and freezing
backs of legs ! ;)
Have always been drawn to these stoves, the red glow through the doors and a very cosy heat.
Met many of these when we lived for years in Devon - and the I O W Ace :-*
[ been around ] floss -- In the nicest possible way !!!
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This is just one of them.
Taken to show that even airflow doesn't always work!!
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That looks really smart tim,
How do you get the air flow in under the fire though ? Without the little open and shut vent at
the bottom front - like the old fire grate, and I bet you dont resort to a sheet of newspaper to
draw it up !
Have seen so many of the pot bellied wood stoves that are black with bendy legs - roaring away
but I suppose they dont provide house heat ?
Yours looks like more ' man for the job ',
Thanks tim,
floss x
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I love my wood/coal burner in the front room & OH loves the excuse to play with his chainsaw.
Downsides are, you still get some soot in the room & they still have to be cleaned out so ash gets carried through the house. We have a big wood shed at the bottom of the garden which is also now a wildlife haven, so there's always the odd queen wasp or large creepy thing that gets carried in to the front room now & again.
It really only heats a small area of the front room, which is great if you just want to stretch out on the floor with a book, but it does trip the central heating thermostat, which is at the far end of the room so afer an evening of toasting in front of the fire, the upstairs & bathroom are freezing.
Wouldn't swap it for the world though
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I'd put up with a cold bathroom too, and sleep downstairs in front of the stove in the winter -
wrapped in a sheepskin rug of course, a little glass of something warm ........ someone in a red check
shirt to bring in the logs ......... good book .... music....
froglets ! I gotta go shopping - thanks Bye
floss x
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Flossy - there are gaps underneath - or somewhere. Supposed to keep the glass clean You'll be lucky!!
And Esse? Much like the AGA - family had a 4 oven one, with water boiler, in the '40's.
Also then there's this sort of delight - we've had it for 50 years & it was my grandfather's before that!!
24/7 during the winter. A hod of Anthracite p/d.
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Ah --- Anthracite, now didn't that warm you up , those little coal eggs ?
Then there was Coalite , think that was coal with the gas taken out -- or was that Coke ?
After my Dad died , my Mother had the coal fire replaced with a ' ---------- ------- ' cant remember what it was called, but it looked like your Grandads but more boxy, was a glassy blue colour with two glass paneled doors. Gave out a lot of heat, thankfully ---- no other heating in an old Victorian house, except
an ornate electric fire in the front room, that was more for show.
Remember the old coal bucket and shovel that was replaced with a hod, was a blessing to shoot the fuel straight in !.
Did you ever have a gas poker tim ? our cat used to burn her wiskas on it when she would give it a sniff when it was still hot -- then the end broke off and you got a marvelouse jet of flame instead of it popping away out of the holes , much more effective!!
An Esse sounds a wondrous thing -- with four ovens and a water boiler, could have run Buck House
I would say !!
Thanks for sharing that with me,
floss x
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Gas poker? Used one but don't have/need one.
Anthracite? We actually burn Stovesse - same sort of thing. The eggs are Phurnacite. Very ash productive.
Just put new mica windows in this one, so we'll be able to see the fire better.
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Remember the ash and I hated dusting - still dont !
You'r right , it wasn't glass was it and you do need to see the fire - for the gazing !
Do you suppose there is a Museum with a collection of all these wondrous stoves
somewhere ? Would imagine it is more connected by the history of fuel maybe.
Remember we had the gas poker - there was a lovely brass tap at the side of the hearth
that you pushed the connector onto, before we had the stove. We were all designated
as ' Smokeless Zones ' and had to change from coal, as this was lit by newspaper and wood
it was difficult to get the new fuel to catch by the same method. How do you get on with
lighting yours ?
regards, floss
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Two tips for those of you using kindling to start the fire...
1) Alternative use for all those loo rolls :D...place a kindling stick inside one of them....the tube of cardboard actually creates a whirlwind of fire once the stick catches fire and if you've a decent updraught to help things along, you're home and dry - and warm 8)
2) Stop glueing those wine bottle corks to the wall for a handy pinboard ::)...mix a few with the kindling - gives a slower burn...
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Here's one designed for the AGA. From 2 Fat Ladies.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/cooking/stew.jpg
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we could all get fat on that ;D
but thanks Tim that sounds divine and on the list, feels like winter could be a long one and one could live off recipes like these