mixguy
Well-known member
Any one across pond or here in the US have any experience using an AGA Cooker. What do you like most and dislike about this a cooking appliance?
AGA Cookers
- Thread starter mixguy
- Start date
Help Support :
You're not thinking of getting one are you? If so hope you either have a summer kitchen out back or intend to install a second range/cooktop in your current kitchen as it will be near to impossible to say in the same room with an Aga during the warmer months.
Have used on on the other side of the pond, and while cooking on an range takes a bit of getting used to, it can be fun. You certianly learn to appreciate recipies that require long roasting/cooking times.
L.
Have used on on the other side of the pond, and while cooking on an range takes a bit of getting used to, it can be fun. You certianly learn to appreciate recipies that require long roasting/cooking times.
L.
lederstiefel1
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 18, 2006
- Messages
- 484
AGA
I do not have any experiences art all with an AGA - unfortunately!! I would love to as I used to have a solid fuel run kitchen range in my flat in Wiesbaden until a few years ago. I love a lot to cook on these. Unfortunately there was an other neighbour connected to the same flue in the chimney and as she lived 3 floors above us in summer she got smoke into her kitchen when I sat fire to my range, so I had a gas-cooker as well side-by-side to the range. Today I have only boooooooring electricity.... with solid hot plates... (I really hate them!) But in our next house there will be defenitely gas and solid fuel again!
During the summer I never got into trouble with the range although it was not as well insulated as an AGA is. We had high ceilings in this old house in Wiesbaden (3,50meters) and the windows had what we call Oberlicht (upper-light), a section-window above the normal window that can be opened to let fresh air in and warm air escape without having to open the whole big window. This gave a good ventilation to the kitchen during summer and kept the kitchen quite cool even it was situated on the southern side of the house!
Ralf
I do not have any experiences art all with an AGA - unfortunately!! I would love to as I used to have a solid fuel run kitchen range in my flat in Wiesbaden until a few years ago. I love a lot to cook on these. Unfortunately there was an other neighbour connected to the same flue in the chimney and as she lived 3 floors above us in summer she got smoke into her kitchen when I sat fire to my range, so I had a gas-cooker as well side-by-side to the range. Today I have only boooooooring electricity.... with solid hot plates... (I really hate them!) But in our next house there will be defenitely gas and solid fuel again!
During the summer I never got into trouble with the range although it was not as well insulated as an AGA is. We had high ceilings in this old house in Wiesbaden (3,50meters) and the windows had what we call Oberlicht (upper-light), a section-window above the normal window that can be opened to let fresh air in and warm air escape without having to open the whole big window. This gave a good ventilation to the kitchen during summer and kept the kitchen quite cool even it was situated on the southern side of the house!
Ralf
I know many people that swear by them, but I think it would take me a lot of adjusting to get used to one. I'm far too used to having gas hob and electric oven, and that's what I like. Cooking is a very personal thing with preferences, so what one person likes another might not.
I do agree with Launderess though - they get bloomin' hot!
I do agree with Launderess though - they get bloomin' hot!
used one in Austria
And still do, when I visit friends. How it wandered down there from the UK is a mystery to me...
Very nice, even heat once they get going. But it also heats their kitchen. Since they are high enough to have snow any time of the year, it isn't a problem...but I surely wouldn't want one running in the city.
I think the correct English word for "Oberlicht" is "Transom", but when I put the question to our translator's forum this morning, one of the UK translators insisted it had to be "Skylight" and anything else was absolutely wrong.
Since Agas are usually British, I guess we'll just have to call transoms skylights...
On a more serious note, it seems awful hard to slow cook with electricity. Is the extra mass in a solid fuel stove the reason they bake so well?
And still do, when I visit friends. How it wandered down there from the UK is a mystery to me...
Very nice, even heat once they get going. But it also heats their kitchen. Since they are high enough to have snow any time of the year, it isn't a problem...but I surely wouldn't want one running in the city.
I think the correct English word for "Oberlicht" is "Transom", but when I put the question to our translator's forum this morning, one of the UK translators insisted it had to be "Skylight" and anything else was absolutely wrong.
Since Agas are usually British, I guess we'll just have to call transoms skylights...
On a more serious note, it seems awful hard to slow cook with electricity. Is the extra mass in a solid fuel stove the reason they bake so well?
lederstiefel1
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 18, 2006
- Messages
- 484
AGA
Hi, Dascot!
Well, to cook with gas, electricity and solid fuel needs always a while of adaptation to get used to it. People who were brought up with gas and suddenly moved to a place with no gas connection in it are in trouble for several months with an electric stove as they are not used to feel the point of when to turn down the heat BEFORE the pot is going over... The other way round, people who have used constantly only electricity let burn a lot of food when suddenly have to change to gas for cooking because of the much directer heat of the gas-burner!
A solid fuel range doesn't need any regulation of the heat underneath each pot - just slide them further aside or more to the hot spot, depending on what you need. Heat regulation is as quick as with gas - just place the pot onto a different area on the hob. Although the heat is more like the electicity generated one - very constant and quite mild!
And you never run out of hot water nor of dry tea-towels or warmed plates! And in winter it gives such a cosy and pleasant warmth to the kitchen, even in the morning when you keep it burning overnight, a feature that is called Dauerbrand (perma-firing).
I was brought up with a fully electrical equipped household with central-heating and stuff but still I love that handling of fire and the different warmth of this heating-system.
Ralf
Hi, Dascot!
Well, to cook with gas, electricity and solid fuel needs always a while of adaptation to get used to it. People who were brought up with gas and suddenly moved to a place with no gas connection in it are in trouble for several months with an electric stove as they are not used to feel the point of when to turn down the heat BEFORE the pot is going over... The other way round, people who have used constantly only electricity let burn a lot of food when suddenly have to change to gas for cooking because of the much directer heat of the gas-burner!
A solid fuel range doesn't need any regulation of the heat underneath each pot - just slide them further aside or more to the hot spot, depending on what you need. Heat regulation is as quick as with gas - just place the pot onto a different area on the hob. Although the heat is more like the electicity generated one - very constant and quite mild!
And you never run out of hot water nor of dry tea-towels or warmed plates! And in winter it gives such a cosy and pleasant warmth to the kitchen, even in the morning when you keep it burning overnight, a feature that is called Dauerbrand (perma-firing).
I was brought up with a fully electrical equipped household with central-heating and stuff but still I love that handling of fire and the different warmth of this heating-system.
Ralf
AGA cookers, UK
www.aga-web.co.uk
AGA Range Cookers - World's Best Cooking Experience | AGA Living
For a century, AGA has been bringing life to the kitchen. The world's best cooking experience, our range cookers are renowned for their reliability, aesthetic and function.
Aubergine is Brit-Speak for Eggplant.
Here is the new electric model.
Available in oil-fired as well!
www.aga-ranges.com
Here is the new electric model.
Available in oil-fired as well!
Aga Ranges USA | Cooking With AGA
Loved by celebrity chefs and home cooks alike, the AGA at 100 deserves to be celebrated, and we will be celebrating this throughout the years to come.
www.aga-ranges.com
electric cooking, bi-polar?
~On a more serious note, it seems awful hard to slow cook with electricity.
HMMM I thouht the opposite. In my (limited) opinion, I thought the highs were higher and the lows were lower with electric hobs / cooktops. I therefore thought that slow-cooking was easier.
Of course these Le Creuset brand cast-iron cauldorns don't hurt for that purpose, either
My understanding is that AGA cookers were orignally conceived and designed to facilitate cooking by the blind.
~On a more serious note, it seems awful hard to slow cook with electricity.
HMMM I thouht the opposite. In my (limited) opinion, I thought the highs were higher and the lows were lower with electric hobs / cooktops. I therefore thought that slow-cooking was easier.
Of course these Le Creuset brand cast-iron cauldorns don't hurt for that purpose, either
My understanding is that AGA cookers were orignally conceived and designed to facilitate cooking by the blind.
Originally there were electric AGA cookers designed to use off peak electricity to heat the thing. That was when they were made in Sweden, I believe. There is a story of an engineer who was wounded or blinded in an industrial accident and he designed the AGA as a safe cooker for a blind person to use. There are a couple of things peculiar to the design of the stove that has caused many models offered for sale here to have gas hobs instead of the usual two hotplates.
The two hot plates on top, especially the hotter one, will rapidly deplete the stove's heat when uncovered for use. Boiling a large quantity of water gets very slow. The oven temperatures also drop as the heat is lost through the hot plate. The simmering plate works well enough, but heating a large quantity of something to where it can be transfered to the simmer plate can be a problem. It is mainly meant for cooking in the ovens. Where many cooks in this country would cook bacon, for example in a skillet on the stove top, with the AGA, it is put in a baking pan and cooked in one of the ovens.
Unless you lived in a very cold climate, the increasing cost of all types of energy could make the AGA's constant consumption of energy a real burden. And you do not even want to begin to think of the cost of air conditioning a space containing an AGA. It is quite good at drying clothes hung on a rack above it.
The two hot plates on top, especially the hotter one, will rapidly deplete the stove's heat when uncovered for use. Boiling a large quantity of water gets very slow. The oven temperatures also drop as the heat is lost through the hot plate. The simmering plate works well enough, but heating a large quantity of something to where it can be transfered to the simmer plate can be a problem. It is mainly meant for cooking in the ovens. Where many cooks in this country would cook bacon, for example in a skillet on the stove top, with the AGA, it is put in a baking pan and cooked in one of the ovens.
Unless you lived in a very cold climate, the increasing cost of all types of energy could make the AGA's constant consumption of energy a real burden. And you do not even want to begin to think of the cost of air conditioning a space containing an AGA. It is quite good at drying clothes hung on a rack above it.
Culinary Twister
The two hobs on top have different temps for frying and boiling. To simmer, you go to a compartment near the floor. There are two ovens, small, one for baking and one for roasting. There is an area to the left, on larger AGAs that is a keep warm. You must shuffle pans and food from space to space if you want a different heat. The capacity is smaller than I'm used to in US ranges and the food is sealed in the oven by a fiberglass door seal. The aroma goes up the flue. It is easy to forget it when out of sight out of mind.
Kelly
The two hobs on top have different temps for frying and boiling. To simmer, you go to a compartment near the floor. There are two ovens, small, one for baking and one for roasting. There is an area to the left, on larger AGAs that is a keep warm. You must shuffle pans and food from space to space if you want a different heat. The capacity is smaller than I'm used to in US ranges and the food is sealed in the oven by a fiberglass door seal. The aroma goes up the flue. It is easy to forget it when out of sight out of mind.
Kelly
Yes thats all fine and good
but I have played with an AGA at EXPO and came to the conclusion one could never Stir Fry in a wok on one. I am a big stir fry cook and I dont see how you could do that searing heat thing that my DCS 17,000 BTU Cooktop does.
Has anyone Stir Fryed with one??
I bet it would do a great Roast Beast though, fall off the bone everytime.
but I have played with an AGA at EXPO and came to the conclusion one could never Stir Fry in a wok on one. I am a big stir fry cook and I dont see how you could do that searing heat thing that my DCS 17,000 BTU Cooktop does.
Has anyone Stir Fryed with one??
I bet it would do a great Roast Beast though, fall off the bone everytime.
I have not used one, but I have eaten
AGA cooked food at a demonstration at a kitchen/bath store a number of years ago (and heard my first Asko dishwasher), and yes, the AGA roasts beef brilliantly.
I don't think I would want one here in the States, but in a damper, colder climate, an AGA would be niiiiiice.
I would want the four oven one, in dark green.
The originator of the AGA was Gustav Dalen, he of the Dalen lighthouse. He was blinded in a laboratory accident, and was home, and was listening to, and talking to his wife as she struggled with the stove she had at the time. He invented the AGA as a gift to make kitchen life better.
I suppose an AGA might be somewhat easier for a visually impaired person to use than a more typical stove, but I would wonder.
Lawrence/Maytagbear
AGA cooked food at a demonstration at a kitchen/bath store a number of years ago (and heard my first Asko dishwasher), and yes, the AGA roasts beef brilliantly.
I don't think I would want one here in the States, but in a damper, colder climate, an AGA would be niiiiiice.
I would want the four oven one, in dark green.
The originator of the AGA was Gustav Dalen, he of the Dalen lighthouse. He was blinded in a laboratory accident, and was home, and was listening to, and talking to his wife as she struggled with the stove she had at the time. He invented the AGA as a gift to make kitchen life better.
I suppose an AGA might be somewhat easier for a visually impaired person to use than a more typical stove, but I would wonder.
Lawrence/Maytagbear
