Warm your bum on my AGA! (Aga Companion)

Name: jeanjeannie

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Product:	Aga Companion
Date:	19/10/01 (5607 review reads)
Rating:

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Disadvantages: see opinion

Lucky old me has moved house & inherited a beautiful bright red AGA. It stands majestically in the corner of the kitchen and the colour alone warms the cockles of your heart not to mention the actual warmth radiating everywhere.
I have to own up to always wanting one but the price is horrendous and only worthwhile if you intend to stay in your house for a very, very long time. A 2 oven AGA is over £5000.00 new; apparently ours is worth over £2000!! Having said that they do last forever. This one is well over 30 years old and still going strong but we did have to replace the thermostat.

As we had no previous experience of this old fashioned way of cooking we thought it was working correctly &, whilst enjoying the ‘free’ warmth the kitchen became hotter than the hinges of Hades. We had all the doors & windows open & the ceiling fan on full blast but we still thought – well, we’d get used to it in time. It wasn’t until I tried my first dinner that it dawned on me. No way should you be able to cook a 6lb. Chicken in an hour. Yes, I kid you not & it was done to perfection apart from the burnt skin which I suppose was a bonus in a way cos it’s my favourite bit but oh so fattening.

So, we called out the local AGA dealer who sent his little man to check it out; he was a dear little man who ceremoniously laid out a sheet in front of the oven to protect the floor and he sat down, crossed legged as if to do homage to this beast.
“I’m very sorry m’dear but you be needin a new thermostat for this yer oven; it’s done well but it’s ‘ad its day. They’m a bit dear, but tiz no good if it ain’t working is it?” He was a real joy and a proper gent. He made sure everything was working well before he left and took all his mess with him. Oh the good old days when service had a capital “S”. I remember it well.
I asked him what special equipment, if any I need
ed and he suggested I visit the showroom. It was full of wonderfully coloured AGAs – there was a bright yellow one & a huge slate blue one which, I believe is called a companion oven as it had a conventional cooker built on the side for use in the summer I assume when you really don’t want any extra heat in the kitchen.

The assistant was very helpful & did not try to talk me into buying anything. I already have good quality saucepans &, provided they have a flat bottom (wish I had) and are fairly thick gauge metal they are fine.
I did buy a new “cold shelf” which is made of cast iron & helps to reduce the temperature in the oven by deflecting the heat. I also bought a large & small roasting tin which actually fit on the runners so you don’t need to use a shelf and I also bought the racks to fit in each as these would be very useful for layering dishes as well as for keeping meat out of the fat.
The only other thing I bought was a casserole type dish – it looks more like a small wok and has a glass lid. It means you can prepare the food in it on the hot plate & then transfer it straight to the oven & then to the table. Good saving on washing up.

What are the results I hear you cry – well, so far really good; The meat is deliciously tender; roast potatoes are to die for and, as it is always on there is no waiting for the oven to come up to temperature and therefore it is quite a bit quicker.
Casseroles left in the bott0m (slow) oven are scrumptious and can be left as long as you like – over night it you want & this is the oven to cook your meringues in – perfection.

Why does the food taste so good? – The facts –
“ It is the radiant heat from the cast iron ovens which give the AGA its legendary cooking excellence. Radiant heat is transferred when energy comes from a heated mass (the cast iron walls) and is not dependent on an intervening media for transm
ission. The heat hits the food sealing the surface in the hot Roasting Oven and allows food to retain its natural succulence and flavour.
The radiant heat gives less temperature fluctuation than convected air and accordingly it is much less critical that food is removed at an exact moment, so AGA ovens are more forgiving.
An AGA is a heat storage cooker, which is always ready for use and automatically controlled by a thermostat. Each part of an AGA is designed to be at a predetermined heat so cooking is undertaken by positioning on one of the two hotplates, boiling or simmering or in the ovens, each at a different heat. It comes in two sizes, a two oven or a four oven. The two ovens have a Roasting Oven and a Simmering Oven and the four ovens have a Roasting Oven, Baking Oven, Simmering Oven and a Warming Oven. “
The hot plates too are very efficient; one is very, very hot & dispels the myth about a watched kettle never boils so, you get everything going on this one & then transfer your pans to the gentler plate which keeps everything simmering nicely. I’m amazed at how easily I’ve adapted to this way of cooking but I do tend to keep a beady eye on the hot oven if anyone is coming to dinner. No catastrophes yet……….
Another bonus is toast – it cooks very quickly & means the old toaster can be taken off the worktops and leave space for something else. That goes for the electric kettle too – now redundant.

Another added bonus is that the heat from the oven circulates all over the house and the wall behind the cooker, which backs onto our bathroom, is always warm and keeps the towels nice & dry. The clothes in the airing cupboard are also aired “free of charge” & I have a little clothes rack above the cooker on which I hang any damp clothing or towels etc. Dry in no time.

Bonus number 2 - is that it is so easy to keep clean. Just wipe over the top & let the oven take care of i
tself. Any food spillages just carbonise and eventually disappear. The ovens might require a stiff brushing when the cooker is turned off but there’s nowhere for spills to settle like on a conventional hob & oven.

Any drawbacks? Yes. I think it will be very hot in the summer and that is why there is a fan in the kitchen ceiling. The oven is also very hot &, I’m not sure if it’s the colour but it is a magnet for little children so you have to be careful. Having said that I don’t think you would get a serious burn as every surface is very flat and you feel the radiant heat before you get too close.

Here a few more facts & figures -
“The AGA was actually designed by a scientist, whose sole aim in inventing this cooker was to conserve energy and fuel and maximise efficiency. When the AGA is assembled it has 16 cubic feet of vermiculite, a natural insulation material, poured into its interior. (Electric AGA owners are a little different; their model has ceramic insulation)
The AGA is also manufactured from cast iron; renown for its heat retention and this accumulates and retains the heat. The AGA is automatically controlled by a thermostat. The heat source to an AGA is comparatively small, for instance the gas AGA runs from a burner about the same rating as one conventional gas hotplate burner.”

Right, I’m off now to bake some bread – yea right.

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