Ode to my Aga

Following my spice post, Jen, quite rightly, asked for an Aga "translation" - well here is an explanation. I know that Agas are increasingly being imported to the States, so I wasn't sure whether people would be familiar with the term or not.

An Aga is a range cooker that works on stored heat - it's on permanently, but uses only a small amount of energy. Being able to cook without having to preheat an oven makes things much more spontaneous, and it's easy to chuck in a baked potato for lunch, without having to worry about wasting energy.

Originally they were developed in Sweden, and worked on solid fuel (wood, coal etc.). These days they can work on oil, electric, or gas (like mine), and can have 2, 3, or 4 ovens. The basic model is the 2 oven, which has a hot roasting oven (equivalent to about gas7-8/425-450F), and a slow simmering oven (about gas1/275F). A 3 oven model (like mine, right), adds a baking oven (around gas3-4/325-350F), and the 4 oven is half as wide again and has an extra plate warming oven, plus a flat hotplate on top (for keeping food warm etc - not a grill). You'll see that mine has 4 doors - the top left one (with the badge) hides the control panel and burner. There are 2 cooking rings on top; the boiling plate on the left and the simmering plate on the right. You have to cook slightly differently with an Aga, as the longer the lids are lifted on the plates, the more heat is lost and the internal oven temps will fall. So you just get food started on the rings, and then transfer to the ovens to cook. It's odd at first, but it's actually quite easy to adapt to cooking this way. Slow-cooked food like casseroles are fabulous in an Aga, as are roasted veg, steam-cooked root veg done in the simmering oven, fluffy rice etc. A kettle comes to the boil in a matter of minutes, and you use a special wire rack to make toast on the boiling plate. Fried eggs and pancakes can be cooked on the simmering plate - it's all very versatile!

Not only is the Aga an oven, it's a drying vehicle (and it even sort of "irons", if you put folded sheets etc. to dry on the closed lids). Lots of people have an old-fashioned drying rack hanging over the Aga to take advantage of the warmth that is given off. They are often found in farmhouse kitchens, and now in more and more middle-class homes (they are a bit of a status symbol). Tales are told of plate warming ovens being used as an impromptu incubator for sickly new born lambs! (door open, I hasten to add). I grew up cooking on an Aga, as my mother had a 4-oven one, so I've always wanted to have one as part of a family kitchen. They are often described as being the heart of the home, and friends always come and lean against the warmth of the Aga when in the kitchen.

There are two disadvantages to an Aga - the fact that it throws off a lot of heat (which makes the kitchen wonderfully cosy in winter, and acts as a magnet for both people and pets) means that in high summer you often have to turn the Aga off because it's just too darned hot, and resort to some other form of cooking facility. With our generally unpredictable British summers, you can pretty much use the Aga as a weather predictor - as soon as you turn it off because the heat is unbearable, the weather is bound to take a turn for the worse! The other disadvantage is the initial cost; mine cost a cool £7,300 (c. US$14,000)! My accountant assures me that I will be able to put the cost of my Aga against my tax bill this year, because I cook from home as a living. He'd better be right!