Rayburn Recipes Anyone?

Highland_Doll

I have just bought a Rayburn for my country cottage and am wondering if anyone out there has any recipes etc. for what and how to cook on one! I am a complete novice and know nothing about them. It is oil powered.
Any help would be appreciated.

moggins

Aren't they the same as an Aga? You could try this website?

http://www.agalinks.com/

Curry_Queen

My parents had a Rayburn, which also fuelled the hot water and heating, and it was great for doing casseroles and roasts etc, pretty much like the modern slow cooker, but I don't think we used it much for baking (I forget now) as the thermostat was a bit up the creak

Highland_Doll

moggins wrote:

Aren't they the same as an Aga? You could try this website?

http://www.agalinks.com/

Thanks, I've visited the web site and there are some good recipes. Just got to learn how to use it now

Highland_Doll

Curry_Queen wrote:

My parents had a Rayburn, which also fuelled the hot water and heating, and it was great for doing casseroles and roasts etc, pretty much like the modern slow cooker, but I don't think we used it much for baking (I forget now) as the thermostat was a bit up the creak

I haven't a clue how to use it, but it was my dream to own one so I am very excited about learning to use it. It's second hand but oh! so beautiful

Curry_Queen

I love them too and it's always been a dream to own one again someday

I think the trick is to use the ovens closest to the fuel source for dishes needing a higher heat, and the ones furthest away for low heat. Sounds obvious when you say it but I know it can be quite confusing. The great thing is the hotplates being constantly warm and using an old-fashioned kettle to keep water "on the boil2 to save on electric

I wish you luck in learning how to use it, and also very envious of you

Debt_Free_Chick

Highland_Doll wrote:

I haven't a clue how to use it, but it was my dream to own one so I am very excited about learning to use it. It's second hand but oh! so beautiful

First off ... you use the ovens as much as possible. You need to think about doing at least 80% of your cooking IN the ovens. Don't use the hotplates automatically, as you would with a hob. All the precious heat will evaporate.

I strongly recommend that you contact your local Aga store (Rayburn is part of Aga) and sign up for the one-day how to cook on an Aga course. It's fun, very informative and will prevent you making expensive mistakes or getting frustrated by trial & error.

You'll learn that Aga-Rayburn have cookware to fit on the runners inside the oven - no shelf needed. You'll learn about the cold shelf and why and when it's vital to use it. There is a knack to cooking with an Aga/Rayburn and many people don't bother. As a result, they fail to get full value from it and often fail to get the results they want.

I have no connection with Aga-Rayburn, but I'm a very satisfied & loving Aga owner who would never, ever go back to conventional cooking

You can find your nearest store on the Aga-Rayburn website HERE

Highland_Doll

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

First off ... you use the ovens as much as possible. You need to think about doing at least 80% of your cooking IN the ovens. Don't use the hotplates automatically, as you would with a hob. All the precious heat will evaporate.

I strongly recommend that you contact your local Aga store (Rayburn is part of Aga) and sign up for the one-day how to cook on an Aga course. It's fun, very informative and will prevent you making expensive mistakes or getting frustrated by trial & error.

You'll learn that Aga-Rayburn have cookware to fit on the runners inside the oven - no shelf needed. You'll learn about the cold shelf and why and when it's vital to use it. There is a knack to cooking with an Aga/Rayburn and many people don't bother. As a result, they fail to get full value from it and often fail to get the results they want.

I have no connection with Aga-Rayburn, but I'm a very satisfied & loving Aga owner who would never, ever go back to conventional cooking

You can find your nearest store on the Aga-Rayburn website HERE

Thank you very much for the detailed information you have given. I am feeling a little more confident now. I didn't know you needed special cookware to fit in it so that's a bonus bit of information. I'll take a look at the site you have recommended and see about taking one of those one day courses. I am so excited! :j

Debt_Free_Chick

Highland_Doll wrote:

Thank you very much for the detailed information you have given. I am feeling a little more confident now. I didn't know you needed special cookware to fit in it so that's a bonus bit of information. I'll take a look at the site you have recommended and see about taking one of those one day courses. I am so excited! :j

This is what I've learned .. but don't take my word for it... go on the course

You need to use the ovens as much as possible. You can use them for everything - steaming, boiling, grilling, roasting. To steam, put the lid on the saucepan over the steamer and stick in the oven. To boil, put lid on saucepan and stick in the oven. To grill, put food on rack over roasting dish and stick in the oven. To roast .. well, you know by know. That said, a quick steam or boil can be done on the boiling plate on the top, but this boils water faster than any kettle so you need to get your timings right. Personally, I start my boiling off there and move the saucepan to the slow oven as I find it kinder and less likely to spoil. I can, to a certain extent, forget about timings.

Use the plain cold shelf. This is a heavy duty baking tray, specially designed for the Aga, that you place over food when it's in the roasting oven (the hottest one) to create a more moderate heat - it's like turning the gas down . You can also use it to moderate the heat in the other ovens, if needed.

You may need some new cookware. Your new Aga should come with some basic stuff, especially the plain shelf. You will also need the Aga roasting tins as these fit on the runners inside the ovens. If you use existing roasting pans, you'll need to put them on a shelf and you use valuable space. On that point, Aga make fantastic saucepans with flat lids so you can stack them inside the oven. This is really efficient and if you have a number of different dishes, you stick them in the pans and stack them in the oven. Couldn't be easier. Take care with saucepans - they must have completely flat bottoms as they need to make good contact with the hotplates.

Buy the loudest timer you can. Mine cost a whopping £13 but has a ring like an old fashioned alarm clock. You'll need it, as you'll normally find yourself in another part of the house when the timer goes off and if it's a pathetic electronic squeak you won't hear it. That said, this is only critical for stuff in the roasting oven. If in the simmering oven, this is a lower temperature and timing is not so critical. Some Aga owners carry the timer around in their pockets

On the subject of temperatures, you can't control it like a conventional oven. My roasting oven runs at about 500F and the simmering oven at 300F. Remember, use the plain shelf to lower the temperature of either. And the temperature is highest at the top of each oven but decreases the lower down you place the food.

I could go on (!) but you're probably relieved to know that I think I should stop there, with a final suggestion. Make your first meal a rib of beef. Buy the best you can, on the bone. When we first cooked ours, we were in heaven. We ate all of the fatty edge. It was crisp on the outside and melted in our mouths. I had never experienced anything like it. The Aga is simply the best for roasting meat - the best.

Get a Mary Berry book. I started with this one

But I think it's been updated to this one

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to help. I cook just about everything and find that the Aga produces far superior results to any other oven I've used. My last oven was a top of the range multi-function thing (new house) that, on reflection, I found more difficult to cook with. Give me an Aga any day :-))) I don't have a microwave

All my comments are about the Aga, but the Rayburn works on the same principle

HTH

emujuice

Hi,
just moved into lovely rental property with a rayburn. my boyfriend's mum gave us an aga know how book, which is increadibly useful (although it's not an aga, and so is slightly different).
so far i've had some success with it, although we're not leaving it on all hte time, as we can't afford to, and it makes the whole flat warm, as the access heat goes into the radiators, even when only the oven is on.

i've found that stir fries, with chicken in, that you'd normally do on the hob, cook nicely at he bottomof the roasting oven for about an hour or so. the chicken was sooo tender.
i aslo made some brillinatly simple lemon curd in the simmering oven. came out beautifully - just a shame the scones didn't - they're a bit hard.
oh well.
i'm looking forward to giving it another go in the winter.
but if anyone has any hints or tips i'd really appreciate them.
also, should the thermomator read 400F? it never seems to go above that, is that right?
Thanks

emujuice

oo, while i'm here.
does anyone know how much the rayburn costs to run?
ours is gas powered. we think it uses around 11 units of gas per 24 hours - which is around 3 quids worth, which seems a hell of a lot, if you're meant to keep it on all the time.
any help or advice would be much appreciated.
thanks