Using an Aga or Rayburn

twinkle_star_2

Just a warning - the third door (bottom left) is probably the door to the burner and not an oven.

On the right, the top will be your hot oven and the bottom the cooler one. Left ring (above burner) is hot and right ring less hot.

I wouldn't bother with a separate kettle simply because there is no point using electricity when your Aga is burning fuel anyway.

Aga's own brand pans are 18/10 stainless steel so you should be fine with those.

Mazzawa

Hello everyone!

Not sure if this is in the right place but thought it might fit best in the Old Style forum.

We have just moved house and inherited a kitchen that predates us and a Rayburn cooker-only range. There is a separate electric oven and little gas hob apart from the range but I really don't trust them and clearly haven't been cleaned in the 30 years they have been in situ - no amount of star drops or any other cleaner will do the job! We cannot afford to redo the kitchen at the moment so I will have to make do with the Rayburn for cooking meals, but knowing how expensive to run these are in comparison to a regular cooker I need to make best use of it when I use it. Needless to say I have fallen in love with the thing and my cosy kitchen so don't want to scrap it to buy a more efficient regular cooker.

So how can I be more efficient with it? I will be altering the timer tonight so that it is on a bare minimum just to feed us.

All suggestions are most welcome!

valk_scot

What type of Rayburn is it, and how old? Solid fuel, oil or gas? I used to have one of the earliest gas fired Rayburns and it also ran my hot water and central heating. I thought it was quite cheap to run actually and I was sad when it finally aged beyond repair.

There are several books out that help with cooking in Rayburns, which is a bit of an art form till you get used to it. I had this one and another by the same author, plus an ancient dog eared Aga cookbook, which was on the same sort of principle. Bottom line though is that you use the hob as little as possible, keep the top lid or lids shut when not in use, work out which end is fast boil and other end simmer (I had a left hand drive Rayburn) and use thick based all metal pans and pots that you can put in the oven to simmer cook. Le Creuset and the supermarket copies are ideal for Rayburns, but watch out for the handles and knobs being oven proof.

I do miss mine...the cats miss it more though!!

katieowl_2

I inherited one too...Oil fired :eek: Oil is very expensive!

I had a gas Aga in my old house, and that was costing a fortune to run too, so I'm not surprised that they are being dumped left right and centre.

I've had mine off since the beginning of the summer, and vowed not to put it back on till the end of the month, we are getting a small plumbing rearrangement made to it, so that the heat sink radiator heats the bathroom, instead of me running an electric oil filled rad in there. At the moment it heats up in the sitting room, but I can get that toasty with just the woodburner, so we are hoping this saves a few quid. It also partly heats the water when it is on.

Now the thing nobody told me, until a nice man came to service it, is that unlike the Aga which is hot and ready to go all the time, the Rayburn needs turning up to cook on!

I'd get yourself an oven thermometer, and check the little window at various settings against the therm. so you can see what temperature it runs at on the various marks. I tend to keep mine on the lowest setting, where I find that it will quite happily simmer something that has been brought to the boil on the stove, and the oven can be used to warm things through, or have a casserole in, like a slow cooker temperature. You can also use the low temperature for drying stuff out, like bread crusts for croutons, and tomatoes etc (I've not tried that in the Rayburn, but the bottom of the aga was great for it!)

You have to get into the habit of turning it up before you want to cook, but again the thermometer will give you an idea of how long it takes.

I stand a kettle of water on top when it's on so I've got a bit warm without boiling the kettle, either for cooking, or for washing up.

The hotplate is great for making drop scones, and welsh cakes on directly, a bit of experimenting is required. Give it a good brush down with a wire brush before you start, then a bit of a grease with some oil on a wadge of kitchen roll.

Kate


ETA What Val says about the hot side...it's the side over the burner which is hot, not the oven side.

zippychick

We do have a thread which may help


Using an aga or rayburn

Ill merge this later on

Zip

mardatha

My god, if anybody wants to dump theire please feel free to dump it on! My life's ambition - an Aga or Rayburn!

artichoke

hi all

I have an Everhot and in the Winter to make the most of it being on all the time, we make porridge overnight in the simmer oven, i always have something like soup - usually lentil and bacon, or a stew, or slow cooked casserole - in the simmer oven in the daytime....

It is a habit that takes getting used to - but it does make me more organised as i always have something cooking..

art

katieowl_2

mardatha wrote: »

My god, if anybody wants to dump theire please feel free to dump it on! My life's ambition - an Aga or Rayburn!

Was my ambition too...but you'll be sorry when you see the monthly fuel bill. Three years ago in London the gas bill (only ran the Aga nothing else...) was over £60 month. I didn't have any other form of cooker...so if I turned it off it was cold food, or the barbeque.

Kate

tessie_bear

I am in the market for a new cooker and quite fancy a range/aga but have never used one:o

has anyone got one ? how do you find it and do they run on gas ?? the website mentioned oil but we arent set up for that

thankyou tess

zippychick

we have an older aga thread which may help? ill merge this later on

Zip