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Aga Temperatures
Answer
Dear Pauline
AGA TEMPERATURES
Of course you can use all your favourite recipe books. Just look for the cooking method for a similar dish in the Aga book and follow that. Once you have mastered the following principles you will find it easy to make conversions:
Cooking on the floor of the top oven for pie crusts and oven frying to minimise mess from splashing
Grilling at the very top of the Roasting Oven
Starting something off to get it hot elsewhere in or on the Aga and then cooking slowly in the Simmering Oven
Overnight slow cooking in the Simmering Oven
Using the Simmering Plate as a griddle
Learning how to use the cold plain shelf to shield the browning effect from the top of the Roasting Oven when necessary
In the Roasting Oven there is a strong gradient of temperature from the top of the oven to the bottom.
With an Aga you don`t set the heat - you find it.
Keep reading and re-reading the TEN GOLDEN RULES at the back of the Aga Book plus the Handy Cooking Chart on the page that precedes it. For tips on oven positionings for different foods, also see my "Little Book of Aga Tips" Series.
As a rule of thumb, if in doubt, try cooking something on the grid shelf on the floor of the Roasting Oven and add the cold plain shelf above if it starts to brown before the centre has a chance to cook thoroughly, if the food mass is quite dense.
TEMPERATURES:
You have asked for temperatures, so here they are: the temperature of the Aga Roasting Oven (top right on all models) on every Aga cooker is approx. 240-260 degrees C, 475-500 degrees F. As well as being used for grilling, frying and roasting, it is also used for high and medium temperature baking. However, unlike the oven in a conventional gas or electric cooker - which cooks solely using the conduction of heat from hot air circulating around the oven - the unique Aga cast iron oven cooks using infra red heat by radiation, conduction and convection. This means that the oven air temperature alone is somewhat misleading: other factors mean that relying on this does not provide an exact comparison with other cookers. The Aga ovens provide a very consistent heat and once you work you way through some of the recipes in the Aga Book you will soon pick up the techniques and options open to you to give excellent results.
Whilst it is true that as with conventional ovens, Agas do vary slightly from cooker to cooker, you should be able to cook with the Aga oven
positionings and timings from the Aga book or any other official Aga recipe with complete confidence. Once you have used some of the recipes you should have no trouble selecting the appropriate oven and shelf position for your favourite recipes with the method outlined below.
CONVERTED AGA COOKERS:
If you are using an Aga that has run on its current fuel from new, i.e. not converted, you should have no problems. However, cookers converted from one fuel to another as well as being a false economy often result in oven temperatures altering which is precisely why Aga-Rayburn expressly do not recommend or condone converting cookers.
For correct, reliable and consistent timings, it is important that your Aga is being operated under automatic thermostatic control, with the heat indicator mercury on the black line first thing each morning. Aga oven runners are numbered with the highest one as number one, going down progressively.
AGA CAKE BAKER:
An Aga Cake Baker is not required with a 3 or 4 oven Aga but is useful with a 2 oven Aga for cooking cakes which require more than 45 minutes baking at a moderate temperature (such as that found in the Baking Oven on a 3 or 4 oven cooker). This enables cakes to be baked in the Roasting Oven at the same time as other foods are cooked at a high temperature. It is preheated empty in the Roasting Oven while you line the tin and make the cake. It is a universal utensil and is extremely versatile: don`t just think of it as a cake baker - it is a fabulous small preserving pan great for small batches of jam and marmalade, at 9 pints (5 litres), it is also useful for batches of Ragù sauce etc., and as a medium sized stock pot. The lid and handle are flat so you can stack pans on it in the Simmering Oven and the cake tin carrier is marvellous for lifting in and out steamed puddings etc. which cook with no supervision to perfection in the Simmering Oven.
Here is my Cookery Doctor Aga Baking Aide-Memoire which should help you with selecting appropriate baking positioning:
SMALL CAKES AND SWISS ROLLS which require a short cooking time in a hot oven. Small fairy cakes (Queen Cakes) can be cooked either in an Aga roasting tin hung from the lowest set of runners in the Roasting Oven of any cooker or at the top of the Baking Oven of a three or four oven cooker. Swiss rolls are always cooked at the coolest position of the Roasting Oven in any cooker, i.e. on the grid shelf on the floor, and do not require shielding from top heat with a cold plain shelf as the cooking time is so short (7-8 minutes).
TRAY BAKES, VICTORIA SANDWICHES & BISCUITS require a medium cooking time in a moderate oven and this is typically achieved in a two oven cooker in the hot Roasting Oven, hanging an Aga roasting tin from the lowest set of runners or placing the cake tins on the grid shelf on the floor of the oven, and placing a cold plain shelf on the second set of runners above for the whole of the cooking time. In a three or four oven cooker these should be cooked in the Baking Oven, which is of a moderate temperature, hanging the Aga roasting tin from the lowest set of runners or place the cake tins on the grid shelf on the floor of this oven for the required cooking time. No cold plain shelf should be required.
CAKES REQUIRING OVER 45 MINS COOKING TIME such as cherry, almond, light and rich fruit cakes, require a longer cooking time in a moderate oven and this is achieved in a two oven cooker in the Aga Cake Baker on the floor of the hot Roasting Oven. In a three or four oven cooker these cakes should be cooked in the Baking Oven, which is of a moderate temperature, placing the cake tins on the grid shelf on the floor of the oven for the required cooking time. No cold plain shelf should be required.
RICH FRUIT CAKE SLOW METHOD is a further technique where the cake is cooked slowly in the Simmering Oven of any model of Aga. Place the tins on the grid shelf on the floor of the oven. Follow the method, measurements and timings given on pages 100-101 of the Aga Book by Mary Berry, or use your favourite family recipe for the correct amount of mixture for size and shape of tin, then consult the chart to calculate the correct cooking time. Depending on the age of your Aga, this can vary considerably for this method. Once you have cooked one cake you will know if your Simmering Oven is hotter or cooler and which end of the scale to follow.
Good luck and happy cooking!
Best Wishes
Richard Maggs
THE AGA COOKERY DOCTOR
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