This morning I had a chat to 'The Aga Man' John Jenkin about our newest addition to the family. John is the Aga guru and knows just about every Aga in South-Eastern Australia - where they are, where they were before - an amazing source of information. The good news is that the Aga I have bought was recommissioned by him only 3 years ago, and is in good condition. The bad news is that conversion to gas is going to cost us $3500 - so I guess that makes the decision about whether to keep it on coke or run it on gas a little easier: at least for this winter! John is booked up for the next 3 weeks ( he has just come back from 2 weeks working in Tasmania on Agas all over the state) which gives us time to complete all the preparatory stuff.
First we have to have the current Italian stainless steel 6 burner gas stove disconnected and list it with splashback and rangehood on ebay.(the topic: 'how much I hate this bastard stove' could be a blog all by itself, I won't bore you with my travails with it except to say that it is possibly the worst 2 grand I ever spent). Umm guess we'll be eating take away or cooking on the BBQ for a month or so (Jonathan suggests raw food - I don't think so).
We also have to have the wall behind the Aga tiled and David has to build a plinth for it to sit on (I guess I'm putting my Aga on a pedestal!). We will also have to take off a few doors to get this big baby inside the kitchen, but will cross that bridge when we get to ir.
In the meantime I have started reading a pocket book on Aga cooking and can tell you one of the reasons it is such a perfect cooker is that there is no radiant heat therefore no drying out of food (correction - there IS radiant heat and therefore no drying out - there is noe direct heat). I now very much regret selling the first edition of Ambrose Heath's Good Food on the Aga a couple of weeks ago. More to come.
2 comments:
Here via Purple Goddess' blog - and all I can say is thank god I live too far away to spend half my income in your shop.
Looking forward to more Aga stories - Mary Moody's "Long Table" talked quite a lot about her Rayburn & Aga cookery.
I am quite jealous of you aga saga. Personally, I was cursed at birth with a life filled with ceramic cooktops. I hate them! I dream of an Aga someday but, alas, I live in a very modern house in Colorado which doesnt' lend itself to the size or weight of my dream machine. Maybe someday I will return to the UK and that cream Aga of my dreams. Best of luck! I look forward to reading your future posts.
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