Most of the clients that a live-in carer will go to will have either an electric cooker or a gas one as these are the most commonly used types these days. However, this is not to say that some clients do not have other types of cookers, the Aga being one of them.
These can come in wood burning, electric or oil burning, and they may stay on for most of the year. Sometimes the electric ones may be turned off and the wood burning stoves left unlit through the summer. Oil stoves are often left on all year.
What might alarm you at first is that the stove is constantly hot, and it can, if you are not careful, give you a nasty burn.
The Aga is not to be feared as once you have mastered how to use them, they are excellent cookers and are always the same heat.
Most Agas have two plates on the top, one for boiling and one for simmering. The boiling plate is always the fastest and will bring a pot of water to the boil rapidly.
The simmering plate is slightly cooler. Once a pot is boiling you would move it onto the simmering plate to finish cooking.
The boiling plate is where you would make toast. Most Agas come with a toast rack which looks similar to what you would place fish in when you barbeque. Place the bread between the two racks and place onto the boiling plate. When one side is done, turn it over and toast the other side.
Depending on the model, you may find either two or three ovens, namely:
For roasts and grills. This is the hottest oven and will cook faster than a regular oven at the same temperature.
This is for baking bread, casseroles, cakes, stews and the like. The temperature here is around 150 degrees.
The temperature here is around 100 degrees and this oven is used for keeping plates warm or for really slow cooking as in the case of tough meat which needs to cook longer.
If you want to brown the top of a dish or grill cheese you should do this in the roasting oven. The top shelf will give you the highest heat, but you should watch food as it can burn quickly.
If you have several pots then once a pot is boiling, you can move it over to the side of the plate and make space for another pot. This way they will both stay boiling.
You never need to adjust anything on the Aga as it will all be set up to go. One thing to remember is that you should never leave a tea towel on the enamel surface as it may ignite or at least scald.
Make sure that you have a decent pair of oven gloves to open the plates as the handles will be hot. The doors of the stove will also be hot so do not open them without protection.
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