Rayburn efficiency?

[Peter Parry]

Hands up all those that had their rope seals and vermiculite levels checked on the last gas boiler servicing.

Neither should be necessary.

[Peter Parry]

Cooked in an Aga?

[Andy Hall]

Have to make it somewhere else then. Thule, perhaps.

You mean chip pans or something of that nature?

Ah, should have read on.

We don't do anything involving large quantities of fat such as chip pans and the like, mainly because we don't eat chips.

In fact you have to have a heat loss in one place that is greater than another. That isn't quite the same thing. If you restrict the heat supply to one place (e.g. left hand ovens connected by using a small casting), then this does not imply great heat loss.

It would have to be perfectly insulated to achieve that.

Well, no it's not. You have to look at the heat loss for the entire structure. If you do that, and heat is being fed in in one place only, then if there were equal heat loss all the way round, the part nearest the heat source will be hotter than the piece further away. I am not suggesting that heat loss will be linear all over, but that is the principle.

I find that it does because it allows much for flexibility of control and placement of items.

I didn't say that they were above marketing any more than any other appliance manufacturer is.

You probably do, but that wasn't my point. It was simply that you get a set of cake tins and a pan which can be used for other purposes as well.

The story I read was that Gustav Dahlen wanted to make a range that was easier for his wife to use.

Which doesn't really mean very much. They came out with IKEA as well, but I don't hold it against them.

Ah.

Of course. When I buy anything I check it very carefully. I then consider the cost and what the supplier said about what I should expect. If it falls short of that, I ask them to fix it.

After all, this is only asking somebody to do what they said they would do. If I sell something to somebody, I do the same.

Replacement panel

Not IME.

[owdman]

Have changed the igniter battery on our 15 year old gas cooker about 3 times perhaps. Thats it for maintenance. About 2 minutes total. cost

50p approx.

cheers Jacob

[Andy Hall]

Not if you follow the instructions.

However, you can produce stodginess in an Aga, such as easily as any other cooker.

No doubt, you can make chips as well.

[Mary Fisher]

Well, in this context, since you used the word, the onus is on you to define it but stodgy to me is dense and heavy. I've never had a steamed pudding like that.

Apart from Christmas puddings I rarely mak eany other than suet pastry ones such as steak and kidney, oh they're glorious! The pastry is light and flaky ... drool ...

The reason I don't make any sweet puddings is because as we've aged we simply can't eat more than one course at dinner, as a rule. It's very sad :-( I'll occasionally do it when we have guests as a special treat for them.

Mary

[Andy Hall]

One would hope that rope seals, if present, would be checked.

Your point is rather thin. It isn't difficult to open an oven door and look at a rope seal, and it isn't difficult to lift the plate rings - takes all of 20 seconds.

[Ophelia]

Unlike when we came for dinner and you gave us pie from a supermarket and a chocolates for pudding:))

[Andy Hall]

OK. I meant more in the context of carbohydrate-heavy, and any of these tend to be of that genre even if they do have an apparently light texture.

We don't make those at all. This year, I did have a small piece of a christmas pudding (about a tablespoonful), but that's about it.

[Mary Fisher]

You mean like bread?

I suspect you mean the calorie content, which is more to do with the fat element.

Mary

[Andy Hall]

Some types, not others.

Both carbohydrates and fats contribute to calories, although it is true to say that fats normally contain more calories for a given weight than carbohydrates.

My primary objective is maintaining blood glucose levels, while the secondary one is to control weight. My way of doing that is to look more at glycaemic load, which is related to the proportion of carbohydrate in a portion of food and its glycaemic index. Fat content can be beneficial in certain instances, since it slows down the rate of processing into the bloodstream.

In essence the way I do this is to avoid processed foods as much as possible (especially any that are created for one formulaic fad diet or another) and if I want to eat something that might be considered to be high in one component or another, to balance that off against something else or eat a very small quantity. It's effective and sustainable and suits my needs

Background and some clinical references at

[Mary Fisher]

Such as?

Indeed.

not a practising dietician I keep up with things.

Not going to look for my sources, I'm off to bed. The solar panel is now installed, we're all tired and deserve a treat.

Treacle pudding tomorrow perhaps ... with cream. The hens are off-lay so can't make custard. :-)

Mary

[Chris Bacon]

Mine's been going since October. I will stop using it in April, perhaps. A relative has a Stanley. There's another cooker next to it. His wife is a very good cook indeed, perhaps a more "organic" and "vegetarian" than the vast majority of cooks, but still, a very good cook. Stanley in season, electric otherwise. My grandmother had a Rayburn. In the dairy, she also had an electric cooker, which was used sometimes in Winter, most other times. My grandfather had in a place which had an Aga the like of which I've never seen before, with at least two places you could put fuel in, and lots of doors and lids and bits and pieces. I have no idea of the capabilities of his cook or kitchen helper, but they were at least good. Electric cooking apparatus also present.

I know others who have these things, similar stories.

You don't need space heating for much of the time, and when you do, it's far more sensible to direct it properly.

So what. It's easy to cook with, although somewhat limited in effectuality.

An Aga or Rayburn is more akin to using electric cooking, with added lag and hysteresis.

You seem to be in a small minority with your views. That's more telling than smart-alec weaseling.

That's about it, really, unless you've something *startlingly* new or interesting to say.

[Andy Hall]

Generally, those with larger amounts of grains, seeds, wholewheat, even rye have lower glycaemic load than those at the white end of the spectrum.

It depends on what you are trying to do. GI on its own doesn't take into account quantity. For example, water melon has a fairly high GI, but its GL is low because it is mainly water. Thus, one can eat quite a lot by weight and have relatively little impact. Watermelon juice (if there is such a thing) would be a different proposition.

In terms of blood glucose control, GL certainly works well for me, but may not for others - varies between individuals. Another aspect is that it is quite common to be more sensitive to carbohydrates earlier in the day than later. Thus, I also consider when I'm eating different things.

That's *really* a shame.

[Andy Hall]

That depends on the house and the pattern of use.

I think that using the Aga as one of the heat sources in the house is entirely reasonable since it's a fairly small proportion in the winter, and covers more of the need for the rest of the year.

I don't find that at all, and certainly don't limit myself to what is cooked.

???

It's not meant to be used like either, so this doesn't make sense as a comparison.

I have never been one to go with the herd, so thinking laterally is fairly natural.

I've been clear about what I've done, what I've found and what I've measured. The mileage of others may vary (to paraphrase).

[Edward W. Thompson]

snip

snip

Can you explain why there is a difference between an Aga oven and any other in this respect. Provided there is not a loss of air from the oven it is a closed system and moisture does not escape. Once the air in the oven reaches saturation no further loss of moisture from the closed system occurs. This is equally true for the 'Aga' type of cooker and the more conventional type. Where does the moisture from the food in the oven go? It certainly doesn't condense on the hot surfaces of the device :-).

[owdman]

Just spotted this

. Electric Agas? Dafter and dafter!

cheers Jacob

[Andy Hall]

I can only tell you what I observed.

In terms of mechanisms, the two that seem obvious are a) that the fan oven is not a closed system and b) that there is an effect from blowing hot air over the contents. Air at higher temperatures has considerably more water carrying capacity than it does at lower temperatures. These are only suggestions of possibilities. The observations were from side by side comparisons of doing the same things.

[Mary Fisher]

What an interesting question!

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Are your hens still laying?

Mary