Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Agatha the Aga meets holiday cooking

Before I turn the page on the 2010 holidays, I wanted to review how Agatha handled the holiday cooking frenzy. A couple of emails have asked me about her oven size. Because the Aga Legacy's ovens are much smaller than a standard 30" range's, it's a sensible concern. In my small kitchen, it's wonderful having two ovens (plus separate broiler) without sacrificing much-needed counter space. The ovens can definitely handle everyday cooking. But, the big question remained. Could it accommodate the Thanksgiving turkey?

The moment of truth: Agatha meets 21-pound turkey.


Cooked perfectly. Incredibly moist and tender (although brining probably contributed to this).


It was wonderful to be able to do a couple of side dishes in one oven while the turkey cooked in the other. With the six burners spread over 44", there was plenty of space for the mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Plus room for the turkey to rest and rolls to sit.


Agatha even handled my last-minute cookie baking frenzy with aplomb. Although her ovens are small, I was able to bake multiple trays of cookies at once. Because the ovens are convection, each tray came out evenly baked.

Well done, Agatha.

5 comments:

  1. The rolls are beautiful! I didn't know you had an Aga Legacy. I looked at Legacy too. It was a very nice range, but I settled on induction.

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  2. Isn't it so more fun to cook on a decent range?! She's so much better than the builder-grade stuff I've used for 20 years.

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  3. We finally had our Aga legacy installed just days before Thanksgiving (the final, but crucial piece, of our kitchen renovation). The oven size has not been a problem. I roasted a monster of a bird for Thanksgiving and for Christmas I become a one-woman cookie factory. My longest jelly roll pan doesn't fit, but all my other cookie sheets and roasting pans do. But while the size of the ovens has not been an issue, their HEIGHT has. The Aga's main oven is quite close to the floor and my very tall husband finds it too low to comfortably use. Has the oven's height been an issue for you? Other than that I am thrilled with the way it cooks and the way it looks. Thanks for your update, Lauren

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  4. Lauren,

    Great to hear about how you've been using your Aga! We haven't had much trouble with the oven height off the floor. I tend to use the convection oven on the right which (I think) is a fairly standard height. The multifunction oven is definitely low to the ground. We're not super tall folks though. I'm a smidge over 5'7", and my hub is an inch taller. I'd guess that it would be a bigger issue if...well...we were bigger...

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Thanks so much for commenting. I love reading your thoughts and responses.