The What?! The AGA.

By: Guest Blogger, Kiersten Washle

Ever heard of an AGA? No? Don't worry, this is no fault of your own and you are certainly not alone. 

If you're curious, this an AGA:

      Now that you have seen an AGA, here is a little more information and history on these unique stoves. First of all, AGA is an abbreviation for Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator. This means that this is a stove that is always warm. The stove and ovens are made of a heavy cast iron, this iron absorbs and retains the heat from a low-heat, continuously burning source. The continual warmth allows the ovens and cook top to be used at anytime, immediately with no period of preheating. Since it is always warm, the temperature cannot be adjusted; this is why there are so many doors in the pictures seen above. Each door is an individual oven. These ovens have varying levels of insulation which gives them different temperature. When you go to cook your food you would simply put it in the oven that keeps that temperature. The stoves are can be customized so the number of ovens is often different. The top of the stove changes as well, there can be gas burners, warming plates, or closed burners. All of this leads to a very unique and convenient stove for any setting. It is a whole new, or old, world of cooking. 
     Though not many people know about the AGA in America, it is a widespread name and can be found in at least 750,000 homes worldwide. It is typically thought of as a primarily English stove. However, it was originally designed in by the Swedish physicist Dr. Gustav Dalen. He designed the stove after finding out that his wife was constantly having to tend their traditional wood burning stove. He created the AGA with the idea that it's continuously burning source would allow it to be self sufficient. His design was finished in 1929 and originally burned coal. Today, most AGA stoves run on a gas source and are favored for their energy efficiency. 
     

Our AGA

Here at CloverFields we are fortunate to have an AGA of our own.  It is truly a unique cooking experience that, for the most part, goes really well but we all make mistakes and we wanted to show you what happens when we left a baked potato in the oven for a few hours too many...
   

OOPS!