Emma Macalister HallSad times at Torrisdale Castle this week as our old Aga was hauled out of the kitchen, amidst all the other major work that is on going.
A kitchen stalwart and beloved workhorse, this Swedish icon has served the castle for over 50 years, the last 13 of them with me, Niall and our kids.
I will confess it wasn’t love at first sight as it was a completely new way of cooking – no way of regulating the temperature, very, very hot plate and oven, not so hot plate and cooler oven, curved lids that things slide off…who’s idea was THAT?
We kept it on, night and day, pretty much 365 days a year. It kept the kitchen cosy and also the bedroom directly above, rendering it the warmest in the house (bagsied by our eldest and Aunty Ju Ju before her). There was usually at least one dog blocking the oven doors at all times. It had two ovens, one hotter than Hades and used for roasting and another cooler one for slow cooking and keeping things warm. All very convenient for shoving in a joint of meat, perfect for slow cooking a Christmas turkey overnight, amazing for soups and stews etc. The main problem with it is that once the oven doors are closed, it’s impossible to smell what’s burning inside. This led to countless charred disasters over the years which have provided much amusement on Facebook as I deemed it necessary to publicly shame myself. A burnt aubergine shared is still a waste of an aubergine but if it gets a laugh it’s not so bad.
It was usually a side dish, shoved in at the back, forgotten about until something triggered me, often days later. My moonblush tomatoes were in there for a week.
There were many triumphs though and I grew to love it. The heart of the home, lovely to lean against with a hot cup of tea, amazing for drying dishes and also laundry on the pulley high above it AND it gave us piping hot water. It was there in the background of many photos over the years, an unassuming backdrop for so many happy occasions.
About three years ago the Aga started to go wrong and became less and less reliable. It wasn’t reaching required temperatures and no amount of servicing or tinkering seemed to help. With the big roof repairs looming we knew we would have to wait before replacing it so came to rely on an array of gadgets – combi microwave, rice cooker, air fryer and more recently, the wonderful life-changing Thermomix. The Aga was good for little more than frying eggs but at least I stopped burning things.
Then came the sad day when a team of five, highly qualified strong blokes removed it from the castle, leaving nothing but a trail of oil on the floor boards to remind us. The stain will fade (eventually…) but we will always remember our old friend. And Facebook will continue to remind me of all my disasters!
