Introduction To Cooking Methods

Steamed Banana
Pudding drizzled in
Butterscotch Sauce
The idea of steamed puddings may take you back
to your school days and this one certainly tends to
be a hit with the kids. Using very ripe blackened
bananas gives it an amazing flavour and delicious
with the butterscotch sauce.
To make the butterscotch sauce, place the brown sugar, butter and cream
into a saucepan and bring gently to the boil, stirring until thick and
smooth. Remove from the heat. Butter a 1.2 litre (2 pint) pudding basin.
Place the butter, caster sugar, eggs, flour and bananas into a basin
and beat well together. Pour half the butterscotch sauce into the base
of the prepared basin and carefully spoon over the pudding mixture.
Cover with a disc of baking parchment and place a double thickness
of foil over the top of the basin. Tie the foil on with string, leaving
enough to be able to lift the pudding out of the saucepan.
Put the basin in a large saucepan and pour in boiling water to come
half-way up the side of the basin, steam for 15 minutes - moving the
saucepan partially of the boiling plate if necessary to maintain a
gentle boil.
Transfer the covered saucepan, complete with water and pudding
to the simmering oven. Steam for about 1½ hours in the simmering
oven until the pudding is cooked through.
Turn the pudding out onto a serving dish, gently reheat the
remainder of the sauce and pour over the top.
Serves 4
Ingredients
Sauce
25g (1 oz) brown sugar
25g (1 oz) butter
125ml single cream
Pudding
115g (4 oz) soft butter
115g (4 oz) caster sugar
2 free range eggs
140g (5 oz) self raising flour
2 ripe bananas, mashed
22
Steam
AGA Tips
from Richard Maggs the AGA cookery doctor
Place a lemon in the roasting oven for three minutes before squeezing to extract the most juice.
Organic lemons give a far superior flavour and are worth the extra cost.
To fry eggs without using a frying pan, use a piece of Bake-O-Glide placed on the simmering plate.
Crack the egg into the centre of the sheet, and lower the lid to speed up the cooking. It’s fat free and
no washing-up.
To revive a slightly stale loaf of bread, cut off a slice from the ‘open’ end of the loaf and discard.
Hold the loaf, cut-side down, for a few moments under a running cold tap, and then place it in the
roasting oven for four minutes for warm, crusty bread.
When making pancakes, cook the first side in the usual way in a pan on the boiling plate, but then
flip it over to cook the second side on the lightly greased simmering plate. You can then start another
pancake in your pan, and double your production speed.
Leave jars of jam or syrup for 30 minutes on the back of the top plate of the AGA, with their lids
loosened, to soften for easy spreading when baking.
To loosen tight metal screw-top jars, simply place the lid side down on the simmering plate for 30
seconds. The metal lid expands and then is easily twisted off using a cloth.
When your AGA Total Control top plate is warm you can keep a mug of coffee hot whilst chatting on
the phone by leaving it on the top plate in front of and between the lids.
For pizzas to die for, cook directly on the floor of the roasting oven. Keep the oven floor clean by
brushing out with a wire brush.
Dry awkward-shaped metal cooking utensils and kitchen gadgets, graters, etc., on the warm top
plate so they don’t go rusty in storage.
Use the gentle warmth of the top of the AGA to soften, melt or warm ingredients for cooking.
Soften butter, melt chocolate and warm bread flour in the bowl for brilliant bread making.
Taken from The Little Book of AGA Tips by Richard Maggs
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