I've been offered a house with a Rayburn Royal range. It was in a terrible state as the last tenant burned everything going and never cleaned the ash out of the burn box. It needs new fire bricks and a grate which the landlord will sort at some stage. In the meantime I am trying to get the cooking ovens cleaned out enough to use.

The ovens are dusty and rusty. I gave them a good brush out and have sort of scraped some of the rust off. Plan to get a good wire brush and have a good go at it.

But would like to know if once it is clean...do you season the inside like you would a cast iron skillet or casserole dish? Give it a good coating of oil and let it cook?  Or what do you do?  I am terrible keen to learn how to use the cook top and ovens but never have done it before and don't want to ruin the ovens by doing something I shouldn't.

Thanks

> do you season the inside like you would a cast iron skillet or casserole dish? Give it a good coating of oil and let it cook?

NO  Remember that this isn't a surface that you cook on and food will not be in direct contact with the oven sides.  The beauty of this type of cooker/range is that all smells and bits of food or spills  just burn off and the ovens never need cleaning.  Just brush it out every few weeks or so to remove burnt offerings (such as that lost jacket potato or a whole rice pudding I found a week later!), I used to use an old dustpan brush in my Aga - just be a bit speedy to minimise melting :)

Ask your landlord to make sure it's serviced by an approved company before you start using it.  It's important to ensure the cast iron is undamaged and that your flues are clear.  Do I gather this is a solid fuel version?

It is a multi-fuel can do solid fuel or oil...I just want the logs or coal...will say to the landlord about getting it serviced..

I am so looking forward to using it..might curse it by the time I'm done though but I am up for giving it a go..most of my friends love them..

We are having ours taken out in a week or two and replacing it with a multifuel (gas and electric) Rangemaster!!  Our old Rayburn needs money spending on it, not really a problem, but to spend out on something we use only for a few weeks in the year is not really viable.  Now the plus points....you cannot ever taste meat better than that which has been cooked in a Rayburn/Aga.  You will always have loads of hot water and your kitchen will always be warm (too warm sometimes).  The 'down' side..........messy and dirty things to have and expensive if you burn coal, you cannot cook anything on the top of the stove that requires fast cooking.  If you burn wood, it burns out too fast with a fierce heat given off and you have to have a large area to store it.  The chimney becomes 'sooted' up quickly too. Having said all that, my Rayburn was our only source of hot water/cooking until about 15 years ago when gas was brought into our area.  People seem to have a 'romantic' idea of Agas/Rayburns in a kitchen, but take it from me, they are bloomin hard work!!:)  :)

> It is a multi-fuel can do solid fuel or oil...I just want the logs or coal...will say to the landlord about getting it serviced..

I think it's unlikely it would use oil OR solid fuel, coal or wood yes but not oil as well. They are either oil, gas or solid fuel. I'd definitely want it serviced and made sure it was in working order, and I would think that is your landlords responsibility.

Anyway, I had a solid fuel Rayburn for a number of years and once you get used to the peculiarities of it (they are all slightly different) I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I've now got an oil-fired Sandyford which is much easier all round, but still enjoyed the days of the old Rayburn.