That is what is being done on a new cookery course. If you sign up for the two day course you will learn to use your Aga to cook a wide variety of dishes including, a Full English Aga break, fastpistachio meringues, blackberry and apple crumble, fish en papiotte, Aga yoghurt, jointing a chicken, lemon curd, chicken curry, broccoli and goat’s cheese tart, Aga rice, flatbread, fruity tray bakes,  roast beef with onion gravy and Yorkshire pudding, drop scones and Focaccia.

The course is in Woschester vale of Evsham with much of the ingredients being sourced locally and the course claims to be the only course with multiple Agas. Five at the last count and a Rayburn. With all this ironmongery radiating heat you would think that it would be like cooking in a steamship boiler room, however clever design ensures that the heat is extracted into the atmosphere.

Other innovations in the school include a CCTV systems to record and transmit images flat screen monitors to the rest of the class.

Why would you need a laser cooker apart from the fact that it is cool. It is claimed that the food should cook the food in seconds but I doubt this as the food is not in general localised with respect to the beam. Where the beam is incident, the surface of the food would be cooked instantly, however, the heat transferred into the food is by conduction and this depends on the thermal conductivity of the material. This is also seen in a microwave oven where the microwave have penetrated the food but have been absorbed before they reach the centre leaving it cold until the heat conducts into the food.

Price is also an issue as a CO2 laser system costing around $5000 for even a small laser, this cooker would be a very niche market.  The safety of a 100W CO2 laser which emits an invisible beam might also be questionable in the dometic enivironment. If you went to check the chicken it might be the last thing you saw before being blinded and/or burned.

By their very nature, a lot of energy is required to heat food and cooker represent one of the most energy consuming devices in our home. An average cooker uses around 8000 W of energy. Compare this to around 1500 W for a kettle and only 400 W for a television. To put this into context, the human body releases around 100 W of energy when sitting around relaxing. However, taken against this, the time for which the oven or cooker is used is not generally more than a couple of hours a day. Whereas your fridge is on all the time.

Also taken into account is the size of the oven cavity. A larger cavity is going to have a higher energy usage but should not be rated at a higher level than a smaller oven.

What is the importance of this for the consumer? A more efficient cooker will ultimately save you money in the long run and indirectly reduce emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, as less energy is required to be generated at the power stations or burned in gas consumption.

1. Fugu or the the Japanese blowfish. The poison is known as tetrodotoxin and affects the paralysing the victim. Eventually they die from ashypixa but remain fully concious through their ordeal. There is no antidote and treatment consists of keeping the resparatory system functioning until the poison has worn off.

Fugu is only allowed to be prepared by licensed sushi chefs as it requires a detailed knowledge of the poison containing organs of the fish. This is different for each different species of Fugu. The most deadly parts of Fugu being the liver, muscles, ovaries, and skin. The long training period culminates when the trainee chef must prepare and consume a Fugu meal. Despite this training Fugu posioning account for around 100 deaths a year. Fortunately, for Fugu fans farmed fugu  is available which is bred to be non-toxic.

2. Tapioca is a starch obtained from the root of the cassava plant root, which is a rich source of cyanide. To avoid being poisoned some processing of the plant root is required by soaking or cooking is required before consumption.

3. Kidney Beans - just a few raw kidney beans are required to make you sick.  If you buy your kidney beans in a can then you should be fine however as these have been already cooked. Raw kidney beans contain a toxic chemical known as phytohaemagglutinins or lectins. The effects include extreme nausea, severe vomiting, and diarrhea. Cook the beans reduces the toxicity to a safe level.

4. Chocolate - can be toxic in large quantities because of the alkaloid theobromine. It would take a lot of chocolate to have an effect in humans however, dogs, parrots, horses and cats can be killed by eating chocolate because these animals metabolize theobromine more slowly than humans.

5. Nuts have become an increasingly more common form of toxin to allergy suffers.

6. Potatos contain a chemicals known as glycoalkaloids which are also found in tomato plants. Placing the potatos in light increases the concentration of these chemicals and also makes them turn green. The effects of glycoalkaloids include headaches, cramps, vomiting and in severe cases coma and death. However, cooking potatoes breaks the glycoalkaloids down.

7. Mushrooms  - normally mushrooms will not kill you but if you are gathering wild mushrooms then you need to take care. There are several species of edible mushrooms that look very similar to toxic mushrooms such as the edible oyster mushrooms. Also morels can be confused with false morels which are poisonous.

INGREDIENTS
2 kg chicken pieces, remove fat
200g tomato puree
400g chopped tomatoes
500g canned pineapple pieces
1 onion, finely diced
Large bunch of fresh basil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ tablespoon olive oil

METHOD
1. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan and sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken pieces, tomato puree, and tinned chopped tomatoes into the pan.
3. Stir the mixture and then cover. Cook fro 30-40 minutes.
4. Reduced the heat of the saucepan and turn the chicken over.
5. Add the pineapple pieces into the pan.
6. Transfer into an oven safe dish and bake in the oven at 160 degrees centigrade for roughly 45 minutes.

INGREDIENTS
1 onion cut into equal wedges
1 ½ tsp olive oil
5 oz sirloin steak
1 tsp mustard
50 g Roquefort
Large handful of watercress
½ ciabatta loaf cut in half

METHOD
1. In the olive oil, fry the onions until they are very soft.
2. Cook the steak in a frying pan until it is at your preferred stage of cooking.
3. Spread the mustard evenly over the steak.
4. Slice the steak.
5. Place the watercress onto the bread.
6. Place the steak on top of the watercress.
7. Place the onions on top of the steak.
8. Add the cheese and then the second slice of bread.
9. Serve.

INGREDIENTS
One frozen pie crust (of course, you can make your own if you wish.)
2 large Granny Smith apples which have been peeled and sliced.
8 oz chopped onion
1 tsp sugar
4 tablespoons butter
¾ pound of Italian sausage
Clove of garlic, minced
16 ounces of your favourite cheese, grated
8 oz ricotta cheese
2 oz feta cheese
2 beaten eggs

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
2. Line a pie tin with aluminium foil and press the dough inside.
3. Bake the dough for 7 minutes. Remove the foil and prick the pie crust with a fork.
4. Return it to the oven and cook for a further 5 minutes. When it is brown, remove from the oven and leave to cool.
5. Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
6. Add the onions, sugar and apples to the pan and stir occasionally for 5 minutes.
7. Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds. Pour the mixture into a bowl.
8. Add the sausage to the same frying pan and cook on a medium heat until brown.
9. Remove the sausage and drain the excess fat.
10. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and cheese together.
11. Place the sausage onto the pie crust with the apple and onion mix the pour the cheese and eggs over.
12. Cook for 40 minutes then serve.

METHOD
1. Put the potatoes in a deep pan with some well salted water and leave to boil.
2. Fully season the lamb chops with salt (sea salt is best) and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Grate lemon zest and chop the mint finely.
4. Mix the olive oil with the lemon zest, mint, pepper and salt.
5. Just before the potatoes are ready, place the lemon and oil mixture into a pan over a medium heat and warm the mixture. When it begins to sizzle, add the lamb chops and leave them for a few minutes to colour.
6. Turn the lamb chops and allow the other side to cook for a couple of minutes.
7. Do not allow the mint and lemon zest to burn.
8. When the chops are golden brown, but, still pink inside, remove them from the pan and leave to rest on a plate.
9. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pan and leave to bubble for a brief moment.
10. Pour the resulting mixture over the lamb chops and crush the potatoes in a little of the mixture too. Serve.

INGREDIENTS
75g fresh chives
509 light cream cheese
200g smoked salmon, sliced thinly
50g salmon roe
1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
4 slices pumpernickel bread

METHOD
1. Using some cooking scissors, finely snip the fresh chives and arrange them delicately onto a plate.
2. Spread the cream cheese onto the bread making sure you cover the whole upper surface of the bread.
3. Lay the bread onto the chives so that they will stick to the cream cheese you spread onto it. Ensure that the bread is fully covered with chives from edge to edge.
4. Cut the bread into four equal pieces.
5. Trim your salmon and place a piece on each slice of bread.
6. Add the roe onto the salmon along with a few chives and serve with a wedge of lemon.