Tagine Tips?

I have wanted a tagine ever since I took cooking lessons in Morocco a couple of years ago. (Not to mention eating wonderful things out of tagines for a couple of weeks.) Finally, I just went ahead and ordered one, and it arrived Friday -- the Rifi tagine from the Berber Trading Company (www.tagines.com).

I'm currently in the process of seasoning it (two hours submerged in water, which will be followed by coating it in olive oil and baking it for 2 hours at 350 degrees).

Before I launch into using the tagine, I thought I'd find out if there are any on LTH who are experienced with this piece of cooking equipment, who might have advice or tips to share. I did a search, but all the comments I found were either about restaurants or about adapting Moroccon recipes to Western equipment.

So, anyone out there have a tagine and advice?

We're no experts, but we made a yummy recipe that came taped on the tagine when we bought it. The recipe and the tagine came from Holman Pottery. My only recommendation would be to use less honey than the recipe calls for - it was a little too sweet. Enjoy!

4 chicken breasts, skinned
1/4 cup honey
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 sticks cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 cup dried apricot quarters

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange chicken breasts in bottom of tajine. Pour honey over chicken; sprinkle with onion and then with minced garlic. Add cinnamon sticks and sprinkle with lemon juice and turmeric. Top with apricot quarters, cover. Bake for about 2 hours or until fork can be inserted in chicken with ease. Remove cinnamon sticks from chicken mixture and serve with rice or couscous. Makes 4 servings.

Thanks, Lindsay.

And yes, a lot of savory dishes in North Africa have more sweet than we are accustomed to -- so I appreciate the warning.

I'm just pleased to learn that someone has gotten one of these and used it without having it blow up or crumble. Granted, I saw people all over Morocco cooking with them, but you never know if there's a secret that you don't know. And nice to have a recipe that has actually been prepared in a tagine, because all the recipes I've found so far, in my cookbooks and online, have been adapted for Western kitchens.

Can't wait to take it out for a test drive..

I had two break after use, including one I brought back from Tangiers, although they glue back together and retire to kitchen shelves nicely.

I upgraded (in longevity, not necessarily authenticity) to this:

http://www.chefzadi.com/2007/09/le-creuset-tagi.html

Amazon has the Le Creuset tagines on sale for $50-75 sometimes. They are beautiful and extremely easy to use and care for. Not big enough for major entertaining, but plenty for 2-4.

Thanks, Santander.

It's nice to have options, if this one does blow up.

Cynthia, Do you know whether your tagine can go in the oven or is it stove top only? Knowing that might help avoid blowing up.

Good luck, and let us know how it turned out!

Lindsay

The website and directions that came with it said both oven and stove top, though not above 350 degrees in the oven. The directions also said that seasoning it will make it stronger. We'll see. I'm going out of town this week, but as soon as I get back, trying it out is at the top of my "to do" list.

Well, the tagine is proving to be great fun.

First effort was with the sample recipe from the tagines.com website. I started with this simply because the instructions were for cooking on the stove top, and that's how I saw everyone cooking in Morocco (well, not on a stove, but with a fire under the tagine), so I wanted to start with a method I had seen. That recipe combined chicken, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and olives -- and it was yummy.

Second effort was with Lindsay's offering, above. Really wonderful. That cinnamon and honey combination is really reminiscent of meals I had in Morocco. Just fabulous. Only modification was that I added olive oil to the bottom of the tagine, and then cooked it on the stove top (gas stove, but with a heat defuser, just to be on the safe side). It cooked in about half the time of the oven version. So thanks, Lindsay. That one is going to be a favorite.

And if anyone is interested, I got the rifi tagine (tagines.com offers about a dozen different cooking tagines).

I've made my preserved lemons, now, so next effort might be chicken with preserved lemons and olives. And then my other favorite -- lamb with prunes. Loving my new toy!

And thanks again, Lindsay.

Hi Cynthia,

Thanks for the follow up post. Although you responded several days ago, I just saw it. I'm so glad the chicken recipe worked out well for you (and in half the time, no less). We haven't used our tagine much since then, except as a nice decorative piece for the kitchen, so we'll have to get back to it.

Lindsay

Well, if you have a tagine, might as well use it.

And if you need inspiration, The Foods of Morocco was on clearance when I was at Borders a few days ago. I bought a copy, but there were still others there at the time. Gorgeous book, with lots of photos of places I enjoyed while I was there -- plus a vast array of enticing recipes. However -- and this is something to watch out for -- as with many of the deeply discounted cookbooks at Borders (the ones that look like $50 books but are only $4.99) it wasn't printed in or written for the USA, so the cups may be Imperial measure.

Hi All!

I just stumbled across this thread, late in its life... Cook's reviewed tagines in May '06 and didn't like the terra cotta models, thought the Le Cresuet was ok but pricey, and the All-clad great but *really* pricey. In the end they recommended that you just use a good dutch oven.

Pretty much like their stand on woks: unless you have a special wok burner on your stove, stick with a frying pan.


I've made a tagine-chicken, with preserved lemons, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, and a couple of other things that was just dynamite. Made this several times (in my le Crusuet dutch oven! and the kitchen smelled glorious for days! I'll see if I can find the recipe.

Geo