Hi everyone!

Since we had you traveling this week on the show with our three international dishes, I thought we’d continue the journey through this blog by telling you a little about something that I like to use once in a while. It’s a Moroccan dish called a tagine.

The word TAGINE defines both the meal and the cooking tool. In other words, tagine is cooked in a tagine! Typical in North African cuisine, the tagine is made up of a glazed terra cotta hollow plate and a cone-shaped lid.

How does it work? It’s very simple. You place all of your ingredients inside (meat, vegetables, spices, etc.) and everything is steam-cooked, covered with the lid. No need for fat!
It is also very convivial since everyone eats directly from the tagine. No need for dishes… or utensils! Tradition says to use three fingers (forefinger, middle finger and thumb) and a piece of bread similar to a thin pancake to eat out of the dish. The forefinger and the middle finger hold the bread while the thumb pushes the food towards the bread.

The traditional tagine is slow-cooked with the dish placed directly into the embers, but there now exists models with iron bottoms. The tagine can then be placed on your stove burner. If yours is in terra cotta, you can always prepare your recipe in an ordinary casserole and then serve in the tagine. This is what I usually do and it makes a nice effect.

One last thing… Some handcrafted tagines contain lead, which can spread to your food during cooking. Ask questions and make sure you are buying a quality tagine. If not… well it can always be used as a decoration in the kitchen! Or you can always head to a Moroccan restaurant and try out some authentic dishes. ;)

Warren

Keywords : Moroccan, slow cooking, steam-cooking, Tagine

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