Smithy

Oh man, I'd better order mine before they run out!

Never mind, I answered my own question again...

BWAAHAHA! I am enjoying this. Don't forget there's a Raytek out there calling your name, too.

Interesting article. It makes the methods discussed here sound pretty easy, doesn't it? I wonder why the milk works to make the black Chamba pots stronger? In this case does 'stronger' mean less susceptible to thermal shock, or less susceptible to breakage when dropped?

OK, here goes my dumb question. I'm wondering how the tagine would work with lean cuts of meat. Specifically, I have some deer meat that's quite flavorful but quite lean, and tends to dry out easily. I'm still trying to find ways to cook it without drying it out. Stew has worked pretty well. Would braising in the tagine work, or does the meat need more fat for that?

OK, I have a painfully dumb question. After becoming inspired by the previous couscous thread, I bought a Le Creuset tagine (although now that I've read this thread I wish I had held out for a crockery tagine, but I digress). I tried the Honeyed, spiced chicken tagine recipe that came with the pot. I lightly sautéed the onions & garlic & then added the chicken as instructed. I could not get the chicken to brown. It was delicious, but very white. The Chicken Tagine recipe Sackvill Girl posted sounds wonderful & I'd like to try it but it starts the same way as the first recipe I tried. Should I remove the onions after sautéing? How do I get the chicken to brown? Sigh, I did warn you that this was going to be a painfully dumb question. ← Ha, that isn't a painfully dumb question! You should see the one I'm about to post! I have some guesses and questions, and I'm sure the resident experts will chime in soon. First, I wonder whether the Le Creuset is changing the browning from what you're used to. Do you have other LC pieces? Other posters have noted that it doesn't brown as easily - although I have to say I haven't noticed that problem with my stuff. Second idea: was there too much liquid in the pan from the onions? Maybe you needed to let the onion juice boil off a bit before adding the chicken. My third idea goes to what Paula's been teaching here for other meats: brown the chicken at the end of the cooking, under the broiler. You might have to separate the chicken from the rest of the sauce for that step. That isn't the sequence in the recipe noted above, but it might work for you.

I hope you'll post photos when you're done, along with your comments, so we can see what difference the curing makes. Hmm, I have a couple of uncured moussaka bowls sitting around. Maybe I'll try a comparison too. Edited to remove a question already answered elsewhere, and to fix a formatting error.

When it came right down to it, I just COULDN'T give 4 chicken thighs the same treatment when there were tests and comparisons to be made. I salted two, then dredged them in salted flour. The other two got salt and paprika on the skin, then were dipped into a lightly beaten egg, and then dredged in flour mixed with salt, paprika, and a home-made Cajun seasoning mix. Everything was cooked in the same pan at the same time. Interestingly, the egg-coated chicken seemed to cook more quickly. The egg-coated chicken had a much thicker crust than the stuff that had just been dredged in flour. I thought, when removing the chicken from the pan, that the egg coating would be tough, but it was a tender thick crust with tender juicy chicken underneath. I preferred it, both for the texture and for the extra skin seasoning. I couldn't tell any difference to the texture or flavor of the chicken flesh beneath the crust. I took the chicken pieces out a bit too soon and ended up with them undercooked. Microwaving two made them tougher, so I reheated the pan and fat, this time a little hotter, and replaced two of the pieces. I got the fat too hot, and the brown bits in the bottom of the pan started charring. Note to self: the correct setting on this burner is around 5, not 7. I rescued the chicken in time, though, and it came out better than the microwaved stuff. No photos worth showing. Next time I'll try someone else's recipe.

Well-preserved, indeed! I don't suppose you've ever stuck a thermometer over the brazier coals, right at the pot base, to know what the target temperature is? Is the coal/brazier method basically looking to maintain the lowest simmer possible after the initial boil?

I've always heard pots of those dimensions referred to as chicken fryers. I figured that's what they were for. Mine, a garage-sale special and properly seasoned, is heating up the fat right now. On the way home tonight I debated using the old family heirloom steel pot (slightly larger but same dimensions) that Mom used until she got an electric skillet, or this chicken fryer. The fryer needed cleaning anyway, so it's the choice. We never did advance soaking in our family; by contrast with everyone else's recipe Mom's approach sounds very pedestrian, but it was always wonderful. Wash and pat the chicken dry, dredge it in flour and salt, drop into the hot grease. Bacon grease and Crisco were, I think, the mix. I have lard and Crisco, small bits of each, maybe enough for the pot. If I need to supplement it'll have to be with vegetable oil. If the results are worth photos I'll post later.

I finished cooking, and nearly finished eating (there aren't many leftovers!) Wolfert's Moroccan Lamb Tagine Smothered with Lemon and Olives last night in my Egyptian clay pot. That one's a keeper. First, some notes on the pot curing process: my clay pots came from Egypt, and I followed the curing process I was taught in Luxor despite a powerful temptation to try Paula's olive oil and ash treatment. (I guess I'll have to buy a tagine for that one!) I rinsed and scrubbed the pot in water to get rid of loose clay, let it dry thoroughly, then rubbed it inside and out with molasses. Then I set it upside down on a baking sheet (this one's usually a drip pan so I didn't bother with foil) and baked it in the oven at 350F for, oh, several hours. I don't remember the timing. It's done when the molasses has beaded up and hardened. The difference in before and after is amazing: before curing, the pots are brick red and smell like clay (think garden pots). Afterward the pot is brown, hard, and doesn't have that smell any more. Here are some "before" and "after" pictures, with an uncured small bowl compared to the larger cooking bowl I used. Sorry about the less-than-optimal lighting! Here's the mix coming to the boil atop the stove. I have an electric coil stove, so I put the pot on a flame-tamer and raised the heat very, very gradually. After it came to the boil I lowered the heat and simmered with wet crumpled parchment paper on top of the food and a foil lid over that. While that was cooking, I made some of Elie's pita bread, from his Introduction to Lebanese Cuisine at the eGCI. It's sure fun to watch those pitas puff. I misread the instructions and realized too late that I was supposed to have separated the meat and sauce and added the olives to the sauce on top of the stove while the meat was browning in the oven. I just left the foil and parchment off and let the sauce reduce in the oven. It may have mattered in the presentation, but it sure didn't matter to the taste. Here's the finished product: I tasted, and tasted, and then couldn't stop. I make lamb stew frequently, but I've never gotten this sort of tenderness. The bits of meat were melt-in-the-mouth tender, with an unctuous texture brand-new to me. The olives were as tender and tasty; I didn't know that cooking olives like this would change them so much. Wow. Wonderful stuff. Paula, if you want to update that recipe on your website, go right ahead, but don't you dare remove it!

Thank you for your answer, chefzadi. I have to admit, until just now I thought "taouk" (or tawouk or whatever, it's always hard to transliterate) meant cooked chicken. Now I have to ask, what does that word mean? I take it the word "motefa" (I think that's how they put it in the English portion of the menu) doesn't sound like any recognizable Arabic word?

This seems like a good time to re-ask a question I asked here about a year ago with no success. Does anyone know what goes into tawouk motefa? It's a chicken kebab dish I had at a Lebanese restaurant (named Tabouli) in Cairo a little over a year ago. It may have had more sauce than their standard shish tawouk (which was also excellent, but quite different). The grilled chicken chunks were sprinkled with a reddish spice that might have been sumac (or paprika?). The sauce had garlic, and had a hint of spicy heat that might have been paprika or might have been something hotter but in very small amounts. My memory is getting more vague about it all the time, but I remember it as being well worth trying to make at home - but I haven't been able to find a recipe, or even someone else who knows what I'm talking about. My post last year scrambled the name (a friend has since corrected me), and that couldn't have helped. Does this sound familiar to anyone here?

I second the thanks for resurrecting this thread. I hadn't seen it before now. The mehemmer/amhemer sounds fabulous, and I'm already hungry thinking about making it (although I have a tagine to finish tonight). Someone, please tell me more about the eggs. Are they lightly beaten, heavily beaten, or not beaten but just cracked into the mix?

That recipe was written for an enameled cast iron pot,and published in food and wine magazine back in the 80's before anyone has access to tagines. I really should remove it from the site. Or test it over and edit it! You only need one pot and it should be the same one you serve in.. What I would do is put the claypot filled with whatever on low heat and slowly bring to a boil, then remove it from the heat for a minute to cool down, return to the lowest heat, cover and simmer for about 2 hours. Cooking time will depend on the age of the lamb. We're coming to spring now and young lamb will cook faster than mature meat. ← Too late to pull it, I've printed it and am cooking it! So now I have a couple of questions: - Step 1 says, among other things, to "toss the lamb with the spice mixture over very low heat for 2 minutes." Since I'm using an Egyptian clay pot on the stovetop for the first time, I'm being a real weenie about it: very low heat, electric coil with a flame tamer. So now I'd like to know how one determines "very low heat" and the "two minutes" bit. What should I have been looking for? I added the water, onion and herbs before the pot even got warm, for fear of shattering the pot. Of course, since the pot wasn't warm the meat was still quite cool. It was well-coated with the spice mixture. - Step 3 says to transfer the cooked meat to an ovenproof serving dish and bake it at 450F for 15 - 20 minutes. You stated upthread that you wrote this recipe in the days before tagines were available in the U.S.A. and this recipe can be done with one pot. I'm doing the preliminary cooking now, to finish tomorrow (I hope) night. I think I'll let the tagine warm to nearly room temperature, then place it in the oven and let the over heat everything to 450F at the same time. Does that sound right? Nancy

<Claps self on the head> Of course! Just try frying a few pieces instead of a whole chicken! What a great idea, Fifi! This way, I'll be able to try it the way my mother taught me and compare it to some of the tantalizing versions y'all are describing. I'll be living on salads the rest of the time, though, just to keep the bathroom scale from snickering at me.

The website describes both the '02 and '03 as having grapefruit and tropical flavors, with 'notes' of green pepper. Perhaps the tart acidity is more grapefruit than lemon? In addition, by 2005 a 2000-vintage wine of this style might be getting a little tired and flat. It sounds like a disappointment and not a wine you're likely to buy again, but you might take note of others' comments if you come across them, just in case the wine was too old. A fresher vintage might be more appealing. ← Oops, my bad. I checked the Rancho Zabaco bottle again. It's a 2002 vintage, not 2000 as I reported. My wine shop didn't sell me something as old as I'd implied. That raises the next question of whether I missed some nuances (highly likely) or just have different preferences than the tasters quoted on the web site. Maybe I'll try this one again alongside some of my preferred s-b's in the same price range. Now that you mention it, grapefruit may be a better descriptor than lemon for what I remember. I can see the advantage to having several people in the same room trying these at the same time, to spark ideas and refine descriptions. It appears that I'll be needing to add to my aroma kit: grapefruit, apricot (see below) and plum. How long do these kits last? Do they develop "off" notes, or do I just have to worry about their taking over my refrigerator? A few winemakers claim that an excellent zinfandel will have overtones of apricot, so that's very interesting. I would expect that in a large, affordable production like Alderbrook there may also be additions of cabernet or merlot. Many of these productions are "cut" with a gentler, more familiar varietal to make the wine more "cabalicious," to help it appeal to a broader market base. Excellent review. I haven't tried their mourvedre yet, but after this writeup, I think I'd better! ← Organoleptic - now there's a nice word to work into a conversation! I'll be interested to try that zinfandel again and see whether apricots are a closer match than peaches. Maybe. This will be an easy one to test again, since it's a family favorite. But, uhm, "cabalicious"? Cabernet-like? The label doesn't mention any other wines blended, but maybe it wouldn't. I do note, however, that in very fine print it says "14.2% alcohol". Yet another correction to make! I really, really like the Cline Mourvedre, and have liked it for several years. I'm still trying to work out what foods are most complimentary to it, but at least I'm beginning to learn which foods aren't.

Two words: splatter screen. And, it would be quicker to clean grease than accumulate all of those ingredients for the curry. Besides, since we can't garden, we just as well clean grease . ← Sponge in one hand, seed catalog in the other?

Gaaahh. I LOVE fried chicken. I HATE the cleanup. I rarely do it here, unless I can do it outside. It's 10*F right now. Can we save the chicken until it's warmer? Or do you experienced folks have ways to tame the grease spatters? Nancy (but if that's the consensus, count me in)

I went the other way round making a lamb and rice pilaf one night. I thought that cup of frozen chicken broth was unusually yellow, but it wasn't it was thawed and pitched into the dish that I realized it was frozen Meyer lemon juice. Man, that finished dish had pucker power...

In your Recipe for Moroccan Lamb Smothered with Lemon and Olives, you call for bringing the mixture to a boil over high heat, and then covering and simmering it. I think I've been reading that the tagines are okay on the stovetop over low heat only. Do you bring the mixture to the boil in another pan and then put it in the tagine to simmer over low heat? Or rather, is that what you'd recommend for my Egyptian bowl? What about the Riffian tagine that Mark bought and Sam may be about to buy?

Note to the moderator: thanks for moving this! Now, Ms. Wolfert: I managed to restrain myself the other day just before hitting the "checkout" button on the tagines.com web site. It occurred to me that I have an All-Clad braiser with a lid, an unglazed Egyptian clay pot of approximately the size and shape of the Riffian tagine bottom (no lid), and this glazed ceramic casserole with a lid. The unglazed pot and the glazed casserole are oven-proof but probably not stoveop-proof. The metal braiser, of course, goes either place. What would the Moroccan tagine do for me, aside from looking way cool and giving me some thermodynamics to think about (that cooling tower on top), that these can't? I know it's stovetop unglazed clay - which I don't have - but I don't know how important that is. Am I shorting myself in the name of $40 if I don't get that tagine, or will my tagines come out well without it? Advice, please. Tax time is coming up... Nancy

Over on the eGCI's Evaluating Wine class, I tried out three wines for one exercise: * Solaris Special Release Pinot Noir, 2003 * Cline Ancient Vines Mourvedre, 2002 * Alderbrook OVOC Dry Creek Zinfandel, 2000 The purpose of this particular exercise was to begin learning the characteristics of selected varietals, so we were supposed to pick wines that were true to type. Cline was recommended but the others that I picked weren't listed among the recommended vintners. I picked them anyway because we keep these particular wines around the house. The mourvedre and zinfandel are tried-and-true favorites, and the Solaris is something we keep sometimes. We're still trying to decide about it - it seems variable from one bottle to the next. My question to the assembled masses is, how true to type are these wines that I chose to evaluate? Cline mourvedre is pretty distinctive, but it's the only mourvedre I've ever tasted except in a blend. Would I know another unblended mourvedre if I tasted it? I'm particularly interested in someone's assessment of the Solaris because it's new, it seems a bit on the spotty side, and my poor grip on wines is even more meager when it comes to pinot noir. For those of you who are interested in learning about how to taste wines, and how to assess and describe what you taste, I highly recommend this course. It's well presented, and Rebel Rose is somehow making the time to provide thoughtful answers to exhaustive questions.

Last night I set out to do Assignment 3. I looked at the 6 wine bottles I've already opened this week - and flying solo on this class - and decided I'd better revisit them rather than open yet another bottle. This wasn't entirely a fair test, considering that the white wine bottles were by then on their 4th night open (although corked and in the refrigerator) and the reds had been open 1 night (corked and on the counter). Still, I thought I'd get something out of re-evaluating them. Beringer Chenic Blanc 2003: Maybe that's an under-ripe smell and flavor I'm getting. It seemed short, somehow (as in not full). I'll go with under-ripe. Still, it has an unctuous mouthfeel and seems honeyed. Those are two very useful words to add to my wine vocabulary. The semi-sweet character seems like honey rather than sugar. For my tastes it was overdone and tended to override the fruit flavor. In trying to decide just what fruit flavor I was getting, I broke out the aroma kit although that wasn't in the instructions. My best guess was apple, but it wasn't very distinct. I didn't get a hint of butter on the nose, so I'm guessing there was no malolactic conversion for this. By the way, this didn't make any legs, even on my good glassware. Does that mean this is a relatively low-alcohol (including glycerol) wine? Final question about this one: is that honey flavor from residual sugar? Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull Sauvignon Blanc, 2000: I didn't like this on Monday night, and the few redeeming qualities it may have had were gone by last night. I couldn't taste a bit of fruit. The nose may have had a hint of lemon, but I'd call it the standard Eureka lemon rather than a Meyer. (I hasten to add that this wine had not turned detectably toward vinegar; it wasn't that far gone.) That high thin hot note I noted on the first night was worse. Does this indicate little to no residual sugar? Again, remembering that this had been opened several days before, my assessment might not be representative of the freshly opened bottle, but I wouldn't buy this wine again since I didn't like it the first night either. I like sauvignon blancs in general, and there are better ones available for the money. Beringer Founders Estate Chardonnay, 2003: Absolutely, positively butter on the nose. So this has had a malolactic conversion? How would I know whether it's full or partial? There was also a smell of honey and apples. The apples were unmistakeable once I compared to the aroma kit. Fuller mouthfeel than the others, a distinct oak, almost too much for my tastes. Then the surprise: as I tasted that wine, tasted the other whites, smelled against the aroma kits, and came back, I suddenly was tasting POPCORN with the oak! Once I tasted the popcorn, it was there, and I couldn't shake it. I liked it. This wine had more depth than I'd noticed the first night. I take that to be an indication of what I'm learning rather than the wine itself getting that much better. Overall I'm still not crazy about this particular wine - the honey starts to cloy - but it's better and more interesting than I thought at first. I still had tastebuds and energy left to try the two reds I'd opened the night before. I didn't bother with the Solaris, since it hadn't had much to say for itself the previous night without food, and because I was running out of steam. Alderbrook OVOC Dry Creek Zinfandel, 2000: No butter on the nose. None. So that means no malolactic conversion? How hard and fast is this correlation? The smell was fruity and the flavor was ripe. The wine wasn't as unctuous as the chardonnay had been. This wine has definite structure, but seemed less complex than the mourvedre. The aromas and flavors were all fruit, as near as I could make out. The closest thing in my aroma kit seemed to be peaches (not what I'd have expected). It didn't match the raspberries at all. I couldn't make out any pepper, any other spices, and herbs. There was no detectable oak. Cline Ancient Vines Mourvedre, 2002: It smells RIPE. Ripest of the bunch. The overwhelming smell was of grapes, good ripe grapes, and based on the writeup I'm guessing they were picked at exactly the right time, and came from a good season. There wasn't a trace of butter on the nose or oak on the tongue. There were some hints of something I couldn't quite identify, some herbs or spices; the closest match from the aroma kit were tarragon and cloves, but it wasn't dead certain. The tomacco and smoke notes were unmistakeable. Maybe there was chocolate, too? I tried some dark chocolate (anything for an excuse) and found that the wine and chocolate matched well - no surprise there - and that the chocolate smoothed out the rough edges of the wine. Back to the subtlety and manipulation point: again, I'd guess this didn't have a ML conversion. Based on the writeup, I'm guessing this does have some residual sugar, but it doesn't taste sweet. It does taste full. As always, comments and insights are welcome. Boy, this is fun!

It is! I've never been a fan of barbecue sauce, but my husband loves it and tends to use it in his slow-cooker recipes. I've gone from accepting it to actively liking some of it (Famous Dave's Hot 'n' Spicy is the current fave). After the eGCI braising lab I was on a roll, thoroughly sick of bottom round roast but ready to try braising ribs, and with a sudden windfall of cheap baby back ribs. (Those ribs were so cheap I keep wondering whether those cows were mad as hatters, but the deed is done now.) After browning the ribs I deglazed with beef stock or wine, depending on what was handy, and then added a bunch of the sauce from the jar. It was very, very good. Go for it!