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Wolfert

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    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    I've been looking at tagine recipes at the Emile Henry site and all say to stir regularly, and add liquid as needed. I had thought you didn't need to do that with a tagine.

    The Emile Henry tagine can take high heat which might encourage the cook to cook faster and burn food..

    On the other hand, lots of tagines need a little nuturing.

    If you don't want to go through the trouble of making preserved lemons or finding them, would fresh lemon peel also work? Anyone know the ratio to substitute that if you can?

    Preserved lemons have a special flavor that comes from brining in salt over time. Meyer lemons are still in the market place and I urge you to make some now.

    You can purchase them at specialty food stores i If you don't have the time to wait, do the Five-Day method described in my Moroccan cookbook: Use a razor blade to make 8 fine 2-inch vertical incisions around the peel of each lemon to be made. (Do not cut deeper than the membrane that protects the pulp.) Place the incised lemons in a non-reactive saucepan with plenty of salt and water to cover and simmer until the peels become very soft. Place in a clean jar, cover with cooled cooking liquor, and leave to pickle for about 5 days.

    Use them up at once because they quickly rot.

    I came across the Laughing Goat Pottery that makes stovetop

    and ovenware. that looks very nice.

    I love the fondue pot. It could be used for panades, gratins and bagna cauda. Thanks for the tip.

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)

    Of all the tagines on the market, the one I like least is Le Creuset. I think the bowl is too small for most recipes. And I detest the red color!

    If you want stoneware, there are three other choices:

    French Tefal's stoneware- tagine-crockpot works fine if you use less liquid.

    [

    Emile Henry's Dijon colored tagine has a wider bowl and works like a dream.

    Claycoyote.com potters are working on a semi-stoneware tagine with better thermal shock properties. Stay tuned.

    I'm also curious whether you feel a tagine should have an opening in the dome to allow some of the steam to escape.

    I don't think the hole is necessary. Most of my terracotta tagines (glazed and unglazed) are without holes and work perfectly.

    My favorite tagines are unglazed and made from clay rich in mica. Check out the Soussi tagine or the Riffi tagines at www.tagines.com. They are strong, need very little liquid, and look great.

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)

    I've been using my rifian clay pot for just over a year now and still love it. We've recently moved to a much drier climate and over the past 6 months the conical lid has developed what looks like crazing. This is an unglazed pot so I was wondering if something is wrong. Since the first curing I haven't done anything but cook in it. The base of the pot is lovely, the top looks kind of flaky though. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

    Samy from tagines.com told me to keep my unglazed tagines oiled, and that is what I do every six months or so.

    I haven't done what Smithy suggests and bake it again, but it sounds like a good idea.

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)

    I'm ordering the rifi, because it's so cute and funny-looking, and because bigger is better.  12-16 weeks is a long time to wait, but hey, I've waited all my life so far.

    I'm with Anna on the oven/stovetop confusion, and eagerly await any light that might be shed on that.  But I never soak my clay stuff in water, just to add to the morass of inconsistencies.

    Perhaps the following will help:

    1. The unglazed baker aka romertopfs is never used on top of the stove. It is always soaked before using.

    2. Chinese sandpots and South American black pots can be used on top of the stove or in the oven. They need only to be soaked once----before first time use..

    3. Unglazed Moroccan tagines, Turkish comleks, and Egyptian briams are all treated to an oil rub and a slow bake in the oven before first time use.Adding molasses, ash or honey is, in my opinion, cosmetic. Moroccan tagines are traditionally used directly over heat. Turkish comleks and Egyptian briams are used in the oven.

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Thanks for bumping this up  :hmmm: .

    I  just had to order a large tagra and an Ourika Tagine to go along with the rifi I already have. Plus I made 2 jars of preserved lemons this morning !

    Question about the lemons:

    I did one jar the 30 day recipe... and one 7 day. My question is how long will the 7 day method stay usable ? They won't last as long as the 30 day ones (right?) , but why? After all, they are both lemons, juice and salt. What makes them more, um, perishable?

    The seven day lemons are cooked. If you try to store them longer than a week they will rot.

    Moroccan Tagine Cooking

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    This is what I think is the difference :

    The tagine is used for simmering meat, poultry, and vegetables to incredible tenderness with very little liquid. The conical top with its porous interior remains cool and recycles the slow producing steam from the contents below.

    The baker, on the other hand, is soaked for 15 minutes before each use. It is great for baking bread, roasting chicken and meat. The special quality of romertopf cooking comes from water stored in the pores of the pot, which is slowly released during baking, resulting in tender, moist food. Browning develops after the moisture is 'used up,"

    Confit du porc + synchronicity= eGullet

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I think it's a good idea to brown the confit of pork in its own fat before adding it to any dish. You "push" up a subtle hazelnut flavor on the outside, while the inside remains moist.

    One way you might like it is to serve it at room temperature with a salad of green beans and shredded cabbage mixed with a mustardy vinaigrette.

    I

    Wolfert, "Slow Mediterranean Kitchen"

    in Cooking

    Posted

    If the lemons don't smell like furniture polish they are fine to use.

    Preserved lemons keep at least a year if stored in the fridge. In fact, they actually develop more aroma and flavor.

    If you are worried, you can simmer them in water for about 10 minutes before adding to a tagine.

    Dutch Oven vs Tagine

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)

    I haven't bought a tagine mainly because the bottom is a fairly shallow saucer, and I can see myself overloading one. Is anyone finding larger capacity tagines? At decent prices?

    Try tagines.com and get the unglazed rifi or the soussi. Both are reasonable in price.

    I believe that only an unglazed terracotta tagine can produce the optimum version of certain Moroccan dishes. Why else would the tagine remain in use?

    For example, there is a traditional dish of lamb tagine with tomatoes and onions where the meat is cooked in a peppery sauce with saffron, and ginger, and thickened with grated onion and a few drops of water. After the meat cooks for an hour, it is topped with a two tiered layer of sliced onion and tomato along with some sugar and ground cinnamon. The topping steams over the meat for a long time, over very low heat. Then when almost all of the moisture evaporates, a caramelized crust has formed on their surface. At this moment, the meat is fully tender and the dish is ready to serve.

    Note: The slanted sides of the tagine top while cool throughout most of the cooking finally does heat up and helps with this final step of browning. If it doesn't happen, then run it under a broiler for an instant..

    Wolfert, "Slow Mediterranean Kitchen"

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I have just one question: does anybody know why the recipe states that it can be refrigerated “for up to 5 days”? It strikes me, that this should be suitable for keeping in preserving jars over a longer period of time, much like confit. I would love to have a few jars of it in reserve.

    I was afraid to suggest storing the pork in watery-oil for any longer than a week. Corinne, I think it would be ok if you separate out the water, reheat the oil, pour it over the warm pork in a clean jar, and sterilize it.

    Sou-Berag(h)

    in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    In Turkish, sou means water and boregi means the pastry.

    This is one of the oldest and most traditional dishes of Turkish cooking.

    It does look like lasagna, but the dough is made with more eggs and is rolled thinner than pasta.

    Each sheet is cooked separately in boiling water then layered in a round or rectangular pan with a cheese or ground meat filling. It is slowly baked in the oven then finished on top of the fire in order to crisp the outer layer.

    Preserved Lemons

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Preserved lemons are my "secret ingredient" in many of my preparations -- bean soups of all kinds, salsas, stews (lamb, chicken, even beef) and egg based sauces, especially for fish.  It pulls together the elements in the same manner as anchovies, plain salt, acids, fish sauce.  No wonder -- it is salt and acid combined, but much more complex, with a haunting flavor.

    So here's my problem:  I bought from my distributor a huge jar of these, as I knew they were as good as I could make myself, and they were very inexpensive.  I left the jar out too long at room temp, and the top developed mold.  I peeled it off, and decided it was harmless in the same way that mold on olives, while unsightly, is perfectly fine.  Their flavor has not been compromised.  I remember reading that Ms. Wolfert keeps her olives at room temperature, that they get moldy, and that she prefers them this way.  Are my lemons still SAFE?  I don't want to poison anyone!  And, if they are still edible, can I try the water-in-the-bag trick to keep them submerged, and then store them at room temperature?  I'm a bit short on refrigeration space.

    I don't remember saying that I like my olives moldy, but we can get to that in another forum.

    Preserved lemons are always left out in Morocco.

    If you are worried I would put them in the fridge to stop the process of developing mold.

    Another thing you might do: submerge the whole lemons in clean water and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and use them right away.

    Cook-off 1: Cassoulet

    in France: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)

    I think the unglazed terracotta alcatra, a wider-at-the-top bowl, sold at some Portuguese cookshops will work well for cooking a cassoulet, but I don't think it will work as well for simply cooking beans.

    Photo of an alcatra:

    http://portodaspipas.blogs.sapo.pt/arquivo/250445.html

    Here is why___

    The ideal pot for cassoulet (a combined dish of cooked beans and lots of other good things) should have a very wide opening at the top in order to produce a slow and steady evaporation of excess moisture and a brown glaze.

    The ideal pot for a simple cooking of white beans should have as narrow as possible opening. The beans cook with just enough liquid to cover along with some aromatics and plenty of olive oil. The narow top inhibits evaporation.

    A perfect example is a fiasco of Tuscan white beans.

    Photo of a fiasco:

    http://www.apt.arezzo.it/itinerari_natural...ges/fagioli.jpg

    Cooking with 'The Cooking of Southwest France'

    in France: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Wolfert (log)

    I wouldn't use all pork fat to make duck confit. If you are low on duck fat, youu can "top off'" by adding some rendered pork fat , but going all porkfat would, I think, corrupt the flavor. .

    Please don't consider using commercial lard to make any kind of confit. It produces a horrible flavor. I know because I tried it once! You can get good rendered pork fat from a German or Hungarian butcher or make your own.

    On the other hand, if you want to cook pork and duck for confit at the same time you can mix the two fats---half and half.

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