Moroccan Tagine Cooking

[FlyingChopstik]

I agree. Just keep separate tagine for fish. You can cook lamb, goat, chicken, beef in the same tagine.

[SLB]

Hassouni, that is a helpful report.  

 

I thought I read somewhere that Paula has her lamb tagines, and kept her Rifi for chicken, etc.  My guess was that this is the tradition, which is interesting even if technically unnecessary.  I honestly don't remember where I read this, I could easily be conflating different reports (has Mourad weighed in on this???  I don't remember). 

 

Anyway, it's not exactly a worry -- there is SO no room in my situation for multiple tagines, and the one I've recently ordered will make two in a household of, presently, one person [reliably].  If I'm willing to accept an occasional lead exposure, then I suppose I can continue to use the other one . . . .

 

I did order a fish tagra along with the new tagine, which I admit was pure style, but the intention was to use it for a range of fish preparations -- for some reason I find those clay dishes really very beautiful, and since I was already paying for shipping and, uh, had broken the seal . . . .  However -- I don't want all my fish dishes to taste Moroccan, or even to ping charmoula when that wasn't the design; so we'll have to see how well the baking soda works with unglazed clay.  

 

<Obvs, I'm hungry for my new tagine, shoot.>

Edited March 22, 2015 by SLB (log)

[SLB]

Alright.  The Souss is in.  I soaked it last night, oiled-n-baked it this morning, and cooked a deliberately bland-ish potato dish in it tonight; the idea was to isolate the "earthy" flavor that is distinctive about unglazed Moroccan clay.  Re the Rifi, tagines.com notes:  "think mushrooms."   Me, I really like mushrooms, so . . . .

 

I didn't taste mushrooms, but I did experience a not-exactly-pleasant metallic taste.  I could not think what else could be producing this taste other than the clay, but it's true that my potatoes were as old as the hills, as were the shallots.  Stay tuned.  

 

Also, OMG was the unglazed-clay a bear to clean.  I did kind of burn up the bottom layer.  But it wasn't *that* burned . . . man!

 

It is beautiful, though, no complaints there.  The tagra was also beautiful, and so satisfyingly heavy; but was just too small for anything realistic.  I'm hoping that tagines.com lets me exchange it for the largest oval one. 

 

I'm doing a meat tagine next, I hope the metallic taste fades away.

Edited March 26, 2015 by SLB (log)

[Hassouni]

The souss is a champ. I feel like it's the cast iron of clay pots.

[SLB]

Souss take on Rif style chicken and prunes and almonds.  With an SLB-style riff:  sour cherries were substituted for prunes, and slivered almonds were substituted for whole.  I have more dried fruit than I know what to do with, but I didn't happen to have any prunes, so . . . 

 

 

[SLB]

Once again, I burnt the heck out of the bottom onion layer, and am anticipating an upper-body workout in getting it clean.  

[Hassouni]

I've scorched my bottom onion layer too, but oddly it never tastes burnt or bitter, does yours? In my case it's almost like intensely maillarded but not quite carbonized.

[SLB]

Most of the bottom is not burnt black, but I can't scrape it off to eat, either.  It requires abrading off.  Possibly my "low" setting is just not low enough.  One thing, the iron flame tamers hold a LOT more heat than the flimsy aluminum one that you get at the hardware store.  So maybe that's the issue.  

[Hassouni]

Most of the bottom is not burnt black, but I can't scrape it off to eat, either.  It requires abrading off.  Possibly my "low" setting is just not low enough.  One thing, the iron flame tamers hold a LOT more heat than the flimsy aluminum one that you get at the hardware store.  So maybe that's the issue.  

 

I think we're experiencing the same thing or at least a similar phenomenon - I can scrape some of it off with crusty bread, but the rest requires abrading as you say.

[FlyingChopstik]

That happens to me too. The only time it doesn't is when I use the diffuser but then using a diffuser requires more time.

To scrape off the char without damaging the tagine get a plastic pan scraper. They are really good and won't scratch. I usually pour some warm water in the tagine and let it soak for a while before using the scraper. If the burnt bits are extra difficult to remove, I'll put a bit of baking soda in the water and leave for like an hour. Then after scraping, use 1 of those scrubbed designed for nonstick pans to clean it. This works for me wverytime.

[SLB]

Thanks.  I've been using a diffuser on those burnt-bottom episodes; I may just have the flame too high.

 

Meanwhile, I've since made a beef tagine using the last short ribs that had been in my freezer all winter.  There was so much fat in the pan that nothing stuck at all!  So maybe I need to use more fat all around.  

 

I still haven't used the tagra, but I don't like to cook fish with a lot of fat and am worried that it's going to be a pain.  Also, the tagines.com tagras are just so small!  I finally received the largest one they have, and it's just . . .  sigh.  I don't get going to the effort to put a dish together only to end up with two bites of food.  I like to have leftovers!  But we'll see, maybe I can pack more in this pan than I think.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The Food of Morocco, Lamb Tagine with Baby Spinach, Lemon, and olives (p 364).  Per Wolfert, except that I kept the Picholine olives whole, and I cooked the lamb 24 hours sous vide.  OK, 27 hours, 38 minutes, 13 seconds, but who's counting?

 

These shortcuts made the difference between sitting down to dinner at 3:00 am and sitting down to dinner at, say, 7:00 am.  It is always such a drag to be eating dinner when the sun is up.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

For the past couple years my apartment has had an (otherwise very nice) electric stove with a ceramic cooking surface.  Unfortunately I've not been happy using the Simmer Mat with this stove, and thus have not been using my lovely unglazed clay tagine (pictured in the post above).

 

Howsoever I've recently acquired a few Paragon induction cookers:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/150644-another-player-enters-the-sous-vide-field-paragon-induction-cooktop/

 

The Paragon, I've just discovered, works wonderfully with the Simmer Mat!  I can set the temperature of the Simmer Mat in one degree increments from 140F/60C to 375F/190C.  Note this is the temperature of the Simmer Mat surface, not necessarily the temperature of a tagine sitting on the Simmer Mat.

 

Earlier in the thread @Wolfert suggested a tagine cooking temperature of 170F.  It will take a little trial and error to figure out what temperature to set the Paragon.  But once I do achieving the 170F cooking temperature should be duck soup...or the Moroccan equivalent thereof.

 

This week I got some preserved lemons and I have a project planned.

 

[KennethT]

Could you put the Paragon probe in the tagline and set the temp that way?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

Could you put the Paragon probe in the tagline and set the temp that way?

 

Yes -- except for the fact that tagines, or at least the tagines I make, do not have a lot of liquid to contact the probe.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Also the clay is too thick for the probe magnet to attach.  (I just tested.)  Not to mention when using the probe you couldn't use the lid.

 

 

[KennethT]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Yes -- except for the fact that tagines, or at least the tagines I make, do not have a lot of liquid to contact the probe.

 

I was thinking that the probe didn't necessarily need to contact the liquid because you want the humid air temp to be at target temp, right? Is it possible to fit the entire probe in the tagline or will it not fit/work?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 hours ago, KennethT said:

I was thinking that the probe didn't necessarily need to contact the liquid because you want the humid air temp to be at target temp, right? Is it possible to fit the entire probe in the tagline or will it not fit/work?

 

I wouldn't want to try that.  Thinking of @Anna N.

 

[Anna N]

47 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I wouldn't want to try that.  Thinking of @Anna N.

 

What am I guilty of this time? I don’t even own a tagine. 

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

What am I guilty of this time? I don’t even own a tagine. 

No, but you did have a Paragon sensor at one time. I believe @JoNorvelleWalker wants to avoid exposure of her Paragon sensor to conditions incompatible with its health.

[Anna N]

17 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

No, but you did have a Paragon sensor at one time. I believe @JoNorvelleWalker wants to avoid exposure of her Paragon sensor to conditions incompatible with its health.

Ah!  I guess I should have paid more attention. Thank you. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

35 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

No, but you did have a Paragon sensor at one time. I believe @JoNorvelleWalker wants to avoid exposure of her Paragon sensor to conditions incompatible with its health.

 

Correct.

 

[KennethT]

22 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Correct.

 

ah... I forgot that the sensor wasn't completely waterproof..

[btbyrd]

What tagine cookbooks are people liking these days? 

[TdeV]

I have quite a few Paula Wolfert books which feature tagines, so I bought one (some time ago) from claycoyote.com which made the tagine to her specifications.