Moroccan Tagine Cooking

[Wolfert]

Smithy,

Most store=bought chicken breasts do not braise well in the tagine, because they are bred for fast cooking. Next time I would suggest you tie up the whole chicken, set it on its back, cover it with the dome top, and let it steam in the the simmering sauce to tenderness.

Tagine cooked chicken tastes best when served the same day..

When Moroccans say they 'braise' it is meant to describe long, slow cooking in a small amount of liquid,not quite what was discussed in the braising class.

The separating and degreasing method that I posted in the braising section was intended for long cooked chunks of small meat in European recipes, especially those from France.

.

[andiesenji]

I prefer the chicken thighs, bone in and with the skin, available in large bags at Smart & Final (and recently at my local Wal-Mart, very cheap.)

I think the flavor is much more intense than I can ever get with breast meat.

[Smithy]

I prefer the chicken thighs, bone in and with the skin, available in large bags at Smart & Final (and recently at my local Wal-Mart, very cheap.)

I think the flavor is much more intense than I can ever get with breast meat.

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I think that's true for my tastes, too. Unfortunately, I'm trying to work out a way to make this for a friend who can't eat the dark meat (or skin). I've been nattering on about tagines and braises and the like, and she's never heard of a tagine (the food or the dish) and wants me to demonstrate next month when we're visiting.

Paula, I appreciate the extra insights. You confirmed some suspicions and set me straight on others. Thank you!

[slkinsey]

Smithy, instead of making what will inevitably be a somewhat dry chicken breast tagine (that's just the nature of the beast), if your friend won't eat chicken thighs or skin why not make the beef and cauliflower tagine? Everyone I've made it for loves it.

[Smithy]

Smithy, instead of making what will inevitably be a somewhat dry chicken breast tagine (that's just the nature of the beast), if your friend won't eat chicken thighs or skin why not make the beef and cauliflower tagine?  Everyone I've made it for loves it.

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I was afraid that would be the answer for the chicken breast! Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried the beef and cauliflower yet, but I will soon for my own sake. In her case, beef is also out due to the fat content. She's restricted herself to no more than 5g saturated fat per day, so no cheese, no butter, no dark meat of any kind. I've heard that duck breast is very low in saturated fats, but haven't looked into just how low that is; in any case I am none too sure we'll have that available.

In case you're wondering, this diet is to minimize the advance of Multiple Sclerosis, with which she was diagnosed a few years ago. She, and the specialists with whom she's consulted, are reasonably convinced from their literature searches that restricting saturated fats to no more than 5g a day helps slow the progress of the disease. She's a physician herself, married to an epidemiologist, and they're qualified to evaluate the literature in ways that I'm not. Therefore I'm inclined to respect their judgment. Having said that, I'll note that she's my best friend, so even if she were on a fad diet instead of playing for all her marbles I'd try to respect her restrictions while introducing her to a new cuisine.

Back to the question at hand: I suppose I could forget the meat. Eggplant, perhaps? Do you have any recommendations for a good vegetable tagine? Finally, I might try a quick saute of the chicken breast, dowsed with a sauce made of the critical flavoring elements, and forget the tagine. That misses the texture but might get the flavor. What do you think?

[Wolfert]

Smithy,

Here is an idea that came to me this morning:switch to the emshmel tagine of chicken, lemon and olives on page 192, then you could make the sauce ahead and use skinned chicken breasts.

I haven't tried this but it is what I would attempt for a dear friend.

Use washed back, wings, legs, neck and breast bone to make the tagine through step 4. (You have to use the chicken livers to give a good heftiness to the sauce.)

Cool down the sauce; remove the fat and set it aside. When the spicy flavored fat is at room temperature, coat the chicken breasts with it and refrigerate overnight. Also, refrigerate the sauce. (I would probably add another set of of chicken breasts to the recipe.)

The next day, bring chicken breasts to room temperature and wipe away the seasoned fat. Over low heat, warm the sauce in the tagine with the chicken breasts. Cook the breasts until they are just cooked. Remove and let rest about 5 minutes while you cook the olives and preserved lemon quarters in the sauce. Remove from the heat.

Thickly slice the chicken breasts crosswise and return to the tagine and serve at once.

Edited June 9, 2005 by Wolfert (log)

[Smithy]

Wolfert, thank you so much for that idea. It sounds like it would work well, and would let my friend savor the flavors without worrying about the dietary consequences.

[Wolfert]

Smithy,

Please take notes and let me know. I'll be very interested in the results.

Also, if you have time, check out the olives photographed on page 18 in the July issue of FINE COOKING. These are Turkish pink olives but they are dead ringers for the true 'midway' olive used in traditional Moroccan emshemel and mqualli tagines.o.

These salt-brined Turkish pink olives called Taris are available at ta-ze.com or 877 244 8293.

[Smithy]

Smithy,

Please take notes and let me know. I'll be very interested in the results.

Also, if you have time, check out the olives photographed on page 18 in the July issue of FINE COOKING. These  are Turkish pink olives but they are dead ringers for the true 'midway' olive used in traditional Moroccan emshemel and mqualli tagines.o.

These salt-brined Turkish pink olives called Taris are available at ta-ze.com or 877 244 8293.

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I'll be glad to let you know how it comes out.

My copy of Fine Cooking is still sitting in our mail clutter, so maybe I'm asking the questions too soon, but I'll ask anyway. Can you recommend some olive variety that might be close to the proper type that's likely to be available in my mid-sized town? Generally our choices are Nicoise, Kalamata, Sicilian cracked green, and the California treatments (green, black ripe, green ripe) I grew up with. By 'midway' do you mean 'midflavored', as in not as sharp as either Sicilian cracked green olives or kalamata olives?

Finally, the Ta-Ze site shows several Taris olives, all described as green or black. I'm guessing that you mean either the Edremit type or the Memecik type? The seem to be the most middle-ground judging by their looks. Palamut seems to be too close to the Sicilian cracked green olives. That's a very nice site. They'll be getting some of my money soon...but not soon enough to help with my immediate question...

[Wolfert]

Do you get graber's olives in your part of the country? They are very close to the midway olive which is neither green nor black. They have a mild flavor and meaty texture.

Spanish Farga and some of the Greek brown olives can be substituted. In a pinch, I would use Manzanilla rather than Kalamatas. Kalamata might 'look' right but they are too harsh because they have been soaked in vinegar.

I wouldn't use Nicoise or Sicilian.

[Smithy]

Smithy,

Please take notes and let me know. I'll be very interested in the results.

Also, if you have time, check out the olives photographed on page 18 in the July issue of FINE COOKING. These  are Turkish pink olives but they are dead ringers for the true 'midway' olive used in traditional Moroccan emshemel and mqualli tagines.o.

These salt-brined Turkish pink olives called Taris are available at ta-ze.com or 877 244 8293.

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I'm really glad you pointed out the Fine Cooking photo. Those particular olives were not on the ta-ze.com web site when I went to look at it, and that's why I was confused. I guess I'll have to order several types of olive from them! Maybe our next house party will be an olive-tasting party.

[Wolfert]

I wrote to ta-ze com. for more information on the featured olive in the Fine Cooking photo.

If it is as good as I think it is, you're on your way to making one great tagine!

[Richard Kilgore]

I did the Beef Tagine with Sweet Potato and Tomato (a variant of the Beef with Cauliflower) from Paula's book. My first tagine. Very tasty. I tried doing the first half of the recipe last night and then finishing it in the oven with the sweet potato and tomato tonight. I'll try the cauliflower version and something with preserved lemons soon.

[Sackville]

I had always thought tagines were an authentic Moroccan way of cooking but I have been chatting with an American, who is married to a Moroccan and has lived in the country for some years, and she says not so.

According to her, the pressure cooker is the real authentic must-have piece of cooking equipment and she has yet to "see a Tagine or be served a tagine in a Tagine in ANY home".

Apparently this is just something for tourists.

True?

[Mallet]

what did they do in Morocco before the pressure cooker?

[Sackville]

what did they do in Morocco before the pressure cooker?

Okay, point taken -- but in terms of modern Moroccan cooking the question remains. If someone is making a tagine... do they use a pressure cooker in their homes? Would the average person own one and use it daily?

I was under the impression that the tagine was still a key piece of equipment but perhaps not...

[slkinsey]

I suppose it depends on your definition of "authentic" -- a topic that has been the subject of some debate in these forums of late. I don't have a hard time believing that younger urban Moroccans use pressure cookers rather than clay tagines nowadays. But I'm not so sure that makes it "more authentic." Indeed, I imagine pressure cooking was hardly known in Morocco fifty years ago.

To make a comparison, most young urban Italians nowadays buy fresh pasta that is made by a machine at the "pasta fresca" store instead of making it by hand at home. Does this mean that handmade fresh pasta is "inauthentic" and "for the tourists?"

So, to a certain extent, I'm not sure it really matters what the current generation of younger Moroccan home cooks are doing today. If they're using pressure cookers instead of tagines, it's only a sign that this wonderful, complex, slow cuisine may be losing some of its uniqueness and glory to the pressures of modern lifestyles.

[Sackville]

Google always has the answers, ha ha:

Observer Food Monthly on Morocco and the Tagine/Pressure Cooker

[slkinsey]

Here's the relevant passage for posterity:

Years ago when I was travelling through Morocco I was told that I just had to go and see a well-known anthropologist who had developed a new style of quick Moroccan cuisine. I took the train to her city, Rabat, and during lunch she showed me a pressure cooker. So I have witnessed the start of a trend which has since taken the country by storm. The result is not the same as the long slow cooking over a constantly replenished wood fire of the traditional tagine, the clay pot with the conical lid, which produces, at the end, a rich reduced sauce. Some also now bake their tagines in the oven which are relatively new in many homes.

I'd be interested to hear from those in a better position to understand Moroccon cuisine and culture than I whether they think the use of a pressure cooker means that a "new style of quick Moroccan cuisine" is emerging or whether it's simply a way of shortcutting and ultimately shortchanging the historical cuisine. I'd also like to hear thoughts on whether pressure cooking will eventually make slow tagine cooking a historical footnote, or whether there may be some backlash and return to using a tagine. In my own limited experience, I haven't found slow cooking with a tagine to be all that difficult or time consuming. Put the ingredients into the tagine, slap it on the stove with a low flame and a heat diffuser then come back several hours later and eat it.

[chefzadi]

what did they do in Morocco before the pressure cooker?

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Okay, point taken -- but in terms of modern Moroccan cooking the question remains. If someone is making a tagine... do they use a pressure cooker in their homes? Would the average person own one and use it daily?

I was under the impression that the tagine was still a key piece of equipment but perhaps not...

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I've mentioned elsewhere that it's not.

Cooking a tagine in a pressure cooker really doesn't take away so much value from the finished that it can be a considered a great loss. Also on weekends, holidays, etc people will still use clay vessels.

I'm sorry but sometimes I feel like people want to believe that North Africa is so quaint and cute and we live in huts and cook over an open fire.

The history is very long in the Maghreb. This is a part of the world that seems to forget nothing. The monuments, ruins and foot prints of all the great civilizations that inhabited the area are still there.

Tagine cooking wil survive, we're just not using it all the time. Modern life and all that.

[Smithy]

Well, what do you know. We seem to be part of a fad, or perhaps eGullet is more a trendsetter than I'd realized. Crate & Barrel now offers a new, improved tagine made from French Burgundy clay. It says here that the glaze is "exceptionally heat resistant, making it possible to cook directly over the flame", suggesting that the others can't. (How's that for marketing? ) It's dishwasher-, microwave-, oven- and broiler-safe, too.

First Le Creuset, now Crate & Barrel. Who's next?

[Adam Balic]

what did they do in Morocco before the pressure cooker?

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Okay, point taken -- but in terms of modern Moroccan cooking the question remains. If someone is making a tagine... do they use a pressure cooker in their homes? Would the average person own one and use it daily?

I was under the impression that the tagine was still a key piece of equipment but perhaps not...

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I've mentioned elsewhere that it's not.

Cooking a tagine in a pressure cooker really doesn't take away so much value from the finished that it can be a considered a great loss. Also on weekends, holidays, etc people will still use clay vessels.

I'm sorry but sometimes I feel like people want to believe that North Africa is so quaint and cute and we live in huts and cook over an open fire.

The history is very long in the Maghreb. This is a part of the world that seems to forget nothing. The monuments, ruins and foot prints of all the great civilizations that inhabited the area are still there.

Tagine cooking wil survive, we're just not using it all the time. Modern life and all that.

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OK, tonight I made 'Beef Tagine with Cauliflower' from Paula's "Good Food from Morocco" - in a pressure cooker. I have just bought one of these and I am finding it very useful for cooking during the week in a short amount of time.

Anyway the meat used was Ox-tail and Short ribs. Cooking time was approximately 50 minutes. Well the finished product was fine, but there were a few issues.

- more liquid is given out, a lot so some reduction has to take place and I sure you loose some of the aromatics during this process.

- ox-tail was excellent, short ribs were a little more dried out. Obviously you can't control cooking times of different cuts.

Other then that it was fine, but although I am really pleased to be able to make this during the week without any planning, I prefer the longer cooking method in terms of final product.

[touaregsand]

I would cook one kind of meat or meats that take approximately the same time to cook in a pressure cooker.

Another method I like is crockpot cooking. Cook it overnight or turn it on as soon I get home in the evening for eating the next day.

I'm pretty sure though that pressure cookers are used in North Africa not just to save time but to save energy/fuel. It's an economic neccessity.

[Adam Balic]

I would have assumed that energy/fuel has always been an issue? But I guess there is a big difference between solid fuel and gas/electric cooking.

Don't get me wrong, I think that it is well worth doing, but I have a personal preference for less liquid, the pressure cooked results in quite a bit being produced. This reminds me of the tagine I have had in France, rather the the ones in Fez. Not that it matters, but I prefer the latter.

As the ox tail was so good, I think that another cut of meat that would work would be scrag end of [lamb] neck.

[chefzadi]

Adam-

A natural fire burns for a certain amount of time and cooking methods/vessels are used to utilize the length of time it burns.

An electric or gas stove can be turned on and off whenever.

We bought a pressure cooker, have not used it yet. I think it works with certain dishes better than others. The extra liquid is something I don't like with dishes that are supposed to have a thicker sauce. But like you did, reducing the sauce works.

Of course something cooked in a clay/ceramic vessel over a natural fire will taste much better than something cooked in aluminum at an "artificially" accelerated speed. (does that makes sense or am I typing Franglish before morning coffee?)

I guess for me since I'm an instructor I like to show the range of options for cooking. "This is what you have. This is the time you have to do it. This is how you do it."