Moroccan Tagines: Unglazed Riffi and Souss

[Wolfert]

Three items you might want to buy to keep your tagines in great shape: Dawn's battery run nylon scouring brush; a box of baking soda; and a simmer-mat.

When washing the dirty tagine: use hot water and scrub with only baking soda and water. Don't use soap or the dawn liquid!

Don't store it covered until it is completey dry.

The simmer mat is another new find for perfect heat control on top of the stove. It works on all stove tops including ceramic , electric, gas, and glass tops. It truly maintains a lower steadier heat than the any other heat diffuser.

It won the best new product ward in New York at the Gourmet Show.

[slkinsey]

In re to the simmer mat or other heat diffuser: If one is using a rounded tagine (e.g., Souss) on a gas stove, is there any advantage to using one of these devices? Or might there actually be some disadvantage? I had rather envisioned using the Souss tagine with a wok ring over direct (albeit low) gas heat.

[Wolfert]

A wok ring would work perfectly with gas and a very low flame.

TheSimmermat is new to me, but so far has been a fantastic find. In the process of testing it with all kinds of clay pots:, I carameled sugar in a shallow clay pan for kazandibi ( a Turkish dessert); and made an wine-onion jam maintaining a superior color.

[andiesenji]

I have one of the Dawn scrubbers and it works great, especially in muffin pans, tight corners and etc.

However for all of my earthenware/clay unglazed, salt-glazed and etc., I use the "tawashi" palm fiber scrubbers from Japan.

The first suribachi I bought years ago (at Marukai, huge Japanese market in Gardena ) came with one free.

I notice that this place is also offering one with a suribachi.

I use them to scrub my molcajete and metate as well as my wooden spoons, spatulas, and etc.

I have several and have them identified with different colored cable ties, leaving a loop so they can be hung to dry.

One is dedicated to vegetable scrubbing, etc.

I don't know why they work so well on porous surfaces but they do an excellent job.

Since they are so cheap (1.75) I always order a dozen at a time. I also order a bunch in the fall as I include them in many of the gift baskets I make up for the holidays.

I have a friend who is a tile maker, carves designs into the clay before painting and firing so they look almost like cloisonne, and she uses these to clean the cured tiles before painting.

She also uses them to make a fine design on some of the tiles by pressing the wetted tawashi into the clay to make a fine, pore-like pattern. After curing, painting and firing, the "pores" are darker with the surrounding glaze much lighter in color. I have one of her tiles picturing an orange and this technique makes it look like the orange peel is real.

O.T. Apart from food/vessel/utensil use, they are great for scrubbing the feet....

Edited March 24, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Wolfert]

Andi,

Thanks for the tip.

I was just worried that some readers who never cooked in unglazed clay might not know you need to avoid soap.

Skinskey,

I just measured my newly purchased wok stand with the souss tagine pot on top. . It looks great.

[andiesenji]

Andi,

Thanks for the tip.

I was just worried  that some readers who never cooked in unglazed clay might not know you need to avoid soap.

←

Yes indeed, this cannot be stressed enough. When my housekeeper first came to me I had to constantly remind her that some things NEVER went into the dishwasher and some things were never washed with detergent.

If something needs more than usual cleaning, I make my own "soap" from soapwort for certain things as it grows like a weed in my garden and is great for cleaning antique linens and unglazed pottery. It rinses clean easily and if any is retained, it has so little residual taste and it is safe to use, in fact it is used medicinally in extremely small amounts.

The southwest Indians use yucca root the same way, however it has a greater percentage of saponins than soapwort. (There should be a bumper crop of yucca this year, with all the rain it is springing up all over the place, I see it in places that I have never before seen it. I have a recipe for the edible flowers but unfortunately am not able to hike around in the desert as I once was.)