Dutch Oven vs Tagine

[RonC]

We do a fair amount of slow cooking with our Dutch oven (short ribs, lamb shanks, etc.) and I wonder if there is any real value in also getting (and using) a tagine. One thing we like about the slow cooking, in addition to the taste, is that meats tend to be so tender. This is important to our son who has severe autism since he's not terribly fond of chewing.

All comments are appreciated.

Sidecar Ron

[Marlene]

I'll be interested in replies since we keep seeing those tagines and wonder whether we should get one too!

[Smithy]

Hmm. I'm having a lot of fun comparing my Le Creuset French oven (not Dutch, of course, because it's LC and oval, but that's just nitpicking ) and my Moroccan tagine and various Egyptian clay pots that I've acquired. I think the clay coddles the food somehow and gives the dish a special flavor. It certainly helps the meat become tender. I'm not sure I can categorically state that the meat becomes *more* tender with the clay, but I'm also not ready to say it doesn't. I have some experiments in mind. Right now I'm messing with various clay cures and getting ready to post about that.

The one thing I am prepared to take a stand on is that you need a pot that's slow to react to heat changes to get the best in your slow cookery. Heavy cast iron, good. Clay, good. I seem to recall being pleasantly surprised at what my Corning Ware did last year, but I haven't repeated the experiment. My beautiful shiny All-Clad braiser, well, it looks good hanging on my wall. If your dutch oven is heavy and retains heat well I think you're most of the way there.

Tell you what: I'd be delighted to do a side-by-side comparison, if I can, of some braised dish you especially like, and report back on the results. There are probably some other folks who'd be pleased to join in, some with more experience than I at this sort of thing. Maybe we can get a cook-off going. Got any requests?

[RonC]

Hmm.  I'm having a lot of fun comparing my Le Creuset French oven (not Dutch, of course, because it's LC and oval, but that's just nitpicking  ) and my Moroccan tagine and various Egyptian clay pots that I've acquired.  I think the clay coddles the food somehow and gives the dish a special flavor.  It certainly helps the meat become tender.  I'm not sure I can categorically state that the meat becomes *more* tender with the clay, but I'm also not ready to say it doesn't.  I have some experiments in mind.  Right now I'm messing with various clay cures and getting ready to post about that.

The one thing I am prepared to take a stand on is that you need a pot that's slow to react to heat changes to get the best in your slow cookery.  Heavy cast iron, good.  Clay, good.  I seem to recall being pleasantly surprised at what my Corning Ware did last year, but I haven't repeated the experiment.  My beautiful shiny All-Clad braiser, well, it looks good hanging on my wall.  If your dutch oven is heavy and retains heat well I think you're most of the way there. 

Tell you what: I'd be delighted to do a side-by-side comparison, if I can, of some braised dish you especially like, and report back on the results.  There are probably some other folks who'd be pleased to join in, some with more experience than I at this sort of thing.  Maybe we can get a cook-off going.  Got any requests?

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Gotta admit, our "Dutch" oven is one of those "ol fashioned" Lodge ones ----- but I love it!!!!

I'll be interested in your findings.

Sidecar Ron

[jayt90]

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?

[Adam Balic]

Different cooking vessels that do different things and produce different results, but as to if you 'need' them both, well no I guess.

[Marlene]

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?

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This has been my thought exactly. The ones I've seen have all been the same size. I guess I'm not sure what a tagine would cook better than my LC' stuff.

[Adam Balic]

Not "better", but "different". A pressure cooker also works very well and seems to be used my many people in Morocco, but whether it is needed or not is a different question.

[Amy Eber]

I recently prepared a 20 course Moroccan dinner for friends using my Le Creuset tagine, Dutch ovens and slow cooker. You could certainly not tell the difference although the tagine is nice to use as a serving vessel. Subtle flavor differences derived from using the different cooking methods are hidden behind the spices and seasonings used in such dishes. I did find that I needed less liquid cooking in the tagine. All Clad now makes a stainless steel tagine with larger capacity that the LC.

[andiesenji]

two of my tagines are very large and deeper than the others. I have prepared a meal for 6 to 8 in either of them. The main vegetable/chicken dish.

Tagines.com Check the Slaoui 14 inch and the Rifi 13 inch.

The Tangiers is 16 inches in diameter and I think it said somewhere (not on this site) that this size can prepare main dish for 10 diners.

This is the 13 inch Rifi with chicken and vegetable main dish for 6.

Edited March 22, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[Anna N]

I recently dug out an old piece of corningware with a lid and braised some beef in it and it was amazingly good. It was much smaller than my LCs and just exactly the right size for two of us.

A note of warning to anyone interested in the large diameter tagines - if you have a 30 inch range, like mine, it will not take a 16" diameter pan! I know because it will not take my daughter's pizza stone. The racks curve up at the rear and reduce the useable size of the racks - so measure your oven before you buy.

[andiesenji]

I use my tagines on the stovetop on the copper plate you can see standing behind the tagine - it looks narrower but is the same width as the burner grate.

[Chris P]

I use my tagines on the stovetop on the copper plate you can see standing behind the tagine - it looks narrower but is the same width as the burner grate.

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I have been tempted by a tagine but have resisted so far as it seems like a gadget too far. I get excellent results from a slow cooker that cooks meats to perfection and lets out excess steam in the same way a tagine does. Tagines lack versatility and that is why so many end up unloved and unused in the back of the kitchen cupboard.

Spend the money on an LC dutch oven that you will use time and time again, would be my advice.

[Philanthrophobe]

I use my tagines on the stovetop on the copper plate you can see standing behind the tagine - it looks narrower but is the same width as the burner grate.

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I have been tempted by a tagine but have resisted so far as it seems like a gadget too far. I get excellent results from a slow cooker that cooks meats to perfection and lets out excess steam in the same way a tagine does. Tagines lack versatility and that is why so many end up unloved and unused in the back of the kitchen cupboard.

Spend the money on an LC dutch oven that you will use time and time again, would be my advice.

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I'm with you. I completely heart gadgets, but I have used a giant Lodge cast iron dutch oven for ages and wouldn't trade it for anything. It's the workhorse of my kitchen.

[Smithy]

I recently dug out an old piece of corningware with a lid and braised some beef in it and it was amazingly good.  It was much smaller than my LCs and just exactly the right size for two of us. 

A note of warning to anyone interested in the large diameter tagines - if you have a 30 inch range, like mine, it will not take a 16" diameter pan!  I know because it will not take my daughter's pizza stone.  The racks curve up at the rear and reduce the useable size of the racks - so measure your oven before you buy.

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Just to make it clear, the tagine is intended for stovetop cooking, as Andie demonstrated, not for oven cooking. I'm sure it can work in the oven, but that conical top is useless then: it can't act in its intended rôle as a cooling tower, and it takes up a huge amount of space in the oven.

The more I work with my tagine, the more versatile and forgiving I find it to be. I'm getting bolder about adding liquids at the right stage. I must confess that the other night I heard a POP and thought, "uh-oh, I overdid it". However, I couldn't find any cracks, and as the cooking continued without leaks or sudden spurts from the bottom of the pan, I began to wonder just what I'd really heard. The next day I discovered the remains of the ceramic picture frame that had fallen from the mantle onto the hearth, no doubt helped by the cats. It must have seemed like a very satisfying crash to them.

[Richard Kilgore]

For those of you who are new to tagine cooking and may have missed it, here is a link to an extensive thread on Moroccan Tagine Cooking. Paula Wolfert, who is working on a book on clay pot cooking, provides a great deal of helpful and fascinating information on curing tagines and tagine cooking, and other members have also posted photos of their tagines and tagine dishes.

Anything but an authentic Moroccan tagine does not hold much interest for me. I got one of the tagines from the tagines.com site that Paula referred us to and that Andie mentions upthread here.

[Wolfert]

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..

Edited March 25, 2006 by Wolfert (log)

[andiesenji]

I gave a tagine to my daughter, along with Paula's book, a couple of months ago and she has been using it far more often than I expected. She says the children love the things she has prepared and keep asking for more.

I have all kinds of cooking vessels and if your space is limited then use a regular Dutch oven, but if you can, do try using a tagine. There are certain things that do turn out better cooked in a tagine than in any other vessel.

[silentmeow]

I will enjoy following this topic. I love my DO which has been used for many years. I have recently acquired some sand pot casseroles which I have used as I would the DO. I'm not sure if I can tell much difference in the end result but I sure enjoy seeing that pot sitting on the stove top cooking away! It also gives off a wonderful aroma, food mixed with clay smell. I have ordered a tagine but it's still on back order, ugh! I simply enjoy cooking with a variety of cookware. I will quote Paula Wolfert, "there's the adventure of ingredient, the new spice, the new grain....There's the adventure of the new pot..."

[Amy Eber]

See this month's Cooks Illustrated. There is an article on this topic.

[crouching tyler]

Or look at this past Wednesday's NY Times for a comparision of traditional tangines and those made by Emile Herny, Le Crueset, and All-Clad.

NY Times votes for the traditional one.