So, if you can make tagines using a dutch oven, a large soup pot, cazuela, casserole, etc.. What exactly are the benefits of cooking in an actualy tagine vessel?
The conical lid stays cool during cooking, moisture from the ingredients that are cooking condense inside the lid and drips back down, which in effect is a kind of self-basting mechanism.
I think it's easier for beginner cooks to prepare certain kinds of tagines in an actual tagine vessel for several reasons. The meats or poultry do not have to be browned first and there is less to fuss with in terms of fiddling with different temperatures during the cooking process.
Certainly, clay or flameware tagine cooking takes longer than a pressure cooker, but only a tiny bit of that time is actually spent working on the dish.
You can layer your meats on the bottom and vegetables on top, and leave the whole thing to slow cook while you read or play with your kids on a weekend. When the tagine is done, you will have a rich, thick sauce as if by magic. This is the beauty of tagine vessel cooking.
Tagines that are essentially pot roasts with larger cuts of meat and bigger pieces of vegetables tend to benefit the most from cooking in a tagine vessel. A quick cooking tagine like my seafood tagine can be cooked in any pot large enough to hold all the ingredients.
hi jenn- yes, april is tagine month!
Posted by: chef zadi | April 11, 2011 at 10:03 AM
That would be fun. Is tagine month April?
Posted by: Jenn @LeftoverQueen | April 11, 2011 at 08:44 AM
Jenn- Terrific! Yeah, I use my oven safe flameware or clay tagine in the oven for roasting and oven braises too. It works well for vegetable casseroles.
Would be fun to have you and your readers participate in national tagine month. :) exchange recipes, talke about tagine cooking, share tips, adapted uses!
Posted by: chef zadi | April 07, 2011 at 11:54 AM
I love my tagine and post about it often, in fact I do roast chickens, and make all different kinds of stews in it besides making what we think of when we hear "tagine".
Posted by: Jenn @LeftoverQueen | April 07, 2011 at 11:30 AM
i like tagines that can be used on both the stove top and oven without a diffuser. so, i recommend a portuguese one for $25-$30 (cheap, functional, but pretty fragile) or my flameware tagine (more expensive, but virtually indestructable from normal use)
Posted by: chefzadi | April 03, 2011 at 10:55 AM
Your thoughts on self-basting are interesting. Now I have seen various brands of tagines... some are very exclusive ($£¢!) and others are cheap. Do you have a recommendation for both type of tagine, and whether to cook on a stove top or in the oven? Thank you.
Posted by: TikiPundit | April 03, 2011 at 07:44 AM