No tagine?

If one wants to make a dish that calls for cooking it in a tagine, and he doesn't have one, what could he substitute for it. The Mercury News of San Jose Ca has a great sounding recipe for a Morccan lamb tagine but I don't have the pot to make it in. WWYD?

I've made tagine recipes in a dutch oven before, although I can't say whether that had a negative effect on the results.

Clay pot?

I've made tagine recipes in a dutch oven before, although I can't say whether that had a negative effect on the results.

I have used my Le Creuset dutch ovens with fine results. One of the nice things is that they do not trap flavors like unglazed clay. I don't want my chicken coming out tasting like the salmon from the previous tagine recipe. A couples of keys are to make sure whatever you use has a tight fitting cover (used at the end) and the cooking temperature is relatively low.

Individual tagine vessels are great for presentation though! I have seen some really beautiful individual Moroccan tagines but they can be kind of pricey.

Have a look at these

http://www.tagines.com/

http://www.paula-wolfert.com/

The good thing about a tagine is that it forces you to do the cooking in a slow and gentle way. It changes the way the food comes out. You can't slap it on a hot burner or stick it into a 500 degree oven. I read a story about someone who visited Paula Wolfert and when the subject came up, she said "wait here" and walked over and cooked an egg in a clay pot on top of the stove. Nothing fancy, no sauce, and yet it was palpably different, better, than the teflon frying pan version.

Having said all that -- I have not taken this path, my pantry is not full of clay pots. But my neighbor has tagines and a romertopf and I have been wowed by some of her results.

Get the Tagine. $30 or so.

F

Bobby, I have two tagines. I don't use them very often, but I do love them. Ours are the Emile Henry Flame range that Jenise put me onto years ago. They're good because you don't need to presoak them every time you use them. And we use our clay pot Romertopf about twice a week!

Celia

I've made tagine recipes in a dutch oven before, although I can't say whether that had a negative effect on the results.

I have used my Le Creuset dutch ovens with fine results. One of the nice things is that they do not trap flavors like unglazed clay. I don't want my chicken coming out tasting like the salmon from the previous tagine recipe. A couples of keys are to make sure whatever you use has a tight fitting cover (used at the end) and the cooking temperature is relatively low.

I would be tempted to use a crock pot, especially if it's an older, ceramic one. Or, get a tagine.

Mark Lipton

th suggestion of Le Crueset dutch oven is an excellent one - not a huge difference between that and the real thing and I have done both ways over time