The Cone
The physics of slow cooking
The lid is the genius. Everything else is just a pot.
The tagine's conical cover traps steam, condenses it against the cooler clay, and returns moisture to the simmering base below. In a desert climate where water was precious, this mattered.
The name comes from the Greek tagenos—a frying pan—filtered through Arabic and Berber. According to Gil Marks, the distinctive vessel originated in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Ibn al-Adim's thirteenth-century cookbook describes stewing meat in a tagine vessel.
The dish became Moroccan through accretion. Berber pastoral life supplied the lamb and goat. Arab invaders brought preserved lemons, olives, saffron. Moorish refugees from Spain added almonds, dried fruits.
Traditional vessels are unglazed earthenware, porous enough to absorb flavors over years of use. The best tagines are never rushed. Three hours over low heat is minimum.
Sources
- Marks, Gil, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Wiley, 2010) Ibn al-Adim, Kitab al-Wuslah ila al-Habib fi Wasf al-Tayyibat wa-al-Tib (13th century) Wright, Clifford A., A Mediterranean Feast (William Morrow, 1999) Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Tagine'
