Tangine - worth the money?
Hi everybody--forgive me if this has been posted before, but I looked around and didn't find it, so here goes :)
My boyfriend REALLY wants a tangine for x-mas, after seeing it used on Iron Chef America so many times--he's convinced himself that he's got to have one. I've been thinking about getting him one for christmas, but I want to know if its worth the few hundred I'm planning to drop on it.
He's a very spoiled boy, but I'd hate to buy him something he uses once and it hides in the cupboard forever (especially since it's so big)
I know its used mostly for Moroccan food/stew, but does it have other uses? Can those Moroccan foods be cooked in another type of dish?
What are your experiences? Any advice or groovy recipes? Thanks!!
-Dani
Daniellabelle
Dec 09, 2008 03:41PM
The best one to get is the Emile Henry. It's a red clay, but you can use it on the stovetop to brown the food first. The Le Creuset one is too small. You can make a whole chicken in it and use it for braising the same way you would use a dutch oven. You can roast in it with the cover off too. One review on Amazon said she made the same recipe in a tagine and a dutch oven, and it was better in the tagine. Get the 12.5" size Emile Henry one. Comes in many nice colors.
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Are we talking about traditional clay ones that require soaking and/or seasoning before use, or one of the modern adaptions which has a cast iron (enameled?) base, essentially a shallow dutch oven with conical top?
While searching for information on Chinese sand pots, I came across this article that compares various braising dishes, including the tagine (not tangine) and dutch oven
http://thecookskitchen.net/2007/01/26...
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Their neat... why not swing over to Sur La Table, they carry a traditional terra-cotta tagine for $25. That's right, no need to get the $115 Emile-Henry, IMO anyways. It's a great deal. A simple cookbook showing some Tagine recipes will be more than that.
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I wouldn't spend more than $100 on one if that. I love my Le Creuset one but I don't think it does anything I couldn't already do with a dutch oven. It's mostly for show.
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I've heard similar things - tagines are pretty, but they can't hold a lot, and a regular dutch oven works just as well. Even Claudia Roden doesn't seem to speak of them as absolutely necessary in her Middle-East/North Africa cookbooks..
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If he watches ICA, and he's spoiled, get him a blast chiller...... and seriously, remember when something gets placed on a show, the manufacturer of that is doing it to sell more cookware. A relative of mine works on Top Chef, and those brand names just don't show up on the set accidently. To me, tagines and santokus are specialty items that the industry is trying to force into the "must have" category.
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Spending a "few hundred" is going waaaay overboard, I agree with the other posters. It's something that can be had for much less than that. If I'm not mistaken, the original tagine is made from terra cotta, and that's not expensive as mateo says. And it is spelled tagine, not tangine - there's no "n" in the middle. Just a head's up there. ;-)
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We have a red Emile Henry tagine. My husband bought it off the sale rack at W-S last year after Christmas. He'd always wanted a tagine and when he found them on sale couldn't resist.
We use it and it performs well but I have to be honest and say I can't tell a difference between using it and using our LC ovens in terms of function. The EH piece is pretty and interesting and looks great on the table and on the bookshelf when not being used however and if you have room and budget is a fun thing to have.
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Thanks for all the help guys---I think I will head over to Sur La Table and get the cheap one, since it doesn't seem to be REALLY a necessary item. I can't wait to see it hogging my precious little cupboard space...
And thanks for the spelling tips ;)
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My husband also wants one. I think I'll wait and see if they ever come on sale in a Toronto store sometime. They do look cool though!
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They sell them online at Sur La Table if there isn't one around you...www.surlatable.com
I got mine last night for 25$...woo!! I can't wait to make him fix me some good food :)
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Christmas gift-giving is often not very rational (and i include myself in this; no one wants to look cheap), but my mother was a ceramist and I can assure you that several hundred sollars for a clay pot is a rip-off. But if makes for a happy holiday, what the heck.
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