Tagines and other Main Course Dishes

The wonderfully aromatic meat or poultry stews of Moroccan cooking are called tagines after their cooking pot – much as daubes and casseroles are named similarly in French cooking.

If there was a competition for the greatest cooking pot in the world – the Chinese wok, the New England fish kettle, the French enamelled iron casserole, the English griddle pan – Morocco’s age-old tagine would deserve a star rating on its own. These round dishes with pointed, conical lids, made of brown half-glazed earthenware, are available for less than £1 ($1.60) in the open markets of any town or village in Morocco. There is a choice of sizes available – from an individual serving to one of mammoth proportions, enough to serve sixteen to twenty guests.