COOKWARE: The Tagine and The Couscousiere

It sounds like the title of some fairy tale, doesn't it? The Tortoise and The Hare, the Fox and the - well, you get the idea. But the dream of making a great Moroccan feast will materialize if you own these two items. Sadly there really is no acceptable substitute for either. A tagine is both the name of the food and the name of the cookware used to prepare it. It's unique, conical top and concave bottom will hold a huge amount of food.

It will be challenging to buy either item in a local store. However, Emile Henry makes several pretty good tagines. Seriously. By pretty good, I mean as good as you will find outside Morocco or a Moroccan enclave in some country. Perhaps there is such an community in Dearborn, Michigan, but I am unaware of it.

Do a Google search. I bought mine from a vendor on Amazon for less, way less, than Emile Henry retails the tagines. And no shipping charge, always a plus!

In Morocco, the tagines that we used were red clay and locally made, and used all the time over our charcoal brazier. Nothing fancy. Cleaned up easily, rarely broke (they were surprisingly sturdy).

The whole idea of using a tagine is that this cookware operates like the ultimate non-electric slow cooker. One cooks over moderate to low heat for a long time. Nothing should ever burn in a tagine. It steams and simmers, producing rich, lucious sauces and extremely well-integrated flavors, tender, juicy meats and vegetables still in possession of their vegetable integrity.

By the way, Moroccans NEVER eat a tagine with couscous as a side dish, or an accompaniment.

A tagine is a wholly different and separate dish. So, save up and buy a real tagine before you make one. There will be a world of difference in the finished product. I have a 3-1/2 qt. model, which will make enough tagine to feed 6-8 people.

The couscousiere is used to make a cous-cous. There are two parts: the colander-like top, with a cover that has round, dime sized holes around it's circumference; and the bulgey-sided and straight-collared pot. The couys-cous will steam over the vegetables or meat and vegetable in the pot. You can find this, again, on the internet and , perhaps, at a good cook's shop in a city. You do want a size big engough to hold at least a cut up chicken and some vegetables. The couscousiere will cost about as much as the tagine. This will generally be an aluminum ensemble, anodized, if yoiu feel you need the Calphalon version.

A couscous is always served with it's own sauces aand meat and vegetables. Please - do not make a tagine and serve it over couscous.

Moroccan bread is served with a tagine: couscous is served with couscous.