A controlled trial

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A long time ago I saved an article from a magazine, probably Good Housekeeping or similar, about the Moroccan tagine. The author extolled the virtues of this cooking dish, calling it a star contender for the greatest cooking pot of all time. The article included a recipe for a classic Moroccan lamb tagine. I have used the recipe before, and the results were excellent, but I didn’t have the authentic tagine pot to cook it in. Of course I could just go out and buy a tagine, but at £25 and upwards just for the one pot I couldn’t justify it to myself. But then one day I saw one in a charity shop for a few pounds, so I snapped it up. After that it just sat in the cupboard for quite a while, proving to be rather a nuisance. The earthenware is thick, with a wide rim, so the pot takes up a lot of space, more than for a similar volume pot of a different design. The conical lid means you can’t put anything else on top of it, and you can’t stack it on top of anything else either, because it’s too tall. Last weekend we had friends to stay and decided to cook the lamb tagine again as something that everyone would like. The recipe is rather time-consuming, so I decided to make plenty so as to make it last more than one meal. This time I could use my new pot – but then I realised I had a larger quantity than would fit in it! So I decided it was time for a proper trial. Assuming the tagine was new (it certainly looked brand new and unused) I ‘matured’ it exactly as the article described, by stewing some vegetables in it then allowing it to cool and washing it before using it for the actual meal. I prepared all the meat and sauce in a big batch, then shared it out between the tagine and another earthenware casserole dish, one spoonful at a time into each, exactly the same. Then I put them both in the same oven for the same time. When dinner time came, everyone took a helping from each dish to see if one was better than the other. In spite of much careful savouring, in the end we had to conclude that they were exactly the same. No-one could detect even the slightest difference in the flavour, the tenderness of the meat, the thickness of the sauce… I guess the only difference is in the presentation, as the tagine is more decorative and looks impressive when you bring it in. But I don’t think it’s really worth all the aggravation of taking up almost an entire shelf just for that! So back to the charity shop it is going to go. I’m glad I didn’t buy a brand new one. I got what I had yearned for, put it to the test and found it wasn’t worthwhile. Now someone else can buy it and perhaps do the same – and the charity will gain a few more pounds (maybe more than once!) Do you have one of the ‘greatest cooking pots of all time’ and if so what do you think of it? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2019.