Beef Tagine | Beef Recipes | Jamie Oliver Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is special about the process of cooking a tagine stew? ›

The genius of a tagine is that its cone-shaped lid traps steam while food is cooking. The steam then circulates back into the food as moisture. This cooking technique concentrates both flavor and aroma while keeping meats tender and buttery.

Tagines are usually made with chicken or lamb, but almost any protein can be used in place of the classic options. This flavorful recipe calls for swordfish steaks, which match perfectly with the dish's Moroccan spices.

The best lamb to use for lamb tagine is lamb shoulder. It's a tough cut of meat that is made for slow cooking that's marbled with fat so it's beautifully juicy. Sometimes it is generically sold as “lamb stew meat”.

Meat: beef, lamb and chicken are very popular in making tagines, and the cooking time of a medium tagine for about one kilo of meat will take more or less 2 hours and a half, sometimes more, depending on the size of meat cuts. Some areas, especially the south, goat and camel meat may be turned into tagines.

Popular at dinner parties and family meals, diners traditionally gather around the dish and eat by hand, using bread to scoop up the meat, vegetables and sauce. Alternatively, serve up the tagine with rice or potatoes.

Bring to the boil, cover with a fitted lid, place in the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is meltingly tender.

Cracks may form if the heat is too high, i.e. cooking above medium-low heat, especially when cooking dry or semi-dry recipes. It's best to cook these kinds of recipes (like stir-fries and sautés) after the pot is fully seasoned.

Tagines are primarily used to slow-cook savory stews and vegetable dishes. Because the lid of the tagine traps steam and returns the condensed liquid to the pot, a minimal amount of water is needed to cook meats and vegetables to buttery tenderness.

Some tagines have a small hole at the top of the lid that releases steam, meaning the sauce reduces as the steam escapes. But if your tagine doesn't have a hole, reduce the sauce by removing the lid in the last 15-30 minutes of cooking.

If we look at fatty acids, like CLA and omega-3's, lamb comes out victorious and can be seen as marginally healthier. If we look at vitamins, like B12 and zinc, beef comes out victorious. The bottom line is both are excellent and both should be eaten with abundance!

Can you brown meat in a tagine? ›

Sometimes you'll encounter recipes which direct you to brown the meat first, which is really not necessary. If you do decide to brown the meat, however, it's best done in a separate skillet since a clay or ceramic tagine should not be used over high heat.

A tajine or tagine (Arabic: طاجين) is a North African dish, named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked. It is also called maraq or marqa.

The best side dishes to serve with tagine are couscous, flatbreads, roasted vegetables, rice pilaf, chickpea salad, grilled halloumi, butternut squash, yellow rice, fattoush, lemon and herb quinoa, tzatziki, and harissa.

When you cook in a Tagine you get the unique earthy flavor you can't get when you cook in a regular pot or pan. You can put a modern twist on any traditional dish or experiment with your own blend of ingredients.

The tagine's conical shape makes a uniquely moist, hot environment for the dish being cooked. The base is wide and shallow, and the tall lid fits snugly inside. As the food cooks, steam rises into the cone, condenses, and then trickles down the sides back into the dish.

This is because of the pot — also called a tagine — used to prepare the dish. With its tightfitting, cone-shaped lid, a tagine steams the stew as it cooks, catching the rising, aromatic vapor and allowing it to drip back over the ingredients, thereby bathing them in their own juices.

Traditionally the ingredients were packed into the pot, the lid was popped on tight, then it was cooked slowly over a smouldering charcoal fire. At home it's cooked slowly in the oven or on the stovetop. There are many types of tagines, but they all work the same way.

A tagine is actually two things: it's the name of the cooking pot and also the stew that you cook in it. The pot itself is cone-shaped and really popular in Morocco and Algeria. I use it mostly to slow cook and braise stews with vegetables and meats.