SpiceLines

But those succulent tagines and the spicy couscous with vegetables? Those are well within my reach—and yours.

Here are three essential tools—and a couple of “nice to haves”—that will get your Moroccan kitchen up and running.

These workhorse tagines, made of heavy, roughly glazed clay, sit over metal charcoal braziers at a roadside cafe on the way to Essaouira.

1. A terracotta tagine. This sturdy clay vessel with the conical lid is Morocco’s most renowned—and widely used—cooking pot. Just to confuse matters, the succulent stews and braises cooked within it—lamb, chicken or fish, layered with sliced vegetables or fruit, seasoned with spices, olives and preserved lemons—are also known as tagines.

Basically the tagine works like a self-basting oven. When placed over a low flame, liquid in the bottom of the pot begins to simmer gently, producing aromatic steam that is drawn upwards into the conical lid. There the steam condenses and drips down over the ingredients, bathing them with ever more delicious juices. Many Moroccan cooks say that terracotta gives the most authentic flavor, producing stews in which the ingredients are not only meltingly tender but subtly perfumed with many flavors that have gone into the dish.

At the Kasbah du Toubkal chef Omar simmers sweet and savory lamb tagines over clay braziers filled with glowing charcoal. The braziers sit directly on the granite counter.

2. Nice to have: a terracotta mejmar. Typically a tagine sits over low heat on the stove; some can also be used in a moderate oven. But at Kasbah du Toubkal in the High Atlas Mountains, chef Omar simmered a trio of lamb tagines with dried figs over charcoal braziers perched right on the granite kitchen counter.

Note to self: Yet another reason to renovate the kitchen, even if views of snow-capped mountains remain elusive.

The brazier is known as a mejmar, and while charcoal should never be used inside at home, it’s tempting to think of cooking a tagine on a brazier in the garden during warmer weather—just as we did when we made our own tagines under the palms, though you might also need a set of bellows to keep the coals going.

By the way, here’s a battery of well-used cutlasses on the Kasbah’s kitchen wall. Even professional chefs seems to use mostly low quality knives, but they certainly get the job done.

3. A couscousiere. This tall, curvaceous steamer is made for cooking couscous, the rounded semolina grains that are a culinary staple in north Africa and parts of the Middle East. The couscous goes in the top part, while the bottom part holds a simmering, highly seasoned broth or stew. To make it the authentic way, couscous must be steamed three or four times until the grains soften and swell to several times their size. (You can even do this with instant couscous.)

At Jnane Tamsna, chef Bahija walked us through every step of the process using a stainless steel couscousiere. They also come in aluminum and terracotta.

4. Nice to have: A clay couscous platter. After each steaming, the couscous is turned onto a shallow terracotta platter, sprinkled with water and rubbed lightly between your hands to separate the grains. It’s made of thick, heavy clay with a raised rim.

Afterwards the couscous is molded into a large ring, filled with the vegetables cooked in the bottom of the couscousiere, and presented on the same platter.

5. A Moroccan tea pot. I love this sleek modern version with a curvy black synthetic handle which never gets hot. The clear glasses, lightly etched with floral patterns, are a minimalist take on the usual brilliantly colored ones, which are also fun. You certainly don’t “need” a Moroccan teapot—though you’ll see thousands of them in the souks—but it makes teatime all the more exotic back home.

Moroccan mint tea has a bit of a kick—it’s known as "Berber whiskey," though there’s no alcohol—that comes from the infusion of gunpowder green tea in boiling water with a bunch of crinkly green spearmint and sugar.

Guess what? The sun’s broken through the clouds.

Now if only someone would bring me mint tea on a tray mid-morning, with bowls of almonds, dried figs and apricots…


Sources:

Tagines.com offers 11 cooking tagines from Morocco and North Africa. The roughly glazed Beldi looks much like the rustic tagines used at roadside stands, in professional kitchens and at market foodstalls. Unglazed versions include the hand-shaped Rifi and the Souss tagines, both of which have domed lids.

Many cooks favor unglazed tagines since over time they absorb all the flavors of the spices and delicious foods cooked in them, creating a unique flavor that cannot be duplicated. These pots are so desirable, says Paula Wolfert in Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking, that daughters have been known to fight over who will inherit their mother’s well-seasoned batterie de cuisine.

Tagines.com also sells the majmar (charcoal brazier), a traditional clay couscousiere, and a clay serving platter.

A different array of glazed and unglazed tagines is available from Zamouri Spices. (Always be sure that you are buying a lead free tagine for cooking.) Zamouri also has the majmar brazier and bellows to keep the coals glowing, as well as a nickel-plated brass teapot and many pretty tea glasses.

At Sur La Table, you can choose between a glazed clay tagine made in Portugal and sleek, contemporary versions from All Clad, Emil Henry and Le Creuset. I’ve just ordered an 8-quart stainless steel couscousiere, similar to the one used in the kitchen at Jnane Tamsna.