My Tangine has a lovely design on it which I love! Photo by Copyright 2014 Deborah Kaplan

On a popular food website during the last several years, I became involved in a forum where other home-cooks were interested in the flavors of the NA*ME (North African/Middle Eastern) region. In doing so, that is where I came in contact with concept of cooking with a Tangine. So when our daughters asked me for an idea to give me for my birthday, I suggested a Tangine. I was also picky, as I wanted one with a design rather than one that was a solid color. So back in February of this year, at my birthday, I received this beautiful Tangine cooking vessel. The only problem with it, is it came with no directions on how to use it.  I searched the Internet and found that it is common place for Tangine vessels to be sold without any directions on how to use them. What I found was a big debate as to whether or not the top should have a vent hole or not. Mine has a vent hole and the ceramic interior also has a clear glaze. A lot don’t have the glaze and therefore need to be conditioned or cured before use. I thought I would be placing it in the oven, however I wound up using it on the stove top on a low flame. Some suggested using a diffuser: I did not, mainly because I didn’t have one. Then there was the time issue? I decided to jump in with both feet and I have to say the recipe I created came out delicious! DH and MIL also raved about it. I cooked three chicken thighs, which I browned first in a non-stick skillet. In my research, I did find out that the Tangine should never be used with high heat. After dinner, DH placed it in the dishwasher which I said no to, so he hand washed it. Since the dishwasher uses hot water plus a heating element, I didn’t want to risk causing the Tangine to crack.