The Tanjia: Marrakech's Slow-Cooked Pot

The pot and the dish

Unlike the wide, shallow tagine, the tanjia pot is a tall clay urn with a rounded belly, two small handles and a narrow neck. That shape is deliberate: the small opening, covered with paper or cloth and tied with string, traps steam and concentrates the flavour as the contents cook down into a rich, almost confit-like tenderness. The pot is filled with chunks of lamb or beef, whole garlic cloves, preserved lemon, cumin, saffron, a spoon of smen and a little water.

Traditionally the sealed pot is taken to the farnatchi, the attendant who tends the furnace heating a hammam, and nestled in the wood ash to cook slowly through the day. The gentle, constant, all-around warmth of the embers is what makes tanjia so distinctive; the meat all but melts, and the sauce turns deep and glossy.

Choosing and preparing a tanjia pot

If you buy a tanjia pot, treat it like any unglazed clay cookware: season it before first use and handle it gently.

• Shape: tall and narrow-necked, so the small mouth traps steam during the long cook.
• Size: single-portion pots exist, but family sizes are common; match it to your household.
• Unglazed clay: season it as you would a tagine before its first use.
• Sealing: keep parchment and kitchen string to cover and tie the mouth shut.

Cooking tanjia at home

Without a hammam furnace, a low oven does the job. Fill the pot with the meat, preserved lemon, garlic, cumin, saffron, smen or butter and a splash of water, cover the mouth with parchment and tie it, then cook at a low temperature, around 120 to 140C, for four to six hours until the meat is spoon-tender. If you do not own a tanjia pot, a lidded clay pot, Dutch oven or heavy casserole gives much the same slow, sealed braise.

Serve it straight from the pot with bread to mop the sauce. For the related wide-pot method, see the tagine pot guide; to cook over embers as tradition intends, the mijmar brazier; and taste it in context on our guides.