The dish to eat in Marrakech · Morocco

Tanjia

Name: Tanjia marrakchia (slow-cooked beef with preserved lemon)
Total time: 6 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Morocco
Ingredients: 2 1/2 lb (1.1 kg) beef shank or boneless beef chuck cut into large chunks (or bone-in lamb shoulder); 1 preserved lemon, quartered (seeds removed), plus 1 tbsp of its brine; 8 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole; 1 tbsp ground cumin; 1/2 tsp ground ginger; 1/2 tsp ras el hanout; A large pinch of saffron threads, crumbled; 1 tbsp smen (Moroccan preserved butter) or ghee; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp kosher salt (preserved lemon is salty); 1/2 cup (120 ml) water; Moroccan bread (khobz) or crusty bread, and a dish of ground cumin and salt, to serve

Photo: HaJunkiyada, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · source

Beef or lamb slow-cooked in a clay urn with preserved lemon, saffron, cumin and smen, buried overnight in the ashes of a hammam furnace.

Marrakech's own dish, made by men for Friday outings: the meat goes in a jar, the jar goes to the hammam's fire-keeper, and hours later it comes back meltingly soft.

Where to eat it Cook it at home

Where to eat it: the best three in Marrakech

Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha
Souk Ablueh, off Jemaa el-Fna
Order: Tanjia and mechoui by weight, with bread, cumin and salt
The famous counter on Mechoui Alley, where lamb comes straight out of the pit.
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Le Trou au Mur
Medina, near Ben Youssef
Order: The tanjia and the pastilla, on the rooftop
A medina restaurant that cooks the old Marrakech dishes carefully.
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Le Jardin
Medina, Souk Sidi Abdelaziz
Order: Tanjia, in the green courtyard
A calm garden restaurant inside a 16th-century riad.
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All three are on Chef Amazing’s list The best tanjia in Marrakech, which you can save and take with you.

Cook it at home: Tanjia marrakchia (slow-cooked beef with preserved lemon)

Serves 4Time 6 hr (mostly in the oven)

No hammam needed: a tightly sealed pot and a low oven do the same job. Nothing is browned; everything goes in raw, and the meat cooks in its own juices and fat.

Pans and tools

Clay pot (tanjia or tagine base), Dutch oven or deep casserole with lid
Parchment paper and foil

You’ll need

2 1/2 lb (1.1 kg) beef shank or boneless beef chuck cut into large chunks (or bone-in lamb shoulder)
1 preserved lemon, quartered (seeds removed), plus 1 tbsp of its brine
8 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ras el hanout
A large pinch of saffron threads, crumbled
1 tbsp smen (Moroccan preserved butter) or ghee
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt (preserved lemon is salty)
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
Moroccan bread (khobz) or crusty bread, and a dish of ground cumin and salt, to serve

Steps

Heat the oven to 275F (135C).
In a clay pot with a lid, a Dutch oven, or a deep casserole, mix the meat with the garlic, cumin, ginger, ras el hanout, saffron, salt, olive oil and smen until every piece is coated.
Tuck the preserved lemon among the meat and add the brine and water. The liquid should come only a quarter of the way up; the meat makes its own juice.
Cover the pot with a sheet of parchment, then foil, pressed down around the edges, then the lid. It must be tightly sealed, like the tanjia's paper top.
Cook 5 1/2 to 6 hours, without opening, until the meat falls apart when pressed with a spoon.
Uncover and stir gently. If the sauce is thin, simmer it on the stove 10 minutes with the lid off until it's thick and glossy.
Serve in the pot with warm bread to tear and scoop up the meat, and a little dish of cumin and salt for dipping.

Chef’s tips

Preserved lemons are easy to buy, or to make: pack lemon quarters in salt and their juice for a month.

Smen tastes like aged blue cheese and butter; ghee with a spoon of soft blue cheese is a decent stand-in.

Shank or neck gives the most gelatin and the silkiest sauce.

Contains: Milk (smen).

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