tajine

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English

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WOTD – 30 July 2019

Etymology

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Tajines (sense 1) on display in Tunisia
A tajine (sense 2) with olives

From Moroccan Arabic طَجِين (ṭajīn), from Arabic طَاجِن (ṭājin, “shallow earthen pot”), from Ancient Greek τάγηνον (tágēnon, “frying pan, saucepan”), further etymology unknown.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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tajine (plural tajines)

  1. (cooking) An earthenware cooking pot of North African origin, consisting of a shallow, round dish without handles and a tall, conical or dome-shaped lid.
    • 2005, Tess Mallos, Cooking Moroccan, Millers Point, N.S.W.: Murdoch Books, →ISBN, page 8:
      On a round table, food is served in a central platter or tagine or in shallow dishes so that it can be easily picked up with the fingers.
    • 2011, Amy Riolo, “Egypt”, in Ken Albala, editor, Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, volumes I (Africa and the Middle East), Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 54, column 2:
      Sometimes, in very densely populated urban areas in Egypt, one can still see children navigating their way through the labyrinthine maze of shops in the souk (marketplace) to bring their tagins to the bread baker.
    • 2016, “Morocco Basics”, in Morocco: Essaouira and the Atlantic Coast (Rough Guides Snapshot), London: Rough Guides, →ISBN:
      A tajine is a heavy ceramic plate covered with a conical lid of the same material. The prettiest tajines, decorated in all sorts of colours and designs, come from Safi, but the best tajines for actual use are plain reddish-brown in colour, and come from Salé. The food in a tajine is arranged with the meat in the middle and the vegetables piled up around it.
  2. (by extension) A stew, originally from Morocco, the ingredients of which are traditionally cooked slowly in such a pot; the dish is normally served with couscous.
    • 1997, Habeeb Salloum, James Peters, “Glossary of Spices, Herbs, and Other Delights”, in Ruth Lane Moushabeck, editor, From the Lands of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes from the Middle East and North Africa, London: I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 4:
      [T]he term couscous is applied to the cereal along with a great variety of accompanying tajins (stews) and desserts.
    • 2004, Julia Weiss, transl., edited by Paolo Piazzesi, Moroccan Cooking, English edition, Florence: Casa Editrice Bonechi, →ISBN, page 57:
      One of Morocco's most famous traditional specialities tajine (also spelled tahine or tadjine) gets its name from glazed earthenware pot used to prepare it, the tajine slaoui. It consists of a saucepan with a tall, often nicely decorated, very tight-fitting, cone-shaped lid that transforms it into a sort of Dutch oven. The high "hat" lets steam circulate, making it the ideal vessel for cooking stews.
    • 2005, Margaret Littman, “Restaurants [South Side]”, in Veg Out: Vegetarian Guide to Chicago, Layton, Ut.: Gibbs Smith, →ISBN, page 128:
      Vegetarian entrees include vegetable tagin, stuffed squash, and maklouba (mixed vegetables with rice and yogurt), and come with a choice of soup or one of four Middle Eastern salads [...].
    • 2005, Tess Mallos, “Broad Bean Dip”, in Cooking Moroccan, Millers Point, N.S.W.: Murdoch Books, →ISBN, page 14:
      Fresh broad beans are used when in season, the young beans added to tagines with the skin on; when more mature, the beans are blanched and skinned before cooking.
    • 2007, Gerhard Behrens, “The Second Ottoman Conquest of Egypt”, in The Janissary File: A Novel, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 33:
      While they were finishing an excellent fish tagin—fish and tomato stew with rice cooked in a clay pot—he listened to her fantastic story.
    • 2014, Naho Terada, Ettouhami Moulay Ahmed, Moroccan Cookbook: Night and Day (Momo Book), [Japan]: マイルスタッフ (インプレス), →ISBN, page 100:
      The specialized restaurants that only serve tajin dishes are one of the essential destinations of Morocco. [...] When at a tajin restaurant in Morocco, relax, unwind, and converse like the locals while waiting for the food to be prepared.
    • 2016, “Morocco Basics”, in Morocco: Essaouira and the Atlantic Coast (Rough Guides Snapshot), London: Rough Guides, →ISBN:
      The classic tajines combine meat with fruit and spices. [...] When eating a tajine, you start on the outside with the vegetables, and work your way to the meat at the heart of the dish, scooping up the food with bread.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “tajine, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2006; “tagine, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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tajine m (plural tajines)

  1. Alternative spelling of tagine

Further reading

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Portuguese

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Noun

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tajine m (plural tajines)

  1. Alternative spelling of tagine
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