Howdy! from Southeast Texas

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new old timer

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jan 10, 2019
Messages
15
Location
Texas
Just an old Texas country boy, been cooking for 50 years, also been curing meat for 30 years, things like sausage, dried sausage, hams, bacon, and whole muscle dry cured stuff like Lomo, Capicola, Braseola etc. some of which are fermented before semi-drying , like hard salami's , pepperoni's etc.

I really like outdoor cooking using old vessels like cast iron, but mainly use clay pots that can be placed directly into the coals of a fire or used on a Moroccan Majmar or Mexican Brasero, like my black La Chamba pot from Colombia, my unglazed Tagine from Morocco or a Olla De Barro Frijolera from Mexico.

And of course, good old Texas bar-b-que,

 
Welcome from New York City, n.o.t..

Lol, punctuation is everything. :cool:

How big is your tagine? I've been looking for one for the exact reason of versataility, plus the culinary and coolness factors, but I have yet to find a large one. If I'm going to bother to go to the trouble of using a tagine, I want to make enough to feed a mob, or have lots of leftovers.
 
buckytom, I'm not sure exactly what sizes they are, most are called small, medium, large etc., I think 1 is a large (will fit a whole chicken and some veggies), the others are mediums, my favorite one is an unglazed one made in Morocco, I'll post some pics as soon as I figure out how (just joined). I got it at Casablanca market.com. I think it's the only unglazed one on their site. The unglazed ones really add a distinct flavor and are more durable on an open fire.
 
caseydog, I live in the country near Pleak village, SW of Houston (past Richmond/Rosenberg), it might be more south than southeast (SSE maybe).
 
Welcome to the forum! lookin' forward to hearing about your cookin'!

Another good thing about those unglazed pots is that they still use lead in the glaze in many countries. (I think it's only in the glaze?)
 
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buckytom, here is a pic of the unglazed tagine on a majmar and a La Chamba from Colombia on a Brasero from Mexico.
 

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Wow, man, those are beauties! Thanks for the pics. And the descriptions. I was just looking up the other stuff.

pepp, I believe that there can be lead in both the clay and the glaze, so while it's better to have no lead at all, none in the glaze is absolutely better as it seals the clay.

Lead in unglazed clay is obviously a no go.
 
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I've been told that all glazed cookware like this coming into the country has to be checked for lead by US customs. I would rather have an entire unglazed inventory but a lot of vessels have a glaze on the inside with a little on the outside top portion (I like the look of the ones that have some crude glaze drips and runs running down the side and the unglazed bottom burned black from sitting in the fire). I've also found that if a vessel is glazed on the outside bottom it won't last long before the glaze starts to crack from the direct heat of the coals.

The La Chamba pot looks glazed but it's not, the black comes from the firing process and from being hand burnished with stones, there are videos online that show the process, it's definitely not a factory process. This pot is probably my most prized clay vessel, throw some meat and veggies in it (no water), put it on the fire, stir it a few times during the cook and when it's done it has a thick gravy. If you do this in a steel pot, the liquid will just be like water when it's done. This pot somehow aerates the fat from the meat into a gravy.
 

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Welcome to DC. Those are very interesting and attractive pots and cooking devices. I'm looking forward to hearing more about them and their use.
 
Thanks to everyone for the kind greetings,

Kayelle,
I searched for a cooking forum that could help me find an authentic Tangia vessel (see post in cookware section) and although this forum didn't have any hits for Tangia, It did have hits for Tagines, so I decided to sign up. As for the pics above, I just wanted to show some things that I couldn't easily find on the internet when I was searching for them. Now when someone else searches for "Tangia", "La Chamba", "Majmar", "Brasero" etc. it could lead them here, helping me and possibly this forum.

I don't really use exact recipes so I probably won't be much help in that department, but I do have a lot of experience with things like Charcuterie, including fermented meats and vegetables, canning meats and anything "preservation" related. However, I do look forward to posting some pics and recipes for things like Possum, Raccoon and yes the good ole Texas Armadillo, that should stir things up a bit!.

I do have a lot to share but I'm not a big internet person so please forgive me if I don't reply quickly sometimes. You'll probably see me posting mostly in the cookware and charcuterie sections.

Thanks again,
new old timer
 

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