Tanjia

What makes it tanjia

• Cooked in the tanjia, a tall, narrow-necked clay urn, sealed.
• Very little liquid: preserved lemon, garlic, cumin, saffron and smen or olive oil.
• Hours in slow, dry heat — traditionally the ashes of a hammam fire.

Where it comes from

Tanjia is Marrakech's own, and traditionally a men's dish — often said to be a bachelors' and workers' meal. The meat and spices go into the urn, also called a tanjia, its mouth is sealed with paper and string, and it's taken to the attendant of the hammam furnace, the farnatchi, to sit in the hot ashes all day or overnight.

It's the city's Friday dish and a picnic one, carried out to the gardens. The meat comes out soft enough to pull with bread, in a little concentrated, lemony sauce.

How it varies

Tanjia with lamb

Lamb shoulder or shank in place of beef.

Oven tanjia

The urn, or a lidded pot, in a very low oven overnight — the way most make it now.