Tanjia, the craftsmen’s dish of Marrakech

Tanjia is the most Marrakech of all dishes. Traditionally prepared by men and the craftsmen of the souk, it takes its name from the clay jar in which meat is slow-cooked with preserved lemon, garlic, cumin, saffron and smen (aged butter).

The jar is then handed to the “farnatchi”, the fire keeper who heats the neighbourhood hammam: it cooks slowly in the hot embers for six to eight hours. The result is melt-in-the-mouth meat eaten by hand with bread.

We take you to taste it in a small medina eatery, right next to the ovens, with a guide who tells you the whole story of this sharing dish.