How to season a new terracotta tagine

Every unglazed terracotta tagine that leaves this shop is raw. It has been fired, not sealed, and if you put it straight onto a flame it will very likely crack down the base. Seasoning is what turns it into a cooking pot, and it is mostly waiting.

What you need

• A sink or basin deep enough to submerge both halves
• Olive oil — the cheap stuff is fine here
• A heat diffuser, if you cook on gas

The method

1. Soak it, both halves, for two hours

Cold water, fully submerged, base and cone. You will see bubbles coming out of the clay — that is air leaving the pores and water going in. When the bubbling stops it has taken up what it needs.

2. Dry it, then oil it

Air dry until the surface is no longer damp to the touch. Rub olive oil over the whole of the inside of both pieces, and over the outside of the base. Not a coating — a thin film.

3. Into a cold oven

Put it in cold, set the oven to 150°C, and leave it for two hours. Starting cold matters. Clay expands as it warms, and a sudden temperature change is exactly what cracks it.

4. Let it cool in the oven

Turn the oven off and leave the tagine inside until it is completely cool. Do not take it out to speed things up — the cooling is as important as the heating.

Then, for the rest of its life

• Always start on a low flame, and use a diffuser on gas. Bring the heat up slowly.
• Never put a hot tagine on a cold surface, or a cold liquid into a hot tagine.
• No detergent inside. Hot water and a brush. The seasoning is a feature, not dirt.
• If it starts to smell dusty after a few months, soak and re-oil it. Ten minutes’ work.

A properly seasoned tagine darkens over years and cooks better for it. The ones in Moroccan kitchens are almost black inside.

Which tagine to season

Only the plain unglazed terracotta ones are for cooking. The hand-painted and glazed pieces are for serving — beautiful on a table, but they are not made for a flame and no amount of seasoning will change that.