I can point you to a ceramicist who I know has made some beautiful tagines. Email me if you're interested.

I saw some on Sur la Table website, also there were some on Ebay. Don't know anything about either. Hope this helps. Might Google for it and find something.

I have a rifi (unglazed clay) and love it. There is a whole thread on cooking in tagines, you might want to check out.

I got mine from The Berber Trading Company for $34 plus s/h.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moroccan cooking/tagines

One of the best on the market is the one by Emile Henry. It is also recommended by Paula Wolfert who has written several cookbooks and tagine recipes. You can even use it right on the stovetop for browning without a diffuser. Get the larger 12" one. About $90 though.

I use the rifi, which is also recommended by Wolfert, on my gas stove without a heat diffuser (medium heat) and have had no problem.

Sooooo, Gardenlad, what did you decide? Are you going to get a tagine?

Am I? Absolutely.

Still researching which one(s) to get. The Rifi is high on the list, however, as it seems to make the most sense for my circumstances. .

I think the rifi is the best bang for your buck! I love mine and use it without a heat diffuser and have had no problems.

I'm intrigued, too, by the Ouriki. Seems to be the same sort of construction, but a little more aesthetically pleasing. Only a couple of bucks more.

The downside: they're out of stock. :>(

I have one major concern re: the rifi. Marigene, in your pix the rifi looks perfectly symetrical, as though it had been turned on a wheel. But the literature says they are hand-formed, rather than thrown, and are therefore not perfectly round and symetrical. And the photo at the Berber site really looks lop-sided.

Did you just luck out?

Believe me, it is not perfectly symetrical, far from it!

Riddle me this, Marigene. If it's not symetrical, that means the lower edge of the crown doesn't make full contact with the bowl. Which in turn should mean that steam escapes from the bottom, instead of being converted in the automatic basting machine that a tagine is supposed to be.

Yes? Or am I reading too much into all this?

Another question: After curing it with olive oil, and then using it, do you wash it? Or just wipe it out and reoil, much as you would, say, cast iron?

Le Creuset also makes a tagine (12") with a cast iron base: great for initial searing or browning. However, I heard that a cooking magazine (sorry, I don't remember which one) tested several tagines and decided that any Le Creuset french oven was a better slow cooker than the tagines. I would suppose due to its cast iron lid. Of course, the french oven doesn't look like a tagine, which is an essential part of meal presentation, right? There are also some really nice serving tagines at tagines.com.

Even if I liked the look of the LC (which I don't, particularly), I have a country-of-origin problem with anything from that company.

I did look at the serving tagines at that site, forget-me-nots, and have to agree. Some really beautiful stuff. But my concern, right now, is one I can cook in.

Well, my Ourika finally arrived, yesterday, and is curing even as we speak. Boy, do I have a list: Lamb with pumpkin & veggies; chicken with prunes; pork with corriander......

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions and comments.