Continuing on my previous post about “Olive Tree and Honey”, author Gil Marks raises the question: If there isn’t an original Jewish food, then what makes food Jewish? He answered it with essentially one word: tradition. Despite our dispersion over all four corners of the earth, we have still somewhat maintained our unity through, especially, food!

The example in question here is the development of kosher cuisine around Jewish Law. This can be seen easily through the creation of a popular Shabbat dish called cholent. According to Jewish law, one cannot cook on Shabbat. However, it is customary to serve a hot dish for Shabbat lunch. Thus this stew-like dish that cooks over a low flame put up before Shabbat was invented in many different Jewish communities.

The difference between traditions are the recipes themselves: Ashkenazic Jews customarily make cholent while Sefardic Jews make chamin, which interestingly means “hot” in hebrew!

Cholent that I am accustomed to making includes barley (most people like to add beans but I am not a fan of them), meat, potatoes, onions, spices, and different condiments according what I have including ketchup, some type of chicken or meat sauce, and sometimes even barbeque sauce. My biggest challenge is how much water to put into it. I personally dislike very watery cholent and would prefer it to have a strong, solid consistency. Since I don’t know how much water will evaporate or be absorbed, coupled with the ineffectiveness of adding more water if it gets too dry can be a little problematic. So, feel free to share any tips and recipes with your own cholent cooking with me!

Here is a recipe which I found that resembles my recipe, since I don’t really follow one when making cholent. Have a great shabbos and have a great day of cooking!

Cholent with Beans, Potatoes and Beef

(Originally posted by Lita Lotzkar at RCJF Archives.)

In this cholent recipe, you use 2 Tablespoons of honey in with your beans - this would give it a sweeter taste -you can either add more garlic and pepper or decrease the amount of honey if that is the way your family likes their cholent.. All recipes are “to your taste”

1 T. oil
1 large onion, cut into 1″ cubes
1 lb. beef (I’ve used brisket and London broil), cut into 1″ cubes
6 medium potatoes, pared and halved
1/2 c. pink beans, rinsed and soaked overnight
1/2 c. barley
1 (16 oz.) can vegetarian beans
1/2 c. ketchup
1 t. seasoned salt
1/2 t. garlic powder
2 T. honey
2 t. onion soup mix (I use Osem)
Hot water
pepper to taste

This recipe should be made in a 4-quart crockpot. Scale down the quantity if yours is smaller or don’t add so much water if yours is bigger. You should start cooking 3 hours before Shabbos begins. Put the oil in the bottom of your crockpot and coat the bottom and a bit of the side (about 2″). This will help keep stuff from sticking on the bottom too badly. Heat some more oil in a large pan and saute the onion over medium heat until just starting to turn translucent. Add the beef and cook just until browned on the outside. (Your kitchen should smell terrific at this point).

Put the onion and beef into the crockpot and level it out somewhat. Add the potatoes, pink beans, and barley. Pour the can of vegetarian beans over the contents of the crockpot, moving things around a little to get the sauce to reach the lower layers. In the now empty can, mix the ketchup, salt garlic powder, honey, and soup mix. Fill up the remainder of the can with hot water and stir until the consistency is even. Pour into the crockpot, again moving things around. Add hot water to the crockpot to 1/2″ from the rim.

Cook at HIGH until just before candle-lighting. Check to see that the cholent has not gotten too dry. (This part is a little tricky. Too much water means you’ll get cholent soup. Too little water gets you a very sparse Shabbos lunch. Just enough water means you’ll have a great Shabbos nap.) I usually end up adding about 1/4 cup of water or enough to bring it back up to 1/2″ from the rim. Lower the setting to LOW. (Very important — Otherwise, the cholent will probably burn.)

You can check the cholent again in the morning before you leave for shul. More hot water can be added, but you should not stir it (constitutes work). It should be ready for consumption when you get back. If, on the other hand, it looks a little thin, allow the cholent to sit a little before serving. It will thicken as it cools.