Kosher Blog

My understanding is that a Polish chulent will be potato-based, while a Hungarian would make it with beans. To me, th ehappy medium is a bean chulent with perhaps one small Idaho quatered and thrown in.

Also, don’t knock pareve chulent (especially if you use plain vanilla “stew meat” for you fleish – although if you use flanken, nothing can compare). With the addition of a few non-traditional ingredients like mushrooms, some may not even notice the difference.

Hard to say. There are very few chulents I have tasted that I have actually NOT liked — although they ARE out there. I love all stew type dishes, and have had and have made a great many different traditional styles (with beans, without beans, with kasha, with chicken, with lamb, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, hot, sweet, spicy, etc.)

Personally, I have twisted my chulent recipe onto a whole other plain; meat heavy, but with beans and barley for added depth and texture. I don’t use ANY potatoes at all.

My standard recipe — (I always do this by memory and have never written it down previously, so hopefully I have not forgotten anything) — is something like this:

*1 packet of mixed beans (I use one of the commercial chulent-bean packets and then add half a pack or so of lima beans; I DON’T soak any of them before hand)
*1/3 pack of barley
*1 or 2 chopped onions (give or take; this depends on the size of the onion and my mood during the prep)
*Chopped or minced garlic (I tend to use a fair amount; fresh if I have it; I sometimes throw in some whole peeled cloves as well)
*1 pound of flanken (give or take)
*1 pound of short ribs (give or take)
*1 pound of cubed stew meat (give or take)
*Roughly half a pack of beef franks (chopped)
*Roughly half a pack of chicken franks (chopped)
[Sometimes I use beef sausages as well]
*A large fleishig kishke
*Coarse or sea or kosher salt
*Ample amounts of black pepper
*Very healthy amounts of both paprika and hot paprika
[The key for me with seasoning is to go totally overboard for a normal dish; after all those hours of crock-pot cooking, it all marries and smoothes out nicely]
*A little bit of honey
*A very little bit of hot sauce (this varies according to mood and taste and the tastes of my known guests)
*I ALWAYS add either a tablespoon of schmaltz (give or take) or a cup of chicken stock.
*My “secret” ingredient (which isn’t particularly a secret) is Single Malt Scotch. I play around with which ones I use, but always make sure to only use widely accepted types — both because of the obvious kashrus concerns for my guests, but also because I think the bourbon-cask-aged whiskies work better for chulent. I have not as much luck with blended scotches, but continue to experiment.

Best,
Josh

You don’t soak the beans? Sounds pretty dangerous to me (I can clearly remember the smell in the hallways of High Rise North in Penn on Motzei Shabbat after someone – who will remain nameless – forgot to soak the beans).

That’s alot of meat – but dont the hotdogs add a cheap feel to the dish with not so much extra added meat?

I NEVER soak the beans before hand, and I have never had a problem.

At least, that is, I never soak them anymore. For a while I did, because everyone always says you have to. I have learned through experience, however, that there is no need as long as a) you have enough liquid in the crock-pot, and b) everything is allowed to cook for a long enough period of time. It isn’t like the olden days of putting the pot in a communal baker’s oven, where beans might not have softened by the time lunch rolls around.

As for the hotdogs, as long as you have enough real beef in there, and the hotdogs are chopped, the overall effect is wonderful (both flavor and texture). Everything tends to intigrate/marry very nicely indeed.

One last note: in terms of the scotch, I should have added that I have only ever experimented with Highland region scotches (which is the majority of scotch anyway). The Islay stuff (Lagavulin or Bowmore or Laphroaig) is probably too smoky and probably has too much iodine and seaweed overtones to work…but I have not tested them.

Best,
Josh

One thing none of you mentioned was, “checking the beans after they were soaked i hot water.” Gentlenan: In those red beans & in some white beans there are BUGS, that’s right BUGS. Eating bugs as you well is worse than eating ‘chazeer’(pig). More Lav’s.

No offense, Moshe, but I rarely write out things like “check for bugs” in my recipes, and I doubt many other people do, either.

jabbett – you come over some Shabbat afternoon, and I’ll show you how vegetarian cholent is done. I have no problem with the meat variety, you understand, but we have only one slow-cooker, and it’s pareve.

…at which point I realize that jabbett didn’t write the original post.

Sorry, Shanna. Even though Yaakov made the posting, I’d have to agree — cholent’s gotta have meat. Lamb bones help, too. Mmm. Lamb bones.

I’m partial to a more sephardic – or perhaps more accurately, north African – approach. I like sweet potatoes and rice (wrapped in cheesecloth seems to work best) plenty of ginger, garlic, cumin and paprika to flavor the meat (which we lay on top right before Shabbos). Whole eggs are great added into the mix, although I haven’t yet mastered the art of peeling the shells off when its time to eat them.

I’ve got to try this with some lamb – time to visit NY to get some real lamb. Mmmmm. Lamb.

Shanna: No offense taken but, no individual really here in the U.S.(except for the more exacting) check for pin-holes in beans, chickpeas, or in other legumes. I have seen people just pop into their mouths without checking sunflower seeds without checking to see if there is webbing inside or pistachio nut to see if there are pin-holes. I am sorry to say there are a lot of bagged beans even with a symbol on them that I have found infested. In Israel there are two companies that pack their beans in airtight bags under the supervision of Rabbi Vie – known in the religiious circles as the Bug Rabbi.
Nathan: One should be careful with putting in spices right before Shabbat as there is a problem with Bishul B’Shabbat. You are tehn cooking the spices on Shabbat into the food. You should try to put them in at least a half hour before and they will not sour the food. You can also try putting into some small cooking bags some rice, chick peas – canned or raw (add some water into the bag). That goes the same for wheat berries. The Sepharadeem called it “chameen.” My friend makes a dynamire choresht (Prsian) for Shabbat night

To all those who don’t believe in pareve chulent: I challenge you to make this. We are certainly carnivores, but once we started making chulent this way, we never went back:

1 long tight bag of vegetable and bean soup, seasonings and all (Manishevitz or similar)
1 can chicken soup
2 pareve kishkas, chopped up
2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and in chunks
1/3 bag of barley
7.5 cups water

It is SOOOO good.

nb
I am not a fan of anything sweet in chulent: no ketchup, no honey. sorry.

other delicious ideas for a great cholent:

use chickpeas (YUM)
use a few tablespoons of honey
put in a few sweet potatoes, they add flavor to the entire cholent and they’re healthy
add a bit of cumin
especially for the winter, and when you’re worried about virus, flu, etc, peel an entire head of garlic, and put them on top of the cholent 1/2 hr before shabbos starts. You can mix them in when you are eating, or you can eat them separately, they are not spicy when fully cooked, and they are great for keeping away virus etc.

May 30, 2005 FYI blogged:
The origins of cholent… and technology-stimulating environmental regulations

(bShab 19) Were rabbinic texts not intended (at least partly) for hermercurating, then the world would be a far poorer place. For instance, where would we be without cholent? The Mishnah (Shab 1:11) here gives us the core of a recipe “meat, onions, eggs” and the culinary conditions under which we may prepare cholent. But cholent is only permissible during (and just prior to) shabbos when cooked in a way that does not tempt people (khas v’shalom) to stir the fire. (Working a fire is prohibited Biblically, d’oraita).

This rabbinic regulation set up a normative straightjacket from which the Jewish people could only escape through its inventiveness. (continued)

All of you guys dont know what your hocking because the best chulent is in boro park from a store called DELI 52 it is on 13th ave and 52nd street

Hi!
Nice info, big thx.

“To all those who don’t believe in pareve chulent: I challenge you to make this. We are certainly carnivores, but once we started making chulent this way, we never went back:

1 long tight bag of vegetable and bean soup, seasonings and all (Manishevitz or similar)
1 can chicken soup
2 pareve kishkas, chopped up
2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and in chunks
1/3 bag of barley
7.5 cups water”

1 can chicken soup? What kind of pareve chickens do you have in your neighborhood??? :-)

BTW, beerhound’s post is right on. No Hungarian would bother with bulbes in his chulent (solet), while potatoes were of course the foremost food in Polish/Litvish cooking…suntig bulbes, muntig bulbes, dienstick und midvoch bulbes…

DeisCane: You have to finish the song :)

Zuntik bulbes (Sunday potatoes),
Muntik bulbes (Monday potatoes),
Dinstik und Mitvokh bulbes (Tuesday and Wednesday potatoes),
Donerstik und Freitik bulbes (Thursday and Friday potatoes),
Shabbos is a novena, a bulbes kugele (Sabbath there is a surprise with potato kugel)
und Zuntik veiter bulbes (and Sunday we continue with more potatoes).

Ahh, bulbes.

so true DeisCane! our chickens and the subsequent cans of chicken soup are not parve! you can use an equivalent amount of consomme (~ 16 oz) or other stock t be parve. oops. i only make it truly parve when my vegetarian mom is over. have you tried making chulent this way yet?

Norah,

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never made cholent. I grew up in Miami and I had never even heard of it until I got to college, where it repulsed me. Now that we have kids and live in the ‘burbs, the concept makes sense to me. Plus, I’ve been exposed to the more elegant (IMO) Hungarian style of cholent and I’m ready to give it a go. We got a crock pot last month as a housewarming gift from my dad and when we return from Budapest, we will try it!

Nu… so what’s the secret ingredient on your chulent?

To Norah

Your not so parve chulent rocks. I’m making it again this shabbos. In fact, for all you out there, it won 1st place in my local synagogue’s chulent contest.

However, this shabbat I’m trying the unthinkable. I am using a real meat kishka!!! None of that parve stuff. (The truth is they ran out of the parve variety at the store). I am told that the meat kind is really unhealthy. Norah – don’t tell Mom.

Good Shabbos

Another rave for Norah’s “I can’t believe its not Fleishig” Parve Chulent! In my opinion, the parve Kishke really makes this dish. For some inexplicable reason, parve kishke has become scarce in Seattle so I had my husband buy some and bring it over the border on a recent trip to Vancouver B.C.

HELP! With all the three day Yom Tovs coming up, I desparately want some cool new recipes to try. Entree, Salad or Dessert, Parve, Dairy, or Meat–I can use all the help I can get. C’mon all your Kosher Bloggers, I need culinary inspiration. I keep sharing Norah’s “I can’t believe its not Fleishig” Parve Chulent recipe with friends and keep receiving lots of Huzzahs. I may even try making it with beef cheek meat–a Sephardic Rosh Hashana delicacy.

none of the chulents mention the chicken neck skin stuffed with kishke stuffing and sewn up and tossed in the chulent along with the fleishik kishke….my grandmother may she rest in peace had the whole house smelling so delish for shabbes!!!!my dad would wrap up the top with foil and then with baking string so as not to let anything escape out of the pot… wow!!!! there were never enough necks to go around….

Beerhound correctly points out the national/cultural differences (beans in Hungary, potatoes in Poland), but I can’t imagine a “happy medium” including both, at least not if you’re Hungarian or Polish.

In a Hungarian kitchen, “cholent” (or “sholet”) is a bean/barley/goose dish. And (eat your heart out if you’re not in Hungary) the goose has to be smoked! Depending on how much you’re making, or how big your pot is, 1 or 2 smoked breasts, and at least 2 or 3 drumsticks/thighs, fried, like the onions, before adding to the bean pot. And, of course (!), paprika (the sweet, not the hot kind), 1 Tbsp or so.

gbdoc,

To make solet here in the states, we use Aaron’s smoked turkey thigh (shawarma), which works great.

does anyone here know how to make a yapsuk?

If you want a genuine true Hungarian Solet this is my grandmothers recipe (direct from Hungary)

500g (roughly) red kidney beans soaked overnight
300g (roughly) smoked pork (plenty of fat)
200g (roughly) barley
1 big onion
some garlic
2 goose drumsticks (f you can find them)

fry onion and garlic to start caramelization. Dice smoked pork and put into pot leaving all the fat on for flavour. throw in barley and goose legs and fill pot with water to cover igredients. You can cook on the stove on the lowest possible setting for about 4 hours or even better put in an oven at about 80 degrees C for 8 hours. Check it doesnt dry out too much.

Solet DOES NOT have smoked turkey.

What about the cooking time folks? I have made some of the worst cholets using the “low” end of the slow cooker, setting just 30 min before shabbat. it was inedible and raw for lunch! There are 6 settings on my slow cooker, can;t figure out which one is the best. The old cooker I had broke, it had only one setting, which peculiar as it may be worked for every sort of dish. Now with the new cooker I am lost in raw cholent land? Help! thoughts?

Not to mention that there are no kosher smoked goose legs available in the US, so we HAVE to use smoked turkey. Mike’s a flamer who doesn’t pay attention, evidently.

As for the cooking time, it sounds like you might need to get one that changes settings automatically? Or, just start a bit earlier? I’ve had success with only low but high dries it out. What are the other 4 settings on yours?

you need to cook your cholent on high for a few hours before shabbos. say 3. then turn it onto low for the duration. or put the cholent up friday morning and then you can keep it on low for the entire cooking time.

yapsuk recipes anyone?

Personally I prefer the following:

put whatever you want (or don’t) in the pot before shabbos.
Then take it out on saturday.
Then throw it all in the trash and eat something better than cholent.

More seriously- I just cut up an eggplant and maybe a sauce and that’s my cholent or cholent substitute or whatever.

I saw a recipe called “best ever chulent” in a cookery book I browsed in Barnes & Noble some time ago.
I copied the recipe but would love to know the name of cookbook and author.Can anyone help please?
The ingredients added to the ususal meat pots beans and barley were quuarter cup of honey and half packet onion soup and it is the best ever chulent

I can’t take any recipe with onion soup mix seriously.