Friday morning, alarm clock goes off at 4:15. Time to do the Shabbos cooking. Gefilte fish, roasted chicken, challah, kugel, chicken soup and cholent.
My cholent recipe has been evolving over the years, as friends share their tips and secret ingredients. So, this Shabbos, my cholent has beans, barley, potatoes, a clove-studded onion (Thanks, KQ!), beef chuck chunks, chuck pastrami chunks, garlic, paprika, ketchup, and beer. And yeah, it is SO good!
So, this erev Shabbos, what do you put in YOUR cholent?
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
I don't know if we'll have it this week. But how early you wake up on Fridays to prepare the food!
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I get extra sleep on Shabbos to make up for it. Ah...Shabbos minucha!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I don't even know what a cholent is! Or gefilte fish or challah. Kugel, however I know. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Challah is just the best bread ever. I wish I had some right now.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Gefilte fish... The only food your allowed not to like in a Jewish household
-Bok
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Oh. I did a Google search and found a recipe. It doesn't sound bad at all, but it did say that the homemade stuff tastes nothing at all like the horrid stuff in jars, so...
Challah bread I knew, I just forgot.
Cholent, now... sounds basically like really slow cooked stew. Okay, I feel happy now. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
The horrid stuff in jars in that weird jelled fish broth is passe. The current favorite is made with these frozen loaves of ground fish. It is lovely to make -- none of the fuss of grinding up your own fish -- and a vast improvement over the nasty jarred variety. You can boil it in the traditional fashion, or bake it (which I prefer). I've baked it in tomato sauce, vegetable sauce, or in broth. For this Shabbos, I made a three layer gefilte fish, which looks fancy and tastes good, but using the frozen fish loaves, is super easy to make.
Challah is like Jewish Brioche. A rich egg bread. French toast made with lesser breads is just not worth it. A really good home made challah can almost be a meal in itself.
But Cholent is the star of the Shabbos table, a dish eaten by Jews in every community all over the world, with infinite local variations. We have a saying that what makes the cholent so delicious is a "secret ingredient" available only to the Jews -- Shabbos.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
The jelled fish broth is called "yich", apparently. Very descriptive. We use the Ungers one where you just boil it for an hour or so with some onions in the water.
The benefit of the loaf-type gefilte fish is that you don't have to deal with the chreyn falling off. When you slice it, it's flat on both sides (except for the ends, and that can be dealt with)
With cholent, we can't use beans. I get all anaphalactic and all with beans. So we use lentils instead. Works just as well, if not better.
Sometimes we use beef or bison for the meat, but sometimes we use chicken. And believe it or not, a bit of cinnamon goes great in cholent, particularly if you're using chicken.
And challah... well, the challah I make has a reputation in these parts. I took my Mom's challah recipe (which she got from her sisterhood cookbook), and modified it for our bread machine. I just use it to mix and knead the dough. Then I take it out, braid it, and let it rise in the oven, after which I paint it with some egg/water mixture and bake it.
But a few years ago, I tried substituting whole wheat flour. Most whole wheat bread I've tasted is coarse and harsh. Even the half-and-half whole wheat and white wheat bread isn't to my taste usually. But my challah is 100% whole wheat, with some added gluten to make it rise better, and it is just amazing. Soft and yummy, and without the pastiness of white bread even egg bread.
If anyone wants the recipe, I'll be happy to post it. The only down side is that it isn't great for french toast. I still use egg challah for that. And I have a non-secret recipe for that, too.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I found the bison in the cholent to be a tad tough, while the beef chuck gets meltingly tender. Chicken? Are you using parts? With bones? I'd like to try that. Post details, please.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I make a half-whole-wheat challah that gets raves (I've done the 100% with added gluten, and I don't care for it as much). Lately I've been using white whole wheat instead of the usual red wheat flour. I really like it.
I'm not a huge cholent fan (I know, I know -- but overcooked potatoes just don't do it for me), but my kids like it. So I will be making it this week. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole small onions (I'll have to see if I have any whole cloves), carrots, barley and wheat kernels, a small amount of beans and lentils, chunks of beef and lamb, lots of garlic, a bit of pepper. Put to cook a few minutes before Shabbos on extra-low, so it cooks as little as possible.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Tante, I have used chicken in cholent, and the bones get soft enough to eat (like canned salmon). (Which means you can't sample from the cholent Friday night, as some people like to do. It's not "fully cooked" until those chicken bones are soft -- at least, so says Shmiras Shabbos.)
Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
You're Shabbat meal is different from mine. My Dad's a Persian Sephardic and my mom's Spanish Sephardic, so that probably explains it. Gefilte fish...blech. I've tried cholent before and I liked it a little.
[ December 30, 2005, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: GaalDornick ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Sephardis make cholent. They just call it chamim and put odd things in it. Like wheat kernels (which I like so much that I use them) and hard-boiled eggs (which I don't like at all).
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I start my cholent early early Friday morning. The cholent is ready for our Friday dinner. Sometimes it goes on the blech, and sometimes in the crockpot.
I like a few slices of kishka on top of the cholent. And either an already baked potato kugel hovering on top or I just mix up the kugel batter and pour it on in a sort of free-form kugel that sets on top of the cholent and absorbs all the delicious cholenty goodness.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
Really? You can cook a potato kugel in the cholent? That sounds wonderful. I'll have to try it.
Btw, I hate cholent eggs. I don't get the attraction. And isn't it a problem anyway, since you can't check for bloodspots?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
As I dislike potato kugel fairly intensely, I don't cook one in my cholent. My mother does sometimes though. The other thing she puts in is essentially a large, flattened kneidel that cooks on top. We call it a kigel -- I don't remember why. (And no, we do not pronounce kugel that way when referring to anything else. Maybe a guest named it?) Maybe I'll do that this week . . . but I need eggs.
I agree with you on the taste of cholent eggs. But not everyone agrees that checking eggs (at least, those bought in the supermarket, produced by hens that get no contact with roosters) is that crucial. After all, you eat hard-boiled eggs in general, neh?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Tante, can I come over and eat at your house?
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: I don't even know what a cholent is! Or gefilte fish or challah. Kugel, however I know.
You do too! Remember my kishke thread? I promised you and Telpy I'd make cholent if I ever met you guys in person.
Tante, my cholent has corned beef, barley, beans, potatoes, eggs, and kishke.
And yes, I do make it myself. My mom says I'm probably the only person under 30 on the entire planet who actually knows how to make it!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Hey, Raia, honey, it's just my lousy goldfish memory kicking in. Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :
Wait a minute. Did you just do a dobie on your OWN thread? Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
This is NOT a dobie.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
<dobie purist> there isn't a link in the first post of either thread, not a dobie </dobie purist>
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
KQ -- you (and the rest of the Ketchups) are welcome on any Shabbos for some cholent.
I posted the Cholent thread and the Jello thread at the same time because I was wondering if Hatrack had a greater interest in Cholent, or in its polar opposite, Jello. Alas, Jello won out, by a significant margin.
I will be campaigning endlessly to remedy this unfortunate situation, and will re-conduct the survey at some later date, to evaluate our progress.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Okay, next time I'm in New Jersey on a Friday afternoon, I'm going to invite myself over.
Don't hold your breath, much as I'd like to, it may be a while. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
You can stay in the guest room.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Ooooh, you have a guest room? I aspire to someday have a guest room.
Okay, now to just work out how to get to New Jersey from here, wiht no money and no car. Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Quid:
I just thought I'd point it out!
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
KQ, have you considered this?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Unfortunately, I am not a laser. Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka: As I dislike potato kugel fairly intensely, I don't cook one in my cholent. My mother does sometimes though. The other thing she puts in is essentially a large, flattened kneidel that cooks on top.
Interesting! My partner makes these exquisitely light kneidelach, and she puts oregano in them. It sounds strange, but they are absolutely amazing.
quote:Originally posted by rivka: I agree with you on the taste of cholent eggs. But not everyone agrees that checking eggs (at least, those bought in the supermarket, produced by hens that get no contact with roosters) is that crucial. After all, you eat hard-boiled eggs in general, neh?
Valid point.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: I posted the Cholent thread and the Jello thread at the same time because I was wondering if Hatrack had a greater interest in Cholent, or in its polar opposite, Jello. Alas, Jello won out, by a significant margin.
I will be campaigning endlessly to remedy this unfortunate situation, and will re-conduct the survey at some later date, to evaluate our progress.
Of course you can eat left-over Jello. Leftover cholent... not such a good idea.
There's a kosher Chinese place here in Chicago called Mi Tzu Yun that has kishke on the menu. But I've seen places that have cholent on the menu, and I can't even wrap my mind around eating cholent when it's not Shabbat.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: I posted the Cholent thread and the Jello thread at the same time because I was wondering if Hatrack had a greater interest in Cholent, or in its polar opposite, Jello. Alas, Jello won out, by a significant margin.
I will be campaigning endlessly to remedy this unfortunate situation, and will re-conduct the survey at some later date, to evaluate our progress.
Tante, I am saddened with you. I, however, am firmly in the cholent camp and will strive to aid you in converting these the lost souls of our dear brothers and sisters from Jello Hell and into Cholent Heaven.
Of course, who am I to talk when I've never actually had Cholent? Posted by martha (Member # 141) on :
I've never made cholent, but my shul's recipe has chick peas in it. I think it's vegetarian. It also has tomato -- I think it's diced tomato from a can. It's good stuff.
The best challah around (Boston) is Cheryl-Ann's, which is legendary. I've had their whole wheat challah, and it's really really yummy... though I don't know if it's 100% WW.
Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
We put turkey sausage and kasha in ours. We switched to turkey sausage when my dad's cholesterol went up.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The cholent came out splendidly this week, likely in part due to a substantial amount of beef, lamb, and veal. While it did not get completely finished, my kids assure me they will happily eat the leftovers tomorrow night. (I will have leftover chicken, since I agree that leftover cholent does not appeal.)
Oh, and I often use oregano in my kneidlach too. Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Are you kidding?? I LIVE for leftover cholent! Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Wow, glad I read this thread and learned what cholent is--will have to start looking for recipes! How is it pronounced?
That 3-layer gefilte fish looks intriguing. (I have bad memories of the stuff in jars!)
Rivka, my mom has started using the white wheat for making her whole wheat bread, and we all love it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
TCHO-lent
Almost everyone has bad memories of the stuff in jars. I used to wonder who bought the stuff anymore -- but my kids like it, so now I buy it!
Hooray for white wheat!
Posted by Shmuel (Member # 7586) on :
quote:My mom says I'm probably the only person under 30 on the entire planet who actually knows how to make it!
Not likely. I was making my family's cholent when I was in my teens.
(Several potatoes, enough water to cover same, onion powder, garlic powder, meat. Optional additions: barley, kishke.)
Pronunciation: CHUH-lent or CHOO-lent, depending on one's accent. For a change, the "ch" is not a gutteral sound, but rather the sound found at the start of "chipmunk." (This points to an origin from a language other than Hebrew or Yiddish, both of which lack that sound; one theory is that it's from the Old French "chaud lent," or "hot and slow.")
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I didn't know that. Cool.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Not "cool". Hot and slow. Pay attention!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*sigh* There really is a conspiracy to get me to stop using that word, isn't there?
How much did my kids pay you?
Posted by Shmuel (Member # 7586) on :
Actually, let me retract one part of that: Yiddish does have the phoneme in question; otherwise tchotchke and tchaynik wouldn't exist, among others. Still, the word appears not to be native to either.
Edited to add: since moving out, I've gotten more experimental, often adding salsa.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Interesting. Where did Yiddish get the sound from? French? Russian? Polish?
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Hypotheses abound regarding cholent etymology.
Posted by Shmuel (Member # 7586) on :
quote:Where did Yiddish get the sound from?
That is a good question, and I have no idea.
...Frumspeak gives a Russian origin for "chepper," for what that's worth. And, according to Wikipedia, the sound is found in German. (It's the first postalveolar sound listed.)
Edited to add: then again, according to this article, it shows up in German only in loan words...
[ January 02, 2006, 12:51 AM: Message edited by: Shmuel ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*reads all of Shmuel's links and several of Tante's*
So the answer is, nobody really knows? Posted by Shmuel (Member # 7586) on :
Pretty much.
Looking around a bit further, the Wikipedia articles on Cholent and Yiddish language are interesting, too.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Drat you Shmuel! There's a picture in that wiki article! Now I'm hungrier than ever. Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Hey! I just learned something important by reading about cholent!
I have always had bad luck cooking beans -- seems no matter how long I soak, no matter how long I simmer, they don't soften properly.
Now, it's been a long time since I've tried, but after reading this (see below), I wonder if I always added tomatoes or something else acidic to the beans before they were cooked? Seems like this is a tip that I should have heard before!
quote: Choose whatever beans you like or have on hand what kind you cook makes little difference in flavor. Navy beans, lima beans are common but there is no law against using black beans, red beans or even fava beans. Your cholent will gain in eye-appeal if you use two or three kinds of beans with different sizes and color. (The only kind you should not use is canned beans.) If your recipe includes acidic ingredient, such as tomato sauce, stir in those ingredients only after the beans are fully cooked. In acidic liquid beans will not soften and you may end up with a wonderful cholent but your family will crack or break their crowns while attempting to bite through the beans.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
You can also just add a little baking soda to neutralize the acid if you put the soaked dried beans and tomatoes both in. I do it all the time.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
KQ, thanks for the baking soda tip.
quote: originally posted by Tante Shvester on the Jello thread: You think we can get the LDS crowd to start eating cholent?
I think you are well on your way. But I won't be heating it on a blech .
Besides, we are supposed to have dried beans and grains in our food storage, so it seems like a perfect fit!
Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
When I was at my friend's this weekend, her husband (in charge of the cholent-making), lined the pot with an oven bag (he used the ones intended for ham). It made the clean-up extremely simple. I absolutely hate cleaning the pot the next day.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
They make ones just for crock-pots too. The problem is it messes with the liquid balance something awful. But yeah, I should dig out the box I have of them and go back to using 'em.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Does it make you need more or less liquid? I've seen them, but never tried them.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Less. It keeps the liquid from boiling off as much. It can also mean that the temperature needs to be a touch higher.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Interesting. So what happens when you use it for something like our favorite cranberry chicken that takes no added liquid, just meat and sauce? More sauce? And for a soup/stew, you could just adjust the liquid down and get the right consistency?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
It's been a while since I used the things. But my memory is that saucy things end up with watery sauce, and that adjusting the liquid is possible but annoying.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
"Almost everyone has bad memories of the stuff in jars. I used to wonder who bought the stuff anymore -- but my kids like it, so now I buy it!"
I was beginning to think I was the only person in the world that likes Manischewitz (not sweet) gefilte fish in gelled broth.
Never heard of cholent, though.
Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
The jarred white fish is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Originally posted by Uprooted: I have always had bad luck cooking beans -- seems no matter how long I soak, no matter how long I simmer, they don't soften properly.
Uprooted, I didn't know about the acid bit affecting beans either, so thanks for the tip.
Here's what I do, and I've never had a problem with hard beans. Cover beans with liquid so it's an inch or so above the level of the beans. Bring to a boil, then turn heat off and let soak until the next day. Change the water, then cook until soft.
By doing that, most of the stuff that causes gas leaves the beans and the beans cook faster the next day. My chile never causes anyone to have the farts.
I also cook the beans all the way through before adding anything else to the beans. On the other hand, I haven't ever made cholent either.
Posted by jaysedai6 (Member # 8856) on :
Does anyone have a recipe for chopped chicken livers. I use to live in Chicago and loved the ethic foods I could eat.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I buy the frozen and doctor it up myself.
Posted by jaysedai6 (Member # 8856) on :
Do you mean frozen chopped chicken livers? Iowa is such a white bread place. When Kiraa stopped at our local taco place, she asked what kind of tacos do you have. Hamburger. We missed tiny Mexican places with 50 dofferent menu items. miss lemon grass chicken.Cuban sandwiches,pyrogies, decent lox.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Do you want a recipe for curried chicken livers? That I can get for you. Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Chopped Chicken Livers
1 lb chicken livers 4 Tbs schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) 2 onions, diced 3 hard boiled egg yolks 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Wash the livers and remove discolored spots. Drain any liquid.
There's a whole bit in this recipe about how you're supposed to saute 1 onion in 2 Tbsp of schmaltz, then discard that onion, keeping the schmaltz for the next step, but I just saute both onions in 4 Tbs of schmaltz, set the onions aside and then add them both back in later. I guess fresh onion would give it a different bite.
Cook the livers in the onion-flavored schmaltz in a skillet for about 10 minutes. Remove any membrane. Chop or grind the egg yolks, liver, (and the onions). Add the salt and pepper and mix.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
While I'm in here I looked up cholent, and found recipes for:
Meat Cholent (Brisket is the meat) Potato Cholent Cholent with Knaidel Quick Kasha Cholent (which sounds like it defeats the purpose. It only cooks two hours) And Quick Lamb Cholent. (Same here) (Apparently lamb isn't meat?)
These are from my Jennie Grossinger book.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Quick cholent is a bit of a paradox. Lamb is indeed meat. The recipe list has me scratching my head.
Any liver made in a kosher recipe must be broiled before anything else is done to it. My son and I prefer chopped beef liver to chopped chicken liver, but I guess that is a matter of personal preference.
And -- hooray -- the cholent thread has stayed on the first page longer than the jello thread, and is catching up to it in amount of posts. Perhaps it just got a slow start because it was born on Erev Shabbos.
Go, cholent, go!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Jello has a short shelf life. It's just not as interesting as cholent, Tante. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
No arguments from me.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I make a vegetarian cholent, based on a recipe I got from the Lubavitch cookbook, The Spirit and Spice of Kosher-Jewish Cooking. I put in barley and mixed beans - kidney and lima, predominantly, but I also include a few navy beans, pea beans, pink beans, red beans, whatever I happen to have in the cupboard. On occasion I have included chickpeas. I mix in a fried onion or two for flavor, and the secret ingredient ( ) - ketchup. I layer sliced potatoes on top. It comes out tasty and my family always enjoys it.
Once, when I got home late and didn't have time to cook, I made a quick cholent by heating together the following ingredients till edible and throwing them in the crockpot: 1 cup of barley, 2 cans kidney beans, 1 can chickpeas, 1 can Heinz vegetarian baked beans, a handful of baby lima beans, some dried onion flakes, a chopped raw onion, about a 1/4 cup ketchup, and some sliced potato. I was afraid it would turn out inedible, but it turned out tasty.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Well, what do I know from kosher law? Mine certainly isn't when I use butter instead of schmaltz.
But I would have assumed that Grossinger's was kosher. Are calf's brains kosher?
They also have a different recipe for chopped liver, which can be calf, beef or chicken. The recipe is a little different, but not much. I prefer chicken.
Then there's the recipes for vegetarian chopped liver, and dairy liver. Dairy liver is actually vegetarian, the vegetarian liver has sardines in it.
BTW, the book doesn't claim that lamb isn't meat, it's just the weird juxtaposition against the "Meat Cholent" in the previous recipe.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I've had lots of kinds of vegetarian liver, but never with sardines in it. I've had it with nuts, with peas, with green beans, with eggs, with eggplants. Oil and onions are invariably involved.
Calves brains can be kosher, but good luck finding any.
I like lamb in my cholent. But then again, I like it when it is not in my cholent, too.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I think I may have had vegetarian liver with sardines (that's not really vegetarian, you know ), but more frequently, it has had the ingredients Tante Shvester has mentioned.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
"I like lamb in my cholent. But then again, I like it when it is not in my cholent, too."
Hear hear!
As I said before, I'd never heard of cholent before, probably because it's very function specific. Sounds like you could cook almost anything in a crock pot and call it cholent. But does anyone make cholent on Tuesday?
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
The dairy liver is made with mushrooms, onion and egg.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I like lamb, but we rarely ever eat it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Sounds like you could cook almost anything in a crock pot and call it cholent.
Bingo! Give the man a cookie.
quote:But does anyone make cholent on Tuesday?
Sure. Leftovers. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
The Tante is well-pleased that the cholent thread has finally grown longer than the jello thread.
Hooray for Hatrack!
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
I thought you went to bed. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
gefilte fish . . .
>_<
blech!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Are you basing that solely on the jarred stuff, or have you ever tasted the real thing?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Since I didn't prepare it, I couldn't honestly tell you.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I'm wondering if I should ever try "real" gefilte fish, since I love the "fake" stuff.
Would it just spoil it for me?
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote:quote:
quote:Sounds like you could cook almost anything in a crock pot and call it cholent.
Bingo! Give the man a cookie. [Wink]
It there any prohibition on turning off a switch on the sabbath? I mean, it's the same amount of work. So if you prepare cholent in a crock pot on friday, can you turn off the pot on saturday morning, or do you have to wait for sundown?
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Icarus: gefilte fish . . .
>_<
blech!
Gefilte fish doesn't go on the blech. Cholent goes on the the blech.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:It there any prohibition on turning off a switch on the sabbath? I mean, it's the same amount of work. So if you prepare cholent in a crock pot on friday, can you turn off the pot on saturday morning, or do you have to wait for sundown?
There is such a prohibition (keep in mind that "work" is not a good translation of melacha). So either you leave the empty crock pot on, or you have it on a timer (what many observant Jews call "Shabbos clocks").
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Hey! I just realized, I make cholent all the time.
Sometimes I call it split pea soup.
Sometimes I call it navy bean soup. (mmm! pork cholent...)
Sometimes I call it mushy peas.
Sometimes I call it beef bourguignonne.
I gotta work on my timing though.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: I'm wondering if I should ever try "real" gefilte fish, since I love the "fake" stuff.
Would it just spoil it for me?
Maybe, maybe not. My kids like both (but prefer the good stuff). Does having steak mean you won't enjoy a burger ever again?
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
You can not turn off the pot. Or any light switches. Whatever is on at the start of Shabbos stays on. Unless it is on a timer that automatically turns it off without any action on your part.
Edit -- or what rivka said
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: Hey! I just realized, I make cholent all the time.
Sometimes I call it split pea soup.
Sometimes I call it navy bean soup. (mmm! pork cholent...)
Sometimes I call it mushy peas.
Sometimes I call it beef bourguignonne.
I gotta work on my timing though.
Did you leave them cooking at least 12-16 hours? Otherwise, they're posers.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Mushy Peas and Beef bourguignonne have both done 12 hours.
According to my friend June, Mushy Peas must be cooked for "ever." I tried to get her to be more specific, but she says that's a unit of time.
Directions:
Cook for 1 ever.
That's a metric ever, by the way, not a standard one.
Sounds like cholent needs to be cooked between 1 and 2 evers.
Split pea and navy bean will do in 4 to 6 hours, if they're soaked overnight first. Guess they don't count.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
My Cuban cookbook, vintage 80 years or so ago, often includes such directions as "cook until done" and quantities such as "some."
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Especially when my brother-in-law is staying with us, I make vegetarian chili. Cholent-style, on the blech. But we never call it cholent. It is chili.
Also, sometimes I make a thick tasty soup, like mushroom barley or pea. We don't call that cholent, either, we call it soup.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I never would have thought Tante would act so serious.
I would have thought the pork cholent would have eliminated any thought that I might be serious about calling it cholent.
But hey! The thread's still going!
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
No cholent in our house this week. But there was about a gallon and a half of chicken soup for us to slurp. It worked, too. We are all starting to feel better.
(and I hate to admit it, but the only other thing anyone felt up to eating was Kojel -- Kosher Jello)
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
No cholent in our house this week, either. No chicken soup, either. Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
My parents came up this weekend to visit. My mom brought a pot in a cooler, with all of the cholent ingredients already in it (kiske-based). My dad carried it into my house and says to me, "Don't argue. She was afraid that you aren't eating well enough." My mom is one of those stereotypical Jewish mothers that says things like, "Have more cake. It's good for you."
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Got to love those Jewish Mothers.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Okay.
If I love them, will they feed me?
*loves Jewish Mothers*
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Ketchup, have some cholent! But first, have some gefilte fish. And some chicken soup. With kneidlach. Have some kishke to go with it. We have three kinds of kugel -- which would you like? Oh, go ahead, just take some of each. I hope you saved room for strudel and rugelach!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
*loves Tante especially much* *politely ignores gefilte fish*
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Right back at you. Put lots of horseradish (chraine) on the gefilte fish. It kills the taste. We wouldn't eat it any other way!
Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
Can either of you ladies explain to me what exactly a Cholent is? I'm left out in the dark and I want to come into the light!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
It's defined on... I think the first or second page of the thread. It's technically any dish that cooks a long time over low heat or in a slow oven or in the crockpot, so you can have a hot dish on the Sabbath without cooking. Usually, in practice, it refers to a stew-type dish, often with meat, sometimes with a, well, for lack of a better word, dumpling-type thing on top.
Tante, I'd take your word for it and try it, but horseradish is out right now-- pregnancy heartburn, you know. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: Put lots of horseradish (chraine) on the gefilte fish. It kills the taste. We wouldn't eat it any other way!
Polluter! Gefilte fish should be eaten plain or with a dab of mayo. Chrain is nasty.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Mayo!
Must be some weird California thing.
Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
My parents will feed all of you. Really. Sometimes my friends will just stop my parents' for a meal when they go to NYC.
The important thing to understand about gefilte is that it is just a delivery vehicle. It's the Jewish equivalent of white bread. It's all about what you put on it. Which must, must be horseradish. Or wasabi. Wasabi works well too.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Tante, I picked up the mayo bit when I was at Breuers. You know, in Manhattan?
And wasabi is even worse than chrain. Horseradish! >_< Properly made gefilte fish is no mere "white bread" vehicle.
Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
I acknowledge your point, rivka.
I was talking about the bottled junk that most non-Jews are familiar with. That stuff is just nasty once you hit puberty or so.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I like wasabi! S'chug, too!
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Me, too.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Ela! Mein Shvester!
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I like wasabi a lot. I love horseradish, but I'm talking the creamy kind you put on roast beef. "Prepared" horseradish--did I get that right?--not so much.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Wasabi!
In Sinhalese, it means "to poison". It's my favorite Sinhalese word. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quid, I have GOT to turn you on to s'chug! You will fall in love all over again.
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My mom says I'm probably the only person under 30 on the entire planet who actually knows how to make it!
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