A Little Bit About Cholent and a Recipe Contest

It is hard to explain our love affair with the slow-cooked meat stew called cholent. It is not pretty, not healthy and proudly mocks the trend towards modern, gourmet kosher cuisine.   Yet, cholent defines Shabbat lunch for hundreds of thousands of Jewish people every week… and it has been this way for nearly two millenia.  

Born of necessity, since cooking on Shabbat is prohibited, cholent is an original contribution by the Jewish people to the culinary world and references date back to the Mishnaic period.  In response to literalists and sectarians who held that any hot food on Shabbat is prohibited, the emergence of cholent  (in all its various forms) represented a cultural and sociological victory for the Pharisees and their descendents.

People have an emotional response to the word “cholent” — it may be a memory of a meal at a grandparents house, kiddush after shul or that unmistakable smell that warms the entire home on a cold winter morning.  Growing up, cholent was a rare treat, but I will always remember my mom’s oversized “lobster” pot used exclusively for the industrial-sized cholent that fed my family and our Shabbat lunch guests.

For the rest of this article go to JoyofKosher.com, http://joyofkosher.com/blog/2011/01/cholent/

Texas Cholent

Polish Cholent

CONTEST: To enter, submit your cholent recipe on JoyofKosher.com and get your friends and family to rate your recipe.  Get the most comments on your cholent recipe and win a $100 gift certificate to Kosher.com and be featured in an upcoming article by Jamie Geller.  Five runners up will win a Got Cholent? t-shirt.  Contest runs through Februrary 6th.