My wife and I had a debate this shabbos over whether or not the brown matter taken out of the crock pot at lunch was cholent or stew. It had potatoes, meat, bones, and beans in it, it had a soup consistency, and it smelled like cholent, yet there was something stew-like about it. I voted cholent, she voted stew. I reminded her that much of the cholent served nowadays, after the frum food revolution started in the mid 90’s, can possibly considered stew by much of the population, but that many of those who served it still considered it to be cholent. I was a bit angered, because in my mind – any warm brown substance that comes out of a crock pot on shabbos afternoon should be considered cholent, but what if it becomes changed so much that it starts to resemble something that may not be cholent, do we still call it cholent.
How much leeway does one have in the cholent department? Is there any rule to exactly what cholent must contain or what it can’t have? Although I have my own rules about what I call cholent, they tend to be my own tradition and not the tradition that our cholent forefathers had. Does it really matter when the change from cholent to stew happens? Who would actually decide such things, is there some sort of round table with a bunch of white bearded sages sitting around making decisions for people who would never talk to such a person about their food preferences?
I think I remember the first time I saw chickpeas in cholent, I was horrified, it wasn’t as bad as the first time I had whole wheat challah (most of the times really bad, even though it’s still so “cool” that people automatically like it) but there was something odd about chickpeas in cholent. It ruined the texture and I began to wonder whether or not chickpeas were even allowed in cholent. It wasn’t until later that I found out that chickpeas, lentils, eggs, cumin, hot peppers, and other foreign exotic spices were found in the cholents of spehardim. There has long been a jealousy of sephardic food amongst the ashkenazim, we may exhibit racist attitudes towards them, but at least they have something called “taste” in their traditional foods.
Then came the crunchy people and they put sweet potatoes, corn, quinoa, wheat berries, and seitan in their cholents. Some of them even used brewers yeast and that Briggs unfiltered apple cider vinegar that is ubiquitious in every crunchy hippie household. Was that cholent? Did they even have corn in the shtetls of eastern Europe where cholent was invented? Was this against the tradition created by the sages of yore? Could we even call such a thing cholent.
I’m sure my wife and I are not the first to have this debate. I’ve eaten at peoples houses where they called lentil soup cholent. I’ve seen people put a chicken in the crock pot with other cholent-esque ingredients and call it cholent. Chicken is one of those things that doesn’t ever belong in cholent, but it’s better than a parve cholent. What would our ancestors say when they learned that we were eating parve cholent in the treife medina. It sounds like blasphemy to me.
I was thinking about how Orthodox Judaism is kind of like cholent. When I was growing up, being Orthodox meant you kept shabbos, kept taharas hamishpacha, and kept kosher. Whether or not you watched TV, went mixed swimming, or voted democrat didn’t really change your affiliation. Maybe I grew up in simpler times, before the image consciousness of the more right wing factions of Judaism spread to the more left wing factions. Until I went to yeshiva, I didn’t know that yarmulke type, women’s hair covering style, and what party you voted for meant so much to people, to the point that they would say you weren’t practicing Judaism.
Is it possible to have varying types of Orthodoxy, or is it all under one umbrella that for some reason is held by bearded guys in hats and suits. How did we come to the point that the only changes to mindset and tradition within Judaism have to be approved by folks who have made themselves into the spokespersons for Orthodoxy. Modern Orthodoxy is not father from authentic Judaism than that of the Chassidim, yet for some reason it’s thought to be.
Of course, there is a point when cholent becomes stew, but it’s such a gray line that it isn’t possible for one person or group of people to decide. There is no cholent spokesperson, there is not spokesperson for Orthodox Judaism.
Of course we could take this the other way and say that there are some folks claiming that fruit soup is cholent long after the cholent became fruit soup.
Find out more on 4torah.com
“There is no cholent spokesperson, there is not spokesperson for Orthodox Judaism.”
Just like Open Orthodoxy, there is now Open Cholent.
Open Cholent could lead to mixed dancing.
Mixed veggies?
This is actually an excellent blog post. I will share it on my facebook.
For the record, I grew up when Jews were Jews. I did not know we were Sephardi until my mother re-married and my wonderful step-father introduced us to plaited challa, stew on Saturday (instead of chicken/rice/egg/spiced hamim) and lox.
This Friday afternoon I put cubed of browned lamb, spices, one cayenne pepper (whole) leeks, garlic broth, lentils, peas, garbanzo beans, carrots, one cut up potato and a number of whole, unpeeled, raw eggs into a slow cooker. It was delicious. And we ate it with braided challa. And wine 🙂
Ooops, I didn’t realize how fringe I am! I tried making Ashkenazi cholent for years. It was always a flop. Finally I just did what I know how to do: Native American-inspired stew (that’s my heritage & my it’s basically my dad’s recipe) with bison, corn, cornmeal, and other indigenous ingredients. Haven’t had any complaints at all from guests, but I guess now I know I was fooling myself to call it “cholent”! :-/
Very important story on this on NPR yesterday, l’kuvid shabbos.
Cholent: The Original Slow-Cooked Dish
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/22/280231765/cholent-the-original-slow-cooked-dish
I always wondered how it come to be that EVERYONE makes their cholent in a crock pot. Now we know-the crock pot was made for cholent.
These days. Back in the day people lined up to put their cholent pots in the baker’s brick oven which was sealed up and stayed warm until it was time to retrieve them. Claudia Roden’s superb “The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York” has photos of this. In parts of America they were put in the (banked) apartment building furnace.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Jewish-Food-Samarkand/dp/0394532589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393198012&sr=8-1&keywords=the+book+of+jewish+food
” any warm brown substance that comes out of a crock pot on shabbos afternoon should be considered cholent”
yup, that’s my rule of thumb as well. Didn’t know that this was contentious in any way.
Consistency of soup??? Ugh. Not Cholent.
anything left on a blech or plata until Shabbat lunch becomes chulent, even if it didn’t start out that way
I’ve made a bunch of different cholent recipes. Haven’t been impressed by any of them. In this as in much else Middle Eastern, Southern European and Mahgrebi Jews simply do cooking better.
Try a mooncotch chulent that’s the best recipe!!
I’ll try anything once, twice if it doesn’t hurt too much.
Got a good recipe?
Easy rule: if it tastes disgusting its cholent. If not, not. Next question?
I HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION !!I JUST MADE CHOLENT THIS SHABBOS AND EVERY TIME I DO IT HAS A SOUP CONSISTENCY !! THE WATER DOESN’T THICKEN !! IVE TRIED LOTS OF THINGS INCLUDING THAT OSEN YELLOW POWDER THAT SUPPOSEDLY THICKENS SAUCES BUT TO NO AVAIL. I AM JUST LEARNING TO COOK. SUGGESTIONS PLEASE, THIS IS AN EMERGENCYYY
Take three tablespoons of corn starch, mix it in a separate dish with 1/2 cup of warm water until it looks like thick milk. Stir it into hot whatever (chulent, stew, gravy, soup). It will be thicker in ten minutes or less. It works better, the hotter the chulent is. If still too thin, repeat. Be patient and wait ten minutes before repeating or you may end up with chulent-jello.
Adding grain can also help by absorbing water and thickening the broth.
THANK YOU !!!
The cholent/frum community comparison is actually quite apt.
Heshy, you touch on some of the defining issues of our time. These days, b’avonoiseinu harabbim, everyone thinks they are a baki on everything, whether it comes to tearing toilet paper on Shabbos, women wearing tefillin chas ve-sholom, or even chulent. The idea that baaleibatim are qualified to judge whether a dish is authentically chulent or not shows the depths to which we as a society have sunk. Certainly the question of chickpeas or corn or other “foods” elevates the question beyond the abilities of a commoner. Remember “Minhog Yisroeil Din Hu” and since the minhog of the Yiddishe Oilum is to eat chulent on Shabbos, this is practically a chiyuv d’oraisa, and people need to consult a competent Poseik to make sure they are yotzei. The risks are too great to entrust non-experts with a determination of what constitutes a valid chulent. Otherwise who knows, we might start making matzos out of rice or something, lo aleinu.
ROTF @ Joe!
Cholent is not stew; it’s cassoulet, a French dish very similar, with meat and beans.
Except that very few yidden could afford goose and lamb in their cholent 🙁
Non; les juives en effet manger des l’oies et des agneaux dans leur cholents.
Les juives riches. Ceux comme moi, pas aussi souvent
I have heard that the word “Cholent” comes from the French “Hot” and “Slow”. So i’ve quickly done a google translate and here it is:
Hot = Chaud
Slow = Lente
Chaud Lente – Cholent
Non; les juives en effet manger des l’oies et des agneaux dans leur cholents.
Depends how it farts. Gotto wait a few hours – maybe days to solve this.
Then add some cabbage or Brussels sprouts
Reiach nichoach indeed.