Ashkenazi cholent – Shabbat overnight stew

When I was growing up in Israel, every shabbat afternoon was spent at my Polish grandmother’s, Rachel. As we sat to the table, she would emerge from the kitchen in small steps carrying a heavy, steaming casserole of cholent. The white beans, potatoes and meat stew was cooked all night on a hot plate, wrapped in towels. Her back leaned forward, as if from the weight of the heavy dish. She put the cholent on the table, opened the lid, and smiled proudly as we all went ooh and aah. The cholent was always deep brown, its aroma intoxicating, and my grandmother always said – look at these potatoes, they’re as juicy as figs! It was cold and rainy outside, but we all felt so good and warm inside eating the boiling, peppery, sweet stew.

The picture was completely different in the summer. My grandmother insisted on this beautiful Jewish tradition year round, not willing to accept that the weather was Levantine, the temperatures were as high as in the desert, and we were not in Poland anymore. We would be rushed out of the swimming pool, where we wanted to spend our day off from school, and to my grandmother’s house. She would repeat the same ceremony of introducing the weekly cholent to us, small steps, figs and all, but this time we were sweaty, as the temperature reached 100 degrees outside, but felt like 150 degrees once she uncovered the stew. We still couldn’t resist it. And after lunch we all would collapse on the sofa, not being able to move for the rest of the day.

Cholent share the same roots as its brother, the Moroccan/Tunisian adafina. Adafina was popular first in Spain in the Middle ages, and also got the Hebrew name hamin ( חמין in Hebrew), which basically means warm dish. With the expulsion of Jews from Spain, adafina arrived to Provence where it may have been called chalet (deriving from the old French word for “warm”). And from there it spread throughout France and Eastern Europe, with each community making its own variations: adding legumes, using different meats, until it became what we know until today as cholent.

There are many versions of cholent these days in Israel, as the community practices being a melting pot in the cholent pot itself. People add anything to the basic bean-potato-meat, from koukla bread and meat patties, as in the Tunisian hareesa, to wheat berries in cheesecloth, to Yemeni jachnoon (my mother’s favorite trick.)

I am using one trick that I learned from my grandmother – peel the potatoes a few hours before you start cooking, and just leave them in the open air (do not cover with water). They will grow unappealing black spots, that will disappear after cooking, so don’t worry about it. The potatoes will taste sweeter will have a heavier and nicer texture. 

And as if we don’t have enough carbs already, I want you to try the Jerusalem kugel. I’m not a kugel kind of girl, but this peppery, cooked-all-night version is the best. The way it’s cooked is by caramelizing the sugar with oil, mixing with the noodles and eggs and sending the kugel to the oven for the night next to the cholent. It is especially good when served with pickled cucumbers or turnips.

We would love to hear your family recipes and tips for Shabbat stews from around the globe. And don’t hesitate to make up your own recipe as well – how about short ribs with root vegetables in red wine for a night in the oven? or an overnight chili for the Superbowl?

Please post your family’s recipes in the comments below. It would be wonderful to hear about your own tips and tricks, recipes and most of all, memories of this so Jewish dish.

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Ashkenazi cholent – Shabbat overnight stew

Recipe by Vered GuttmanCourse: Main courseCuisine: Ashkenazi, Jewish, Polish, IsraeliDifficulty: Medium

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

45

minutes

In the oven

10

hours 

Cholent can turn watery or drier (which is how I prefer it), and only experience with your own pot and oven will teach you how much water is needed for your stew. For the first time, just make sure you check the cholent in the morning to see it still have enough water in it (up to about half of the casserole).

Traditionally, kishka is prepared by stuffing beef intestines with a mixture of flour and onion. That is no dish for the fainted heart. Although I’ll admit that it was always my favorite part of the cholent when my late grandmother used to make it, there’s no way I can make it myself. Some people use vegan sausage casing to recreate the real thing. I’m using a cheesecloth to wrap the kishka mixture, but it works perfectly well with no casing at all. All you need to do is to shape the mass into a cylinder and top the cholent with it.

For a vegetarian version, omit the beef and marrow bones. The dish will still be delicious. To add more depth of flavor, though, you can add dried porcini mushrooms and chestnuts.

INGREDIENTS

• 6-8 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled

• 4 tablespoons corn or any mild flavor oil

• 2 LB. beef chuck or 4 lbs. beef short ribs with the bone

• 3-4 beef marrow bones

• Kosher salt

• Ground black pepper

• 2 yellow onions, halved and thinly slices

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 cups kidney, pinto, cannellini or cassoulet beans, soaked in water overnight and drained

• 6-8 eggs (optional), washed well

• For the Kishka (optional)

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 finely chopped large yellow onion

• 6 oz. (¾ cup) chicken or goose schmaltz or oil

DIRECTIONS

• few hours before you start cooking, peel the potatoes and leave them in the open air. (this step is optional, but produces sweeter potatoes, at least according to my grandmother.)
• Salt and pepper the meat and and marrow bones. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When oil is hot sear meat and bones on all sides for about 8 minutes. Transfer to a platter.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and add 2 more tablespoons of oil to the casserole. Add onions and sauté until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Add brown sugar and cook for a few more minutes to caramelize the onions.
• While the onions are cooking, prepare the kishka. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add onion and schmaltz and mix again. You can now either form a 2-3 inch thick log of the kishka or use 4 layers of cheesecloth over a medium bowl and put the kishka mixture in. Gather the cheesecloth and tie. Keep aside.
• Add the beans to the casserole and mix with the onions. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper and mix. Push marrow bones into the bean mixture and put beef on top of the beans. Cover with water at room temperature just to the top of the beef and bring to boil. Skim any foam.
• Arrange potatoes and eggs next to the meat. If you’re adding kishka, put it now next to the potatoes. Make sure the water covers the potatoes half way (about ½-1 inch of the potatoes/eggs can peak from the top.) Bring back to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot and cook for 30 minutes. Turn the oven to 225 F degrees.
• Transfer pot to the oven. If the lid is not sealed well enough, cover pot with aluminum foil. Cook overnight.
• Check cholent first thing in the morning to see that enough water are left, it should reach about quarter the height of the casserole, no more. You can spoon some of the liquid out or add a little more as needed. Cover again and cook until lunch. Remove from oven, let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.