Cholent from Dixie

Here's (most) of my recipe......... People seem to enjoy it.

1) 1 - 1.5 lbs cholent meat (Rumanian)
2) 1 large can of Baked beans
3) 1/2 Bear of Honey
4) 3-4 potatoes (diced smaller than normallly done. Don't use big chunks)
5) 5 tbs Ketchup
6) 3 carrots
8) 2 onions (julienne into smallish slivers)
7) two bay leaves
9) 1 lb ground beef
10) 1/2 of a large kishke (defrosted)
11) pepper
12) salt
13) garlic powder
14) tabasco
15) Paprika
16) Chili powder
15) 1.5 cup assorted beans
16) 1/2 cup barley
17) 2 hot dogs (rumanian garlic dogs are preferred) cut up into bite-size chunks

Ok, here goes...

Put the potatoes, carrots, onions, and beans (not barley) into the bottom of crock pot. Then layer this with the ketchup, baked beans, and honey. At this point place the cholent meat and the hot dogs gingerly around the pot. Now spice the cholent with the pepper, lots of garlic powder, some paprika and chili powder, and about ten shakes of the tabasco. Don't forget to add the bay leaves now.

Kishke and Ground Beef: Now this is crucial - - - take the kishke out of the celophane wrapping and break it into thousands of small pieces and sprinkle them all over the cholent. Do the exact same for the ground beef. DO NOT PLACE THE GROUND BEEF IN WITHOUT BREAKING IT UP. It will turn into one big meatball.

Finally, add lots of salt (usually a little more than a sane person might think) and then top this off with a bit more tabasco.

Add water (same as every other recipe) to come to same level as ingredients in cholent.

Cook on low for about 15 hours.

NO EGGS ALLOWED IN THIS CHOLENT AND NO KISHKE LEFT IN ITS WRAPPING. KISHKE MUST BE ABSORBED INTO THE CHOLENT.

Try the cholent after several shots of Woodford Reserve or a good scotch and then another couple while eating the cholent itself. Its a darn good combo.

Thanksgiving at the In-Laws

My wife's family always has a big Thanksgiving family get-together. Because of the differences in culture and observance, on Shabbos, I prefer to have a cholent. My mother-in-law is usually pretty psyched for my cholent. She doesn't usually make it herself, and I think having a cholent in her house reminds her of her salad days (oh, the irony of "cholent" being in the same sentence with "salad").

I wanted to make a core cholent, to show that a cholent can be tasty and not fatty, fatty, fat-fat. I was out-ruled by those in the house that required cholent to also have kishke. Of course, I didn't fight too hard. Who doesn't love kishke in the cholent?

This is what I remember throwing in the cholent:

• Flanken (short-ribs)
• chuck
• barley
• small, red potatoes
• sweet potato (in honor of the chag)
• turkey broth (also for the chag)
• kishke
• beef bullion
• canned kidney beans
• baked beans
• Lowry's seasoned salt
• cayenne pepper
• crushed red pepper
• honey
• rosemary/garlic spice mix
• dried, minced onion
• garlic powder
• barley
• turkey salami
• Woodford Reserve (yummy bourbon)

I was worried about overdoing it, and adding too many ingredients. But, I must say that this cholent was freakin' amazing.

---

I have a tradition that I like to have a l'chayim with the cholent whenever I add alcohol. I highly recommend adopting this tradition as your own.

Small cholent #1

This past Shabbos, I made a successful cholent for two. The challenge of the small cholent is resisting the urge to fill the crock pot and to keep it from burning.

For small cholent, we purchased a 2-quart crock pot, in contrast with our usual 4-quart and 6-quart models. The 2-quart crock pot has developed cracks and is sitting in limbo while we ponder returning it to the manufacturer.

Previous attempts to make the small cholent in a larger crock pot resulted in cholent waste or burnt cholent.

To eliminate cholent waste before it happens, keep an eye on the ingredients before they hit the pot. I tend to cook by improvisation so my usual technique is to look at the pot and wonder what else I can put inside.

To avoid burnt cholent, it's very important to make sure the water level is high. Normally, in a full crock pot cholent, the ideal is to add enough water so it just covers the solid ingredients. There is enough stuff inside to keep the heat distributed well. When you under-fill the crock pot, the food inside is in danger of being burned because the little food inside will have to absorb the same amount of heat. Always err on the side of soupy.

Having little time before Shabbos this week, I took a couple shortcuts.

• 1 package of "cholent meat"
• 1 can of whole potatoes
• 1 can of baked beans
• some barley (about 3/4 cup?)

Having no time to prepare fresh, spicy ingredients, I used cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Experimental spices included turmeric and a small amount of cumin. For an extra "beefy" flavor, I also dumped in some Osem Beef bullion.

My wife enjoyed it, but she might have enjoyed it more without the Indian spices. An all around solid cholent with few complaints.

Velvel's cholent philosophy

There are four necessary ingredients in my cholent. If any of these are missing, it's not cholent.

• Meat
• Beans
• Barley
• Potatoes

I prefer the addition of the following ingredients, but WeightWatchers dietary restrictions, spicy-heat tolerance and common sense of my wife may limit these.

• Kishke
• Bourbon/Beer
• Hot peppers
• Liquid smoke
• Maple syrup or honey

Sometimes I like to add whole eggs in the shell. I picked this up from my Sephardi friends. When the cholent is finished, the eggs come out with a light-brown color and a strong "cholenty" flavor. They can be peeled and eaten as is, or can be taken out to make a "meaty" egg salad.

All of my cholent preferences are subject to change per cholent as ingredient availability or my whim sees fit.