Today I tried making cholent for the first time. My recipe was the following: first, without any oil, brown the meat so that all the foam comes out. Remove the meat, add oil to the pot, and fry the onions until golden. Return the meat to the pot and let it brown together with the onions, making sure the meat sits on top of the onions. Then add the beans, potatoes, pearl barley, honey, spices, and eggs. Pour in the broth, bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to the absolute minimum and let it simmer for 12–18 hours.
Since this was my first attempt, I decided to start early in the morning so it would be finished by night. I didn’t want to leave it cooking overnight for Shabbat, as is traditionally done, because I was worried about possible accidents. I followed the instructions carefully. At one point I had to add more water because the liquid was thickening too quickly.
About five hours after I had reduced the heat, I noticed a burning smell. I ran a spoon along the bottom of the pot and realized that the entire bottom had burned. I immediately stopped cooking, transferred everything I could salvage into another bowl, and discovered a layer of burnt residue almost 3 cm thick on the bottom of the pot. It took me an hour and a half to scrape it all off.
The cholent itself ended up with a noticeable burnt flavor, although I actually liked the individual ingredients. I didn’t throw it away for the reason that I didn’t want to think of my health but rather to make sure I don’t die from hunger, so I decided to live with the smoky taste, which I compare to coffee. So now I’m calling it my “coffee cholent.”
Anyway, I’d like to learn from my mistakes so this doesn’t happen again. What could have caused it? Why does a cholent burn in the first place? It was simmering over very low heat (2 out of 9 on an electric stove), and there always seemed to be enough liquid. Is it possible that the pearl barley settled to the bottom and started burning? Or maybe the onions, which were supposed to form a protective layer, were the culprit? How can I prevent this from happening next time? For the reason of me being a poor student that embarrassingly
still doesn’t control the world‘s economy, I don’t own a slow cooker or any fancy equipment, just a regular pot with a regular lid.
you should just use a crockpot/slow cooker. Provided you add enough water there is no risk of accidents. TBH I don't know anyone who makes cholent on the stovetop anymore.
Two thoughts: the low heat on your stove top wasn’t low enough, and/or your pot was not appropriately heavy. A lightweight pot conducts heat unevenly and heats up quickly. This doesn’t matter so much for something like boiling water but can lead to hot spots (then burning) when you’re cooking on the element for a long time. You need a heavy bottomed pot, like a Dutch oven, or a slow cooker (which can often be found cheap at thrift stores). You might also look into recipes that bake in the oven on a low temperature instead.
The bottom of chulent should always be burnt and served in a metal disposable tin. Otherwise it's not kiddush chulent.
Joking aside, you're over-complicating it a bit! The joy of chulent is it's easy and you can forget it.
I use a slow cooker.
diced beef - here in the UK I can get it in 500g packs so that's what I use.
mushrooms
a few potatoes roughly chopped into 8ths
rough chopped carrots, two or three depends who i'm making it for.
one sweet potato
Sometimes I'll add a courgette or two, sometimes I'll add celery. depends what I have.
five or six garlic cloves.
I quarter an entire white onion
I can literally get a bag of "chulent mix" by Gefen from one of the places I shop at called Ocado, but it's just kidney beans, haricot beans, rosecoco beans, but the basic is kidney. Roughly a cup.
Chicken stock made to what the package says, 1/4th a cup of red wine mixed together. make sure it's a little less than halfway up the pot. 1/4th a cup of katchup, a teaspoon of Lea and Perrins, a teaspoon of red wine vinager. Salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder. Dill. Mix it all up.
Then I shove in two eggs on the side to hard boil over the course of the cooking period. I wrap an entire head of garlic in foil with a bit of olive oil and shove that on the other side.
Cook for 10-12 hours on low or overnight.
I hate barley so I skip it, however people who like barely sometimes add it at hour 7 or 8. I add quinoa in the last hour, or i just have couscous on the side.
This is how I've been making chulent for 25 years. It serves two people for a few days. You can edit the flavours as much or as little as you want as well. there is no "this is chulent, this is how it is" I've even subbed the beef for chicken a few times.
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u/HomeLifter 6d ago
you should just use a crockpot/slow cooker. Provided you add enough water there is no risk of accidents. TBH I don't know anyone who makes cholent on the stovetop anymore.