Cholent

Name: Cholent
Yield: makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 pound dried lima or other white beans; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 3 pounds beef brisket or boneless beef chuck, cut into large chunks; Salt and black pepper to taste; 2 large onions, roughly chopped; 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon ground; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground cardamom; 1 bay leaf; 8 small or 4 medium waxy potatoes, peeled, halved if medium-sized; 1/2 cup pearl barley or kasha

December 14, 2011

Like tsimmes (page 502), this recipe was originally designed to sit in an oven after a fire had been built, cooking slowly overnight and even into the next day to provide a hot Sabbath meal for Jews who were not allowed to (actively) cook after sunset on Friday. Provided you have no such restrictions, it’s a little easier to make cholent, a wonderful stew of any meat, beans, barley, and potatoes; I believe it’s especially good with limas, which in any case are traditional in at least parts of Europe. Other cuts of meat you can use here: lamb shoulder is also good and, if you’re not too worried about tradition, so is pork shoulder.

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