Goof Proof Cholent Recipes

CHOLENT

Steps:

• Place the beans in a medium bowl and cover with a few inches of water. Refrigerate at least 8 hours.
• Using the sear feature of your slow cooker, or a heavy pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Season the beef on both sides with salt and pepper. Sear the beef until deep golden brown on one side, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn and sear other side until golden brown, 4 to 6 more minutes. Remove the beef and set aside. Remove and discard excess oil. Add 1/4 cup of the red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Cook until mostly reduced, about 30 seconds.
• If searing in the slow cooker, add the onions in one layer. Top with the potatoes, then the seared beef. If searing in a separate pan, place the onions in one layer on the bottom of the slow cooker. Top with the potatoes, then the beef, then pour in the reduced wine.
• Top with the drained beans, then the carrots, garlic and barley. Whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup red wine, tomato paste and honey in a large glass measuring cup and add 2 cups water. Add the water mixture and the beef broth to the cooker. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.
• Stir in the vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and serve.

BEST CHOLENT EVER

Steps:

• You will need a 5.5 gallon pot you can put in the oven (i.e. no plastic parts). Cook the spaghetti in a different pot with the tumeric (for color).
• While it cooks, heat the oil in the pot over a large flame and add the chicken and ground beef. Stir as necessary so they are browned on all sides.
• In the meantime, slice the potatoes into 1/2" discs.
• When the meat is browned, take out the chicken pieces and the beef, but leave the oil and shmaltz in the pot. Add the onion slices to the pot to form the first layer--the onion layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the potato slices to form the potato layer. Sprinkle with the chicken soup powder and pepper to taste.
• Add the chicken drumsticks, squeezing them together to make a nice tight chicken layer. Sprinkle with the paprika and add salt and pepper--you know the drill.
• Strain the spaghetti, rinse it off and add it to the pot to form the spaghetti layer, salt and pepper as usual.
• Add the ground beef--it will not be a layer, it's just there for flavor.
• Cut a cooking bag open so you have a sheet. Place it on top of the layers and add 1 Tbsp of oil and 1/2 c of water. Make sure they stay in the center of the cooking sheet and don't spill over into the cholent--they will fill your hermetically sealed pot with the steam necessary to cook your cholent without it drying out as it waits 16 hours in the oven for you to eat it!
• Cover the pot and wrap it on all sides with aluminum foil. Put it in a 180 degree Celsius (medium temperature) oven for 40-60 minutes, then switch the oven over to the hot plate setting, or move it to a hot plate with a box around it to make sure heat is even on all sides. From experience, putting it on a regular hot plate means the bottom layers burn and the top layers are kind of anemic looking, without all the delicious sauce.

MOM'S AUTHENTIC KOSHER CHOLENT RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large oven safe pot or roasting pan, saute onions in oil over medium heat.
• Add meat, and brown well on all sides.
• Mix in beans; stir continuously until the beans start to shrivel. Stir in the barley. Add potatoes, and add just enough boiling water to cover the meat and potatoes. Mix in dry soup mix and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer partially covered for 20 minutes on stove top.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
• Cover pot tightly, and place in preheated oven. Allow to cook overnight for at least 10 to 15 hours. Check periodically to make sure you have enough liquid to cover; add small amounts of water if needed. Do not stir; stirring will break up the chunks of potatoes.

GOOF-PROOF CHOLENT

Steps:

• Use large stove- and oven-proof pot or start in pot and change to large casserole dish when it's time to put in oven.
• Put the beans in a large saucepan with water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat. Leave the beans to soak for 3 hours. (Alternatively soak unboiled beans in water overnight.).
• Trim meat of all visible fat and cut into 4 - 6 large chunks.
• Saute onions in small amount of oil until they just begin to brown.
• Add meat to pot and brown on all sides.
• Add soaked and drained beans, barley, lentils, paprika, salt, pepper and ginger.
• Put potatoes on top.
• Add enough boiling water so that everything is almost covered but there is at least 1 inch headroom at top of pot/dish.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Over medium heat, bring cholent to boil then cover pot/dish tightly with lid and/or foil and place in oven.
• Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees then reduce heat to 225 degrees and bake overnight (12 - 20 hours). It can be served any time after the minimum 12 hours.
• DO NOT STIR WHILE COOKING.