Three B’s Cholent

“Sabbath without cholent is like a king without a throne,” runs an old Yiddish saying. Hyperbole, perhaps, but the dictum reflects the importance of this supremely comforting casserole in traditional Jewish life. Cholent (sometimes spelled tscholent) was to Eastern European Jews what baked beans were to nineteenth-century New Englanders and what cassoulet remains to the French. Imagine a soulful stew of beans, barley, beef, and root vegetables slowly baked for hours to rib-sticking perfecti