Name: Three B’s Cholent
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 5 h 30 min
Total time: 5 h 50 min
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Europe
Ingredients: 3 medium onions, finely chopped (about 3 cups); 2 tablespoons canola oil; 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (optional); 2 tablespoons sweet paprika; ¼ cup finely chopped parsley (preferably flat-leaf); 1 cup pearl barley; 2 stalks celery, finely chopped; 5 cloves garlic, minced; 1½ cups dried kidney beans or navy beans; 6 ounces beef salami, cut into 1-inch chunks (optional); 2 cups tomato juice; 6 to 8 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable broth or water, or as needed; ¼ cup toasted bread crumbs (optional); 2 teaspoons olive oil (optional); 1 bay leaf; 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1½ pounds brisket; 4 potatoes (6 to 8 ounces each), scrubbed and cut in quarters

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
6 hr

Appears in

Healthy Jewish Cooking

By Steven Raichlen

Published 2000

About

“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