S'Derot

S'Derot is a community in Israel, located in close proximity to the Gaza Strip. In particular, it is attacked on a daily basis by rockets from Gaza. It really doesn't matter if the rockets are launched by Hamas, people affiliated with Hamas, or just very angry people who'd rather attack Israelis then channel their energy into a productive activity. The attacks are real, the damages are real.

Chabad in S'Derot has set up an online fund to aid the Jewish residents of S'Derot. I would urge you to assist them.

Iron Cholent

Recipes from the Cholent Meister of Chabad of Tyson's Corner, VA (outside of Washington DC). A companion blog to Capitol Chai Life

Cholent is a uniquely Jewish creation...

...while assorted cultures have stews and slow-cooked foods, in Judaism, it is a necessity, since observant Jews are strictly prohibited from cooking on Shabbat, in addition to being severely limited in the use of fire and electricity. While there is some debate about the origin of the word "Cholent" (and for that matter, the term is not universally used -- Ashkenazic Jews [of Eastern European origin] make cholent, while Sephardic Jews [of Western European and North African origin] make Dafina), the origin is reasonably well understood.

Shabbat stews first started to appear around the 4th century CE, but in the 9th century CE, a movement within Judaism arose in the area known as Mesopotamia -- present day Iran and Iraq. These Jews, known as Karaites, believe in a very strict reading of the Torah. In reaction to this group, the Rabbis of the day ordained that their followers have a hot meal as part of their Shabbat observance.

Obviously, this was a challenge, since Jews could not tend a fire, nor cook food. The meal would have to be prepared and mostly cooked by the time Shabbat came in on Friday night, and then have to sit on a pile of coals for sixteen to twenty hours, until it was eaten for lunch on Saturday.

Given these conditions, cholents are generally heavy on beans, root vegetables, grains, and red meat. This simplest cholents are in fact just that -- beans, beef, and onion. Still, cholents have acquired some variation in the past 1700 years or so, and for that matter, some slow-cooked dishes are perfectly fine for cholent. Chili anyone?

Friday, February 15, 2008

I can understand running out of vinegar... (Tetzaveh / 10 Adar I 5768)

...I mean really, how many of us keep that close tabs on our vinegar supply.

But my Rabbi and Rebbitzin have four kids! How do you run out of KETCHUP???

Fortunately, this week's cholent is a variation on Brunswick Stew, a regional dish that traces its origins to the southeast United States (i.e. Brunswick, GA).

Back in the day, people in the 18th and 19th century United States, (especially in the Southern US, where there was little livestock farming), ate whatever game they had available -- squirrel, opossum, rabbit. These are gamier and leaner meats then we are accustomed to. In order to make these meats palatable, the people around Brunswick (depending upon whom you ask, Brunswick, Georgia or Brunswick County, Virginia) created a stew with local vegetables (either lima beans or butter beans, corn, rice, okra, and celery).

Now today, instead of worrying about hunting game for our supper, we worry about getting to the market through the traffic (to find ketchup and vinegar apparently!), so the meats used in this stew have also changed. The Virginia version (the basis for this week's cholent) relies on chicken, while the Georgia version relies on pork (which obviously will not be used.)

Oh, so why is it fortunate that this week's cholent is Brunswick Stew? Because I had two hours between when I precooked the meat to when I needed the ketchup (and the vinegar). Even in traffic clogged Washington DC, that was PLENTY of time to get to the market and back.

Update -- Saturday night 10:30 pm

I'm a victim of my own success. These guys went through two gallons of stew!
Posted by at
Labels: