Rock Your World Lamb Cholent

Cholent is a serious food. There are no two ways about it, you eat this and it tastes like a piece of Shabbos (not Shabbat if you get me 😉 ). I grew up in a household where my mom – much as I adore her – just had no clue of how to make cholent – she has a German background and it was soupy and stew-like.

I would eat cholent at shul kiddushim and know in my soul that THIS was cholent.

When I met my husband and ate cholent at his parents’ table, I finally realized that you could make a truly excellent cholent at home in your own crockpot that resembled closely shul cholent just with half the oil. Heh heh.

Now I bear no ill will to those who make cholent that is basically a stew, swimming in liquid and horror of horrors have additions of honey or ketchup or who knows what else. I say to this, that is stew. Stew can be tasty just let’s not pretend it’s cholent. You wanna call it cholent, so be it. But no, just no. Cholent is a thick but not dry food which should not resemble stew in any shape or fashion.

I merrily continued to make my MIL’s cholent recipe for many years and saw no reason to diverge from this perfection until one fateful day when we were in a rush and going to my FIL z”l for Shabbat. His wonderful Filipino caretakers loved my cholent and always begged me to leave them the leftovers (not being a cruel person, I did so). But this time I had to pick up some takeout and I walked into a place in Shaarei Chesed called Shabbes Bistro and saw their 3 kinds of cholent, amongst them lamb cholent. Now I know there are lamb haters out there but DH and I are major lamb fans. We had to try it. Bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssss out. Total bliss. The texture was very good but it was the addition of the lamb that rocked our world.

So, we were on a lamb cholent run one erev Shabbat and OMG they had run out. I turned to DH and said with great determination, I will make my own. He was nervous but said, give it your best shot. And lamb cholent was born. What can I say? If you love lamb like we do, you will be in a lamb cholent coma of deliciousness.

Rock Your World Lamb Cholent

500 grams or about a pound + of potatoes, peeled and cut into medium chunks 
1/2 cup pearled barley – I use the bug free version – amen!
1/2 cup small white beans – ditto
2 teaspoons sweet paprika 
1 -2 teaspoons granulated garlic 
1 teaspoon salt 
One shake of cinnamon 
A pinch of cayenne pepper optional if you don’t like it hot
500 grams lamb neck or other cut of lamb like shank or shoulder that is good for long cooking
2 pieces kishke get the fleishig version, the vegetarian is okay but not the same
Water to cover

Serves 8-10 people

Directions:

First of all, I wound up using lamb neck since that was the only kind of lamb the butcher had that week. He sang it’s praises and said it’s not crazy fatty and plenty of meat. I was not sorry I listened to him and since it’s a cheaper cut, I recommend it.

I love the cholent bags, they make clean up a snap. Pull out your crockpot or slow cooker and turn it on low. Put into the crock 2-3 cups of hot water. I’ve found that when the cholent bag floats on the hot water it cooks better and doesn’t dry out. Thanks to my son Netanel for that hack!

Put into the cholent bag (if you can’t find any, you will have to put it directly in the crock and cannot “float it”) the chunked potatoes, beans, barley, spices, lamb and kishke. Put the cholent bag into the crock with the water already in it and pour hot water to completely cover all the ingredients in the cholent bag. I then tie the bag in a knot, cover the slow cooker and let it burble on low slowly in a corner till Shabbat lunch. The scent is heady and swirls around you when you walk into your kitchen in the morning. Once you open the bag, swirl the contents with some of the (unwrapped) kishke and you can also put a chunk in each bowl. I like to serve this in individual small bowls. Trust me when you dig in, you will have to work hard not to swoon 🙂 .