Cholent and other Sabbath stews ( yi, טשאָלנט, tsholnt ''or'' tshulnt) are traditional
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
stews
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and m ...
. It is usually
simmered
Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...
overnight for 10–12 hours or more, and eaten for lunch on
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
(the Sabbath). Shabbat stews were developed over the centuries to conform with
Jewish law
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...
s that prohibit cooking on the Sabbath. The pot is brought to a boil on Friday before the Sabbath begins, and sometimes kept on a
blech
A ''blech'' (from the Yiddish word בלעך (blekh) meaning "tin" or "sheet metal") is a metal sheet used by many observant Jews to cover stovetop burners (and for some, the cooker's knobs and dials) on Shabbos (the Jewish Sabbath), as part of th ...
or
hotplate
A hot plate is a portable self-contained tabletop small appliance cooktop
A cooktop (American English), stovetop (American English) or hob (British English), is a device commonly used for cooking that is commonly found in kitchens and used t ...
, or left in a slow oven or electric
slow cooker
A slow cooker, also known as a crock-pot (after a trademark owned by Sunbeam Products but sometimes used generically in the English-speaking world), is a countertop electrical cooking appliance used to simmer at a lower temperature than othe ...
, until the following day. Cholent originated as a barley
porridge
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
in ancient
Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
called "harisa" or "horisa",
[Gil Marks, Encyclopedia of Jewish Foods, 656 (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), 40.] possibly as far back as the
Second Temple period
The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Jewis ...
, and over the centuries various
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of t ...
communities created their own variations of the dish based on local food resources and neighborhood influence.
There are many variations of the dish, which is standard in both the
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
and
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
kitchens and among other communities. The basic ingredients of cholent are
meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
,
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es,
bean
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
s and
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
though all shabbat stews contain some type of grain and meat or featured
vegetable
Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...
. Slow overnight cooking allows the flavors of the various ingredients to permeate and produces the characteristic taste of each local stew.
Etymology
"Harisa", also transliterated as "horisa", derived from the Semitic origins of "haras" meaning "to break" to describe the action of breaking and crushing barley before mixing it with water to create a porridge.
''Hamin'' (, pronounced ''ḥamin''), the
Iberian precursor to cholent, derives from the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
word ('hot') likely as harisa was adapted to become a shabbat stew. Sometimes this was called "trasnochado" ("overnighted" in Spanish) but still contained the same ingredients. After the
Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Iberian Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the i ...
hid their hamin pots under the fire embers to avoid persecution and exposure of Jewish practices,
[John Cooper, ''Eat and Be Satisfied : A Social History of Jewish Food'', (Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1993), 103.] renaming the dish ''dafina'' ( diminutive of "buried") from the Latin letters "d-f-n" (which echoes the
Mishnaic
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
phrase "bury the hot food").
Other variations of shabbat stews include
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
words dependent on each stew's origin.
Moroccans
Moroccans (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who are of Moroccan nationality, s ...
eat ''sakhina/S'hina/skhena'' ( diminutive of "hot" in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
) while Ethiopians "sanbat wat", a play on "shabbat wat", to mimic a local treif dish "
doro wat" meaning "chicken stew" in
Amharic
Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
.
Max Weinreich
Max Weinreich ( yi, מאַקס ווײַנרײַך ''Maks Vaynraych''; russian: Мейер Лазаревич Вайнрайх, ''Meyer Lazarevich Vaynraykh''; 22 April 1894, Goldingen, Russian Empire – 29 January 1969, New York City) was a Russ ...
traces the etymology of ''cholent'' to the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
present participle ''calentem'' (an
accusative
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
form of ''calēns''), meaning "that which is hot" (as in ''calorie''), via
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
(present participle of , from the verb , "to warm"). One widely quoted
folk etymology
Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...
derives the word from
French ("hot") and ("slow"). Another folk etymology derives ''cholent'' (or ) from the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
(pronounced ), which means "that rested
vernight, referring to tradition of Jewish families placing their individual pots of cholent into the town baker's ovens that always stayed hot and slow-cooked the food overnight.
[Aaron Gross, Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food, 376, (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2019), 35.]
Another possible etymology is from Old French (hot lentils). This last proposed etymology is unlikely, as the "d" in ''chaudes'' is
pronounced and not silent, and therefore too far from the pronunciation of ''tsholnt'' or ''tsholent'' (
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
is notable for its final consonants being pronounced and not silent as in the case of Modern French).
Origins of hot stews on Shabbat
In traditional
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
,
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
, and
Mizrahi
''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings.
In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to:
*Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East
* Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian P ...
families, stew is the hot
main course
A main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée ("entry") course.
Typically, the main course is the meal that is the heaviest, heartiest, and most intricate or substantial o ...
of the midday Shabbat meal served on Saturdays typically after the morning synagogue services for practicing Jews.
Secular Jewish Secular Jew may refer to:
* A general epithet for Jews who participate in modern secular society and are not stringently religious
* Nonreligious Jews, including nonaffiliated, agnostics, etc.
** Jewish atheism
** Cultural Judaism
* ''Hiloni
...
families also serve stews like cholent or eat them in Israeli restaurants. For practicing Jews, lighting a fire and cooking food are among the
activities prohibited on Shabbat
The 39 Melakhot ( he, ל״ט אבות מלאכה, '' lamed-tet avot melakhah'', "39 categories of work") are thirty-nine categories of activity which Jewish law identifies as prohibited by biblical law on Shabbat. Many of these activities are also ...
by the written
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
. Therefore, cooked Shabbat food must be prepared before the onset of the Jewish Shabbat at sunset Friday night.
Very little documentation of Jewish diet before the 6th century exists except in small circles and the scriptures from the Torah.
Around the reign of
King Herod in the first century BCE, a divergence in scholarship lead to three practices of
halacha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
: the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...
,
Sadducees
The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio-religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Th ...
, and the
Essenes
The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st c ...
. Modern Jews claim descent from the Pharisees as the strictest observation of halacha. After the destruction of the 2nd Temple, Rabbinical authorities began to work on the Mishnah to preserve Oral Law in an attempt to remain unified on halachic rulings. The Karaites often disagreed with Rabbinic rulings like the kosher status of chickens and eggs
or whether fire is allowed to burn during shabbat leading to avoidance of candle light the entire day. This stems from the verse "You shall not
urn
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
(
Heb: ''bi'er'' the
pi'el
In Hebrew, verbs, which take the form of derived stems, are conjugated to reflect their tense and mood, as well as to agree with their subjects in gender, number, and person. Each verb has an inherent voice, though a verb in one voice typica ...
form of ''ba'ar'') a fire in any of your dwellings on the day of Shabbat." Rabbinic Judaism however, the ''qal'' verb form ''ba'ar'' is understood to mean "burn", whereas the ''pi'el'' form (present here) is understood to be not intensive but causative. (The rule being that the pi'el of a stative verb will be causative, instead of the usual hif'il.) Hence ''bi'er'' means "kindle", which is why Rabbinic Judaism prohibits only ''starting'' a fire on Shabbat. Historian Aaron Gross proposes this caused a rise in popularity of shabbat stews as a hot meal.
Diasporic history and new ingredients
As the
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora ( he, תְּפוּצָה, təfūṣā) or exile (Hebrew: ; Yiddish: ) is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland (the Land of Israel) and their subsequent settlement in other parts of t ...
grew with Jewish migrations into Europe, North Africa, and elsewhere in the Middle East and Central Asia, Jewish diaspora communities developed their own variations of the dish based on the local climate, available ingredients and local influence. John Cooper in argues that shabbat stews like cholent would have spread from Jerusalem east towards Babylon and simultaneously across the Mediterranean by North Africa into Iberia and eventually Italy and France
while Marks cites Persian, Yemen and Italian communities to predate Sephardim in Iberia.
Original diets
Shabbat stews of the Bukharian Jews and Mizrahi Jews in the Asian Central Steppe who trace their diaspora to Babylonian exile have the most distinct versions of shabbat stews that relate closest to their non-Jewish neighbors and often resembled the closed proposed ingredients and methods to the original harisa.
The most accessible foods to Jews living in Israel before the destruction of the Second Temple likely ate the Mediterranean Triad: grain, oil and wine, which were available at low cost and vast amounts. While both wheat and barley were grown in Israel, barley was more likely to supplement inland Palestine. Cooper argues wheat would have been twice as expensive as barley which could grow in rougher soils closer to Jerusalem.
Barley could also be harvested earlier ensuring multiple crops in the same season.
Meats were considered "luxury" goods that few could afford except on special occasions like shabbat and other holidays. Lambs and goats would have been popular as they grazed in arid climates and provided supplementary products like wool and milk while cattle were more expensive to maintain and priced as sacrificial.
Iberia under the Moors: Meat/eggs
Chicken was likely domesticated in Southeast Asia and popularized in Ur around 2100 BCE though the Israelites would have been less likely to eat it due to association of Roman sacrifice. Until the 8th century, the upkeep for chickens meant they could only be raised in small numbers making them a delicacy few could afford outside of shabbat. Gentile "olla podrida" rose in popularity in the 13th century featuring a porridge with vegetables, spices and meat, usually cattle. 14th century famine in Northern Europe caused a rise in cattle prices near Western Europe and North Africa where most Jews were living under Moorish peace as Muslim Umayyad Empire was more tolerant of Abrahamic religions. This lead to chicken replacing cattle as livestock and resulted in mass recipe changes to accommodate access of resources in Iberia and Northern Africa.
The increase in chicken lead to a surplus of eggs as a renewable resource. "Huevos haminados" began to describe the long process of long roasting eggs in hamin pots overnight that produced a signature aroma. The concept of "re'ach nicho'ach" describes the direct line of spiritual connection of scents from the nose to the soul. giving the egg an extra spiritual strength for Jews. In Kabbalah, the eggs are even watched over by an angel.
Post Reconquista: Blech
The rise of the Spanish conquest of Iberia, known as the Reconquista, stretched from as early as the establishment of Christian Kingdom Austurius in the early 8th century until the surrendering of Granada in 1492 by the ruling Moorish Kingdom. Jews were faced with limited options after the Alhambra Decree expelled non-Christian religious practices or face expulsion. Jews who migrated west across the Mediterranean after the destruction of the 2nd Temple became known as "Sephardic" Jews (literally Spanish Jews) and often reintegrated themselves to well established Jewish communities in North Africa or even the Ottoman Empire where a new language called "ladino", a mix of Hebrew and Spanish, began to explode in popularity.
Jews "conversos" (converts) converted, either sincerely or as a ruse, began to mainstream Jewish practices into Iberian culture. Sephardim who remained religious learned to hide observation of shabbat by "hiding" or "concealing" their pots in the embers of household fires or underground ovens from their Christian neighbors. Hamin became known as adafina or dafina as local ingredients changed hamin's base to a rice and chicken dish to match local practices. Stews like "gallina al vinegreta" began to rise in popularity nationally around the same making the ingredients almost indistinguishable.
The slow warming of the embers inspired an extra layer of precaution to the prohibition of cooking on shabbat, the blech. The blech covers a fire or modern stovetops to prevent cooking while allowing heat to transfer from one item to another indirectly as a warm source without "kindling". Hamin, scheena and cholent all commonly use a blech pinpointing their distinctions to a similar time period.The unique cooking requirements of were later the inspiration for the invention of the slow cooker.
Columbian Exchange: Potatoes, tomatoes, harissa, beans
Even in ancient Israel, it is likely that vegetables supplemented stews with native vegetables like leek, garlic and onions which were more accessible to poorer communities like future Ashkenazi. Historians have little proof other than modern economic trends as there was little documentation in the original period and vegetables decompose making it harder to note from archaeological evidence.
After the Columbian Exchange, new vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes and beans rose in popularity. They offered more substantial nutrients at lower costs than meats but with more flavor than barley, wheat or rice. In the Maghreb, a South American hot chili pepper called "harissa" thrived in the regions soil. Slow cooking crushed wheat, tomatoes and harissa created a spicy sauce that added new flavors to classic rice dishes.
Beans from the New World rapidly replaced barley and rice used in North Africa and Europe. In Greece and Turkey, "avicas" substituted the rice in hamin with white beans and even smaller haricot beans left over from Shabbat's Friday night dinner.
Ashkenazi Jews and brisket
The relative accessibility of cattle in the region may have be due to cold winters requiring costlier food instead of reliance on grazing, resulting in higher frequency in the slaughter of cattle and preservation, as the beef could be stored in the winter. As a generally poorer population facing discrimination, Jews opted for the tougher, kosher cuts of cattle like brisket that would tenderize after long periods of roasting like in shabbat stews. Kabbalistic "ba'al tasclit" ("don't destroy") was applied to not wasting and using everything ingredient available during hardships which encouraged using scraps of brisket rather than full roasts. However, brisket was incorporated as a celebratory food as early as the 18th century.
Modern Israel
In modern Israel, cholent has become a dish widely available in restaurants. In 2013, ''cholenterias'', casual restaurants specializing in cholent, emerged in
Bnei Brak
Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq ( he, בְּנֵי בְּרַק ) is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an are ...
and the
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and became the premier night hangout areas for Haredi men between their
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
study sessions. Soon afterwards, cholent dishes spread to restaurants in secular areas.
Sephardim in Tel Aviv originated "sofrito" made of beef, potatoes and various spices eaten at Friday night shabbat dinners and added to the main meal the next day.
Variations
Central and South Asian Jews
Bukharian Jews who live in the Kyzyl-Kum Desert and near mountain ranges were mostly isolated but situated in a spot near accessible to the Silk Road granting access to Asian rices like basmati to replace barley. A local dish called "plov" used a cotton bag filled with rice, meats (usually goat or liver) and herbs that tinted the mixture green. The cotton bag kept the rice intact overnight until the daytime meal where "bakhshi plov", "bakhshi shabotiy" or "Bakhshi khaltagiy" would be served. In Azerjiban, plov is served as several separate layers on top of an egg base. In
Bukharan Jewish cuisine
Bukharan Jewish cuisine is the traditional cuisine originating from the Bukharian Jewish community of Central Asia, who now mostly reside in Bukharian Jews in Israel, Israel, and the Bukharan Jews, United States.
Overview
The cooking of Bukharan ...
, a hot Shabbat dish with meat (usually from the shin of kosher livestock), asiatic rice that doubles in size, and fruits like raisins, "tapuach" or modern substitute of Granny Smith Apples added for a unique sweet and sour taste is called ''oshi sabo'' (also oshevo or ''osh savo''). The name of the dish in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
or Bukharian Jewish dialect means "hot food
'oshi'' or ''osh''for Shabbat
'sabo'' or ''savo'', reminiscent of both ''hamin'' and ''s'hina''.
Ukrainian and Georgian Jews enjoyed a heavy vegetable diet. Adzhapsandali, which features eggplant and adzuki beans likely introduced by the Persians along the Silk Road, is characterized by the large copper pots used to cook it.
Among
Iraqi Jews
The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mos ...
, the hot Shabbat stew is called ''t'bit'' and consists of whole chicken skin filled with a mixture of rice, chopped chicken meats, tomatoes and herbs. The stuffed chicken skin in t'bit calls to mind the Ashkenazi helzel, chicken neck skin stuffed with a flour and onion mixture that often replaces (or supplements) the kishke in European cholent recipes.
Indian Jews
The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity. in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
traditionally ate a similar dish of chicken and rice together with spices such as ginger, turmeric, and cardamon.
North Africa
In Tunisia, Jews adapted Muslim "Pkaila" or "bekaila" which used charred spinach, beef or lamb and legumes.In
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, the hot dish eaten by Jews on the Sabbath is traditionally called ''s'hina'' or ''skhina'' (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
for "the warm dish";
[Joelle Bahloul, "Food Practices Among Sephardic Immigrants in Contemporary France: Dietary Laws in Urban Society", ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', 63(3):485–96; cf. pp. 488, 491.] Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
spelling סכינא). S'hina is made with potatoes, meat, whole eggs simmering in the pot and chickpeas
[Cooper, 183–90.] replacing the occasional rice, barley hulled wheat.
Ethiopian Jews
The Beta Israel ( he, בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Bēteʾ Yīsrāʾēl''; gez, ቤተ እስራኤል, , modern ''Bēte 'Isrā'ēl'', EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "House of Israel" or "Community of Israel"), also known as Ethiopian Jews ...
traditionally eat a
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
version of
doro wat on Shabbat called "Sanbat wat", a stew of chicken and hard-boiled eggs commonly seasoned with
berber, cloves, onions, and other savory ingredients. It is traditionally served with
injera
Injera (, ; om, Biddeena; ) is a sour fermented pancake-like flatbread with a slightly spongy texture, traditionally made of teff flour. In Ethiopia, Eritrea, and some parts of Sudan, injera is the staple. Injera is central to the dining proc ...
similarly to challah with cholent. "Alicha wot", Aramaic for "mild", features a vegetarian version without berbere.
In Egypt, "ferik" was used as a method of cooking harisa involving unripened, crushed wheat that gave the dish by the same name a unique green hue. Historians argue whether the ferik method was used before Sephardic migration after the 13th century since Jews did not live in Egypt in large numbers post-exodus until Spanish expulsion. Egyptian Jews did not regularly include meat in their mostly vegetarian diets though chicken was prevalent for Shabbat after the Sephardic diaspora.
North, Central and Eastern European
In Germany, the Netherlands, and other western European countries the special hot dish for the Shabbat lunch is known as , , or .
[
In Italy, pasta is a common substitute for beans or rice in shabbat stews and is called "hamin macaron" when sampled in Iberia. The rise of Chassidism in the late 18th century popularized blackbeans in Eastern Europe as the Bal Shem Tov's favorite bean while Alastian Cholent in France featured lima beans.
]
North and South America
To honor the tradition of eggs in cholent, some American Jews long roast meatloafs for Friday night and place whole eggs to be peeled and eaten. ''The Kosher Cajun Cookbook'' features New Orleans style cajun food with kosher substitutes like gumbo and jambalaya. Puerto Rican hamin is considered a stewed "arroz con pollo."
Shabbat stews and gentiles
Ancient and medieval literary sources
Philosophers and historians, if permissible to consider them as such, during the late Talmudic era such as Josephus, Philo, Strabo, Tacitus, and Luke provide inklings of Jewish history by the Roman period but do not mention cholent or similar variations of shabbat stews by name.
Cholent was first mentioned by name 1180 CE by R. Yitzhak ben Moshe of Vienna who says "I saw in France in the home of my teacher R. Yehuda bar Yitzhak that sometimes their cholent pots were buried. And on Shabbat before the meal, the servants light the fire near the cauldrons so that they warm well, and some remove them and bring them close to the fire".
Harisa is mentioned by Ibn Al Karim in ''Kitab Al-Tabikh as early as'' the seventh century. In the annecdotal cookbook, the ''Umayyad Caliph, Mu'awiya,'' returns from a trip to Arabia after returning to his newly won Persian lands. In some versions of the story, Mu'awiya is met with some Yemenite Jews whom he asks to prepare the porrige he tasted abroad while in other versions, he approaches locals. This story should be taken with a grain of salt as the author penned the story three centuries after it supposedly occurred. At the very least, harisa was prevalent as a Levantine dish.
Communal cooking
In the shtetl
A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...
s of Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem, and other cities in the Land of Israel before the advent of electricity and cooking gas, a pot with the assembled but uncooked ingredients was brought to the local baker before sunset on Fridays. The baker would put the pot with the cholent mixture in his oven, which was always kept fired, and families would come by to pick up their cooked cholent on Saturday mornings. The same practice was observed in Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, where black pots of s'hina (see ''Variations'' below) were placed overnight in bakers' ovens and then delivered by bakers' assistants to households on Shabbat morning. Jewish stews were characterized by flour paste used to seal pots to prevent cooking and tampering which could cause the meal to become treif.
Gentile variations
The Jewish people of Hungary adapted the Hungarian dish sólet to serve the same purpose as cholent. Sólet was likely modified by the Jewish people living in Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
when the Magyars
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
arrived. This pork version of solet became so popular that it is sold across the country as a canned good in grocery stores.
In Southern US, cattle is a popular livestock that pairs neatly with American style BBQ. Jewish slow roasting brisket methods were quickly adapted and by the 1960s, US president Lyndon B. Johnson served Texas brisket to foreign dignitaries as a representative of national cuisine.[Marks, 75.]
See also
* Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine
Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that was developed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern, Central, Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, and their descendants, particularly in the United States and other Western count ...
* Cocido madrileño
(; "Madrid stew") is a traditional chickpea-based stew from Madrid, Spain. A substantial dish prepared with meat and vegetables, it is most popular during the winter but is served throughout the year in some restaurants. Initially it was a di ...
* Macaroni Hamin
Macaroni Hamin (Hamin Macaroni in Hebrew) is a traditional Sephardic Jerusalemite dish originally from the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It consists of macaroni, chicken, potatoes and spices. Traditionally Macaroni Hamin is slo ...
* Israeli cuisine
Israeli cuisine ( he, המטבח הישראלי ) comprises both local dishes and dishes brought to Israel by Jews from the Diaspora. Since before the establishment of the Israel, State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, a ...
* Jewish cuisine
Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (''kashrut''), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions cen ...
* Kashrut
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
* Kosher foods
Kosher foods are foods that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of ''kashrut'' (dietary law). The laws of ''kashrut'' apply to food derived from living creatures and kosher foods are restricted to certain types of mammals, birds and fish m ...
* List of stews
This is a list of notable stews. A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potato ...
References
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{{Jewish baked goods
Israeli cuisine
Jewish cuisine
Shabbat food
Stews
Yiddish words and phrases