The best 3 cholent slow cookers
Cholent is the original slow-cooked dish, according to food historian Gil Marks. Tossed together before sundown on Friday and left to stew until Saturday at lunch, it was cooked for a full day in the oven or over the fire for hundreds of years before Croc- Pot made even made a dedicated appliance for the method. It’s a way to eat a delicious and filling hot meat on Shabbat without having to light any kindling or do any work.
Most slow cookers are pretty similar to be honest, but there’s a big difference between the best slow-cooker and the best slow-cooker for cholent on Shabbat. That’s because the best slow cookers are actually programmable ones — but those won’t work for Shabbat.
Therefore, the best cooker is actually vintage crock-pots. They last forever and have cute patterns. If you have one of these then stick with it! The new ones aren’t made the same
Otherwise, the best slow cooker for cholent should have:
No automatic shut-off. Some of the best slow cookers today are programmable and have a safety feature that shut off the device after 12 hours. While this is great for Shabbat’s during the summer in Canada, it’s horrible for short Winter days.
A locking lid. A locking lid is wonderful if you want to bring up a cholent to a cottage or to somewhere you are staying. You can do all the prep the night before, and just pop it in the car and then plug it in wherever you are going
6 quart minimum. Any smaller and you won’t be able to feed a family.
Reliable brand name. Some people complain that their slow cooker gets too hot, or the glass shatters. If this happens you want a manufactuerer to stand by their product with a warranty. That’s why you won’t seen any random brands here — we’ve found they’re just not as good.
We’ve come up with just 3 slow-cookers that have these criteria and will make a wonderful addition to your kitchen:
1. Hamilton Beach 7- quart, $38
3. Crock-Pot 6 Quart, $30
History of Cholent
In shtel times, each household bought their pot to the baker on Friday where it was cooked communally. The men and children stopped by on their way home from Shul to pick it up for lunch, according to The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York.
A peaseant stew at its core, the long simmering time gives tough meat and cheap ingredients time to roast and soften and meld together in a wonderful medley of flavour.
The combinations are endless, but most cholents combine some mixture of meat, barley, beans and potatoes.
Although Jews today can likely afford more expensive cuts of meat, most will never give up cholent. The heartiness of the meal, the scent wafting through the house and the pure nostalgia of it means that cholent — in whatever form, is here today.
Luckily, slow cookers have made it incredibly simple to make a beautiful cholent without relying on a communal oven, or having to use an oven at all.
Cholent invented the slow-cooker
In fact — the slow cooker was INVENTED because of cholent — imagine that!
As NPR recounts:
“Inventor Irving Naxon came up with over 200 patents, for everything from washing machines to sending data over telephone wires. But one of his most popular ideas was inspired by his mother's stories of making cholentin Lithuania. ‘She would walk it over to the village bakery, where, as the ovens were turned off for the Sabbath, the pot of cholent would be put in the oven,’ explains Naxon's daughter, Lenore. ‘And that slow residual heat over the course of the 24 hours would be enough to cook the cholent.’
After the Saturday religious services, the kids would pick up their pots for a warm Sabbath meal.
‘So my father heard that story, and thought, hmm, well how can I take the crock and electrify it with some slow, even heat?’ Lenore Naxon remembers.
The resulting invention was first called the Naxon Beanery — but you might know it better as the Crock-Pot.”
You can get a consistent cholent each time by using a Crock-Pot without dealing with a communal oven or worrying about leaving your oven on for 25 hours.
Now of course, many brands have copied the Crock-Pot and theres a ton of options on the market. Check out our list above for our top picks!