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Chulent is usualy made from beans, barley, potatoes, meat, and carrots. Generaly spiced with garlic, paprika, and black peper and cooked for 24 hours

Do any other cultures have a similar food cooked for a simelar leangth of time?

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2 Answers2

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Many cultures know stews that are cooked "low and slow" and they are often either a case of practicality or tradition or - as in your example - due to religious customs.

Let's start with your Cholent:
It used to be cooked in the communal bake-house or in the local bakers' ovens, then carried home and kept warm, thus both making good use of the residual heat from the wood-fired ovens and giving a hands-off method of cooking.

A dish that used the same cooking principle is the Alsatian Baeckeoffe, but I bet that further research would lead to dozens of other dishes all over the world.

What is really interesting in this question is that there is a dish that is quite similar to Cholent, yet according to the German Wikipedia entry, can be traced back to the Bronze Age: the Ritschert or Ričet from the Styrian and Croatian Alps. It seems the cncept of slowly stewing a mix of meat, legumes, grains and veggies predates the religious or cultural customs of today.

Stephie
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  • Stews with beans in are a common form of such spiced slow-cooked dishes in many countries. – Chris H Feb 24 '16 at 21:21
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    @ChrisH, thanks, you are obviously correct. Even the Bronze Age Ritschert used fava beans. Fixed the answer. – Stephie Feb 25 '16 at 05:08
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Yes. While this list is not exhaustive, it's representative of different regions and origins:

  • First off, there's a lot of recipes derived from Cholent, or equivalent to it. Forced conversion, cultural exchange, and simple geographical drift has lead to meals such as the Spanish cocido madrileño (usually not cooked that long anymore), the Moroccan adafina, and so on.

  • Lancashire hotpot, a baked dish made with (at least) lamb or mutton, as well as onions and potatoes, that is baked over an entire day (or overnight) at low heat. It originates from its namesake, Lancashire, England.

  • Pottage, a traditional British soup that reminds me a lot of the stereotypical perpetual stew from medieval times. You essentially throw whatever you have in there, boil for a good while, eat what you need, add whatever ingredients you have.

mech
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    According to what I read, Cholent might actually be derrived from adafina, not the other way round. Nevertheless clearly a "relative". – Stephie Feb 24 '16 at 20:01
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    Ugh. "A mess of pottage." We used to run a continuous pot in heavy seas, kept adding ingredients over the days. It was pretty gross by the end of the storm. – Paulb Feb 24 '16 at 21:00