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On Saturday, Jews eat a special dish called chulent. It is put inside the oven in a heatproof pot on Friday night, before the holiday starts. Jews who lived in villages, where there weren’t any bakers, used to prepare it at home; those who lived in towns took the pot to the baker’s. It contains a mixture of beans – white or striped – barley and goose meat or veal or beef cooked with goose fat. Nowadays, they use oil; but back then, oil was only used for certain foods, such as fried dough. For the rest, they used goose fat.
My mother, for instance, would stuff 40-50 geese with food, and she used their fat, like Christians do. The goose’s back and thighs were smoked and they tasted more delicious than the best bacon. I know the difference now, because I eat anything these days.
Then, there was a sort of cake that was prepared in a small pot. It contained the goose’s neck, an egg or two – depending on the size of the family – corn flower, sugar and pepper, and it was put in the chulent pot. This cake was called kugel.
A co-worker of mine who’s a doctor remembers eating such a cake at a Jewish family in his childhood. So the cake is put amidst the beans, then the pot is filled with water and is inserted in the already heated oven. The door is closed hermetically. The pot is removed the next day.
The chulent can end up dry or juicy – you never know. But in both cases, it can be a success. This is why they say ‘as successful as chulent.’ This is an interesting Jewish tradition. Many Christians know how to cook it and they enjoy it.
My mother, for instance, would stuff 40-50 geese with food, and she used their fat, like Christians do. The goose’s back and thighs were smoked and they tasted more delicious than the best bacon. I know the difference now, because I eat anything these days.
Then, there was a sort of cake that was prepared in a small pot. It contained the goose’s neck, an egg or two – depending on the size of the family – corn flower, sugar and pepper, and it was put in the chulent pot. This cake was called kugel.
A co-worker of mine who’s a doctor remembers eating such a cake at a Jewish family in his childhood. So the cake is put amidst the beans, then the pot is filled with water and is inserted in the already heated oven. The door is closed hermetically. The pot is removed the next day.
The chulent can end up dry or juicy – you never know. But in both cases, it can be a success. This is why they say ‘as successful as chulent.’ This is an interesting Jewish tradition. Many Christians know how to cook it and they enjoy it.
Location
Romania
Interview
Elza Fulop