Recipe needed please for cholent- please read

[ThePrettypoodle]

I have a new bug up my rear and want to make cholent soon, I do have a large crokpot, so I'm good there, but I need an easy recipe; The kicker is I do NOT eat beans at all. Never ever. Dont like them in any form, except green beans.
Any suggestions or yummy recipes you can share please? I'd prefer a chicken version, though beef would be ok too (I think my husband would prefer that I used beef to be honest)
Thanks for any and all tips.

[tamarw]

Do you like lentils?

Garbanzo beans? Or is that one of the beans you don't want to eat?

[ThePrettypoodle]

Fair question, but NOPE:( Thanks for asking anyway!

[PotatoPuff]

I use beer instead of water for the liquid. It gives it more flavor and a thicker texture.

[SoCal Mother]

Use up chometz! Good idea!

[PotatoPuff]

Thanks SoCal!

[SoCal Mother]

I find chicken cholent unpleasant because the bones get all icky after cooking all that time.

[DeisCane]

Turkey thighs hold up better.

[zsero]

Apparently in Israel they eat the chicken bones after they get all soft. (There's a teshuvah in Igros Moshe about this cultural clash between Israeli and American/European Jews, who would not dream of eating chicken bones.)

[ThePrettypoodle]

Maybe this explains the very popular Friday afternoon dish we'd have on the kibbutz, fondly called chicken and rice or chicken and potatoes:) It was quite yummy, though I always picked put the bones:)

[SoCal Mother]

I knew an Israeli child who used to beg me to give her the "etzem halavan" from the chicken. That turned out to be the triangular piece of cartilege in the chicken breast.

DH breaks chicken bones open and eats the goo from the inside, but he's from NY go figure.

[weinstein5]

There was a discussion about a potato kugel cholent - http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/814544

[SoCal Mother]

Yes it sounded yummy.

[SoCal Mother]

We use flanken, barley, potatoes and onions. Kishka if you like. Lots of garlic, cumin. More water than appears reasonable and run the pot on high all Shabbat. We like our cholent mushy. I only add beans if I am having extra teenagers. (hey, flanken is expensive!)

For my pot:
5 peeled and eighthed potatoes. 2 cut up onions. 1/2 cup barley, resist the urge to put in more. 2 or 3 strips of short ribs. Get the kind cut across the bone so the marrow is showing. Cut it up a bit. Add garlic and cumin. Add water and stir it up. Then put kishke on top if you like it.
Make sure the bag is standing straight up or you will have greasy water all over the counter. Bdtd.

Put the crockpot on a counter saver or other heat absorbing device. Never put it on a glass cooktop. We run it on high.

If you are making cholent for NCSY Friday night, start it on Friday very early in the morning.

I plan to make cholent next week to use up a kishke.

[ThePrettypoodle]

This sounds pretty yummy! Thanks:) Can I skip the onions- please? Also I am guessing you use a crockpot bag - right? I have never used one, neither did my mom, but I have seen them in stores.
Thanks I will give this a try, probably after Passover.

[SoCal Mother]

PrettyPoodle, cholent is basically a beef stew with too little beef. You need something to give it flavor. If you don't put in onions then you'd need to double up on garlic, cumin or whatever else you like. Or keep the onion pieces big so they give flavor but you dont actually have to eat them.

We always used to make cholent in a pot on a metal blech, but the crockpot seems to work so much better.

Tip: there is a Reynolds Wrap version of crockpot bags that you will find in the wraps and foils section of your supermarket and an Israeli version of crockpot bags that you will find in the kosher section. The Israeli version is MUCH cheaper. Just follow directions and put a half cup of water in the pot before you put the bag in, and don't forget what I said about pointing the bag up in the crockpot instead of making it look all neat and pretty tucked around the pot. If you do that you will have greasy liquid all over your counter in the morning.