Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen

The following was sent in by a new contributor, Yaffa (from the USA). Because I really try and use the words of the author without changing anything when quoting your stories, I have to explain a few words and ideas here, (as Jews can be a terribly complicated bunch - especially when it comes to food!) I also will not alter your recipes except for spelling mistakes. Therefore this is NOT in the traditional way of presenting a recipe at Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen . However, since this is Yaffa's first, we are going to present it here as she wrote it and give her a bit of leeway! " Sephardi " refers to the cultural roots of many Jewish communities. As I linked this to Wikipedia, let us just quote a paragraph from there. A Sephardi is a Jew originating in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) , including the descendants of those subject to expulsion from Spain by order of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella (as codified in the Alhambra decree of 1492),...

Before reading the following please make sure you read: The Magic Of Cholent - Introduction and after finishing this post read: The Magic Of Cholent - Directions For Cooking Preparing your cholent for the first time is going to be difficult. A lot of this will work on instinct and knowledge of the ingredients you are going to use. It also demands attention. For this recipe we are assuming a 9 liter pot. (That is fairly large and can feed at least 10 hungry people - if not 25 - with cholent.) 1. Pot(s) The first and important critical factor in making Cholent - is the pot(s) you are going to use. Do not even try to make this dish in a cheap thin pot. Simply put you will have burned cholent by the time you have to serve it. Completely burned and completely impossible to eat. You need a real good pot(s) for Cholent. So make sure you have them. I have, actually had, (I will explain the "had" later) until this past Friday, three great cholent pots. My friends call them my ...

While Paula sent in the French Toast recipe she mentioned Challah which I commented on. So Paula now sent in a recipe for braided Challah. (Picture is courtesy of Paula.) She writes: There is no better aroma than the smell of fresh, homemade bread baking... Challah Bread - Makes 2 large braids Ingredients For Challah: 4 Jumbo Eggs 1 Cup Canola Oil 1/2 Cup Sugar 1/4 cup Butter (softened to room temperature) 2 Teaspoons salt 1 Pinch saffron (optional) 1 Cup water (warm) 5 1/2 Cups flour, blend (1/2 all-purpose, 1/2 hard wheat, 4 1/2 white) 2 envelopes dry yeast Ingredients for Egg Wash for top Of Challah: 1 egg 1 teaspoon water 2 tablespoons sesame or poppy seeds Directions: Lightly grease large bowl and baking sheet; set aside. Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl and beat until thoroughly blended. Dissolve saffron in water or milk and add to mixing bowl. Beat in 2 1/4 cups flour and yeast. Continue beating 2 minutes, t...

Over the past few months I have promised and promised a great "cholent" recipe for the readers of Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen . So before the actual recipe let me explain to the readers who are not familiar with this dish exactly what it is. Actually Wikipedia has a fairly good article on Cholent. But there are some things missing and some things which must be added. First and foremost the dish is called "Cholent" by "Ashkenazi" Jews and called "Hamin" by Sephardic and Yemenite Jews. Wikipedia gives the Etymology of the word Cholent as follows: The word cholent is thought by some to be derived from the Old French words chaud meaning "hot" and lent meaning "slow". Others believe it is derived from the Latin calentem, meaning "hot" — a term documented with this exact meaning in the Spanish form caliente ever since the Late Middle Ages. The term chamin is mentioned in the Mishnah Tractate Shabbat (3:1). Whereas I...