On Friday night, December 13, the Young Israel of New Rochelle held its annual YINR Cholent Throwdown. As YINR Rabbi Reuven Fink aptly expressed, “The soul of the Jewish people is Shabbos, and the soul of Shabbos is cholent.” In the words of the Cholent Throwdown Committee, “It’s a great event because it brings the community together, across demographics, united by our common love for cholent.”
Fourteen contestants prepared cholent in the shul’s kitchen on Thursday night and could check their submissions once before Shabbat. On Friday night, locals return to shul after dinner for tastings. Two separate scores were tallied. A panel of three anonymous judges scored each cholent just prior to the event. Separately, attendees submitted popular votes during the event.
The Ari and Gabriel Farkas father-and-son team has never won, but the Farkas family has frequently competed since they moved to the community. After last year’s defeat, “We are trying a little different recipe. This year, we got some hot sauce, chili sauce, barbecue sauce, and a little bit of honey.” Ari noted his replacing beans in this cholent with quinoa and barley. Ari also cited his technique of finely dicing the onions and potatoes. “I think it melts better and mixes in to make a smoother cholent. I don’t want a very chunky cholent, with big chunky potatoes.” His son Gabriel remarked how he enjoys teaming up with his dad for this annual competition.
First-time competitor Will Barry said: “I wouldn’t consider myself a cholent maker. I like to make slightly different cholent from time to time, based on whatever I have in the fridge.” After kindly donating an onion to a competitor, Barry listed his ingredients: “Today, we have kishka, stew meat, sausages, potatoes, onions, sriracha, barbecue sauce, ketchup, and, to highlight my New England roots, I’ll put in a beer.” The Barry submission also did not include beans.
Isaac Leizerson prepared his signature short rib cholent. He always puts his meat into the pot first to sear the meat. His recipe included beef salami, barley, navy beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, a stock that includes duck sauce, and a signature spice blend. Leizerson said that most people use sugar, but it burns in cholent. He supported his using canned potatoes: “Since they are clean and cooked under pressure, these potatoes hold their texture after you cook them.”
Vicky Harrison described her entry as a Persian stew rather than a traditional Ashkenazi cholent. Her secret is using greens, including herbs, spinach and leeks. Harrison said that her spice blend includes black limes, turmeric and cumin. “I make cholent this way because I love Persian stews. I make it all the time; people always believed it was cholent.” It has meat and beans but no potatoes.
Expressing disappointment at last year’s loss, Anthony Sneag “changed the recipe this year. It’s now spicy. Last year’s was on the sweeter side; I’m doing a Mexican style.” Sneag’s ingredients included chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, green chilies, garlic, tabasco sauce and taco seasoning, as well as marrow bones, flanken and vegetable broth.
Repeat competitors father and daughter Jonathan and Penelope Jacobs, still refused to reveal their ingredients. “We have a real secret ingredient. We’ve won every time we’ve used it. It’s very hard to get. Now, our secret ingredient is a knock-off version, but we’re still not going to tell you what it is.”
YINR Youth Director Jordan Benditzson, a Chicago native, used his father’s recipe, which included Romanian salami, remarking, “I bring Chicago into my cholent.” Being new to YINR, he entered to interact informally with his family’s new community.
Defending his popular title from last year, Abie Malina explained: “Last year, we kept it simple and had an amazing cholent. This year, it’s more simple and we’ll have an even better cholent.”
Second-time competitor Shasha Fox wasn’t disappointed not winning last year, “It was so much fun to be a part of this competition.” Fox said her “sweet and spicy” flavors “balance each other out; it’s really about the depth of the seasoning.”
Seventh-grader Evan Osband announced the winners. The Farkas team won the popular vote, followed by Shamir Seidman, and, in third place, Sara and Laurence Hasson. The judges awarded their first place to Abie Malina, with Isaac Leizerson in second, and then Vicky Harrison. Malina remarked, “Everybody comes to a point in life when they want to quit. But what you do at that moment determines who you are.” Ari Farkas added, “The Cholent Throwdown is one of the best nights in shul. We are just so happy so many people were able to come out and share. Winning is the icing on the cake —or the kishka on top of the cholent!”
