2008 Woodie Awards
First Cholent Cook-Off Perfumes Belfer, Entertains Students
Chaim Stobezki
Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: News
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Upon entering Belfer Hall during club hour on Thursday, November 8, the aromas from the various cholent pots filled the air as students battled it out for the title of "Best Cholent Maker." The competition consisted of fifteen teams of four students each. The challenge began on Wednesday night when teams were given an hour to prepare their cholent. On Thursday each team's cholent was tasted and judged. The top three teams all received trophies. The winning team's recipe will be featured on the menu in the cafeteria. This was the "First Annual Cholent Cook-Off" at Yeshiva University.
Cholent competitor and member of team "If You Vote for Us We Will Pay" Dovid Becker (YC '09), expressed his excitement at competing, with these remarks to The Commentator: "Cholent has always been a passion of mine. In my family I have always been in charge of cholent making. Now I am ready to take my cholent making to the next level."
Each team was given a slow cooker, knives, a cutting board and bowls. The foodstuff provided for each team included beef, potatoes, beans, barley, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and water. In addition, each team was able to request five secret ingredients. Some of the secret ingredients were marshmallows, gummy bears, maple syrup, sweet potatoes, pastrami, and barbeque sauce.
During the allotted preparation time, teams diligently worked to create the best cholent they could. "It was certainly amazing to see the teamwork," said Director of Housing Jonathan Mantell. After the hour, the slow cookers were sealed from 11:15 pm that night until 2:45 pm the next day.
As judgment day approached, the seven judges stood their ground in Belfer Hall and built up their appetites. The judges included Dr. Esther Joel, wife of President Richard Joel; Ms. Monita Buchwald, recipe tester for Martha Stewart Living Magazine; Mr. Shmeil Genuth, Owner of Meal Mart on Avenue M in Brooklyn; Chef Alan Kaplan, executive chef of Prestige Caterers; Rabbi Gil Marks, chef and cookbook author; Chef Jeff Nathan, executive chef at Abigael's; and Mr. Douglas Soclof, owner of the Dougie's chain of restaurants.
Each team presented its cholent to two judges who recorded a score out of ten. Once the scores were tallied, the top three teams advanced to the finals.
The top three teams were Mama's Cholent, Diningville, and Executive Resident Advisors. For this stage of judgment, all of the judges tasted each of the three cholents and then gave the cholent another score out of ten.
"Passed through several generations of cholent lovers, our cholent recipe combines a unique array of ingredients to yield an enticing aroma and sensational flavor," said Avi Sher (YC '08) from the Mama's Cholent team, inferring that his team's cholent should absolutely be in the top tier.
In third place, with thirty-seven points was Diningville and in second place, with forty-six and a half points was Sher's team, Mama's Cholent. And the winners of the first ever "Cholent Cook-Off" with fifty-two points was the Executive Resident Advisors team. This first place team was made up of Yoni Raab (YC '10), Dave Dayan (SSSB '08), Jay Guttmann (SSSB '08), and Golan Elias (SSSB '08). "Our cholent was just a normal cholent with the proper measurement of each ingredient," said Yoni Raab of the winning team.
Some students involved in the competition felt that it was suspicious that the RA's won the cholent cook-off, especially because the RA's admittedly made an ordinary cholent, and because the event was sponsored by Housing. One student who requested anonymity told The Commentator, "This event had to have been rigged…otherwise I think another team would have won."
With a combined effort from a few people on the Wilf campus, this event was a major success. One person in particular, Mr. Jacob Lieberman, Executive Director of Food Services, really made this event happen. Mr. Lieberman, together with Mr. Jonathan Mantell, Director of Housing, and Mr. Sean Hirschhorn, Assistant Director of Housing, came up with this idea. In addition, the Office of Student Affairs was very involved with this event, especially, Dr. Victor Schwartz, Mr. Bradley Karasik, and Mr. David Himber, according to the Housing Office.