by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief/Middlesex

January 22, 2008

Lawrence Margolin waved off allegations that the competition was fixed even as he accepted the accolades of an adoring public for his culinary skills.

“Everyone said they enjoyed it a lot and wished there was more,” said Margolin after taking first place honors in the second annual cholent cook-off at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park on Jan. 4.

Margolin, an Edison resident and former sous chef who now works for a kosher caterer in Queens, was one of 11 competitors in the fund-raiser for the Orthodox synagogue.

“A lot of people told me they thought I was going to win,” said Margolin, who named his cholent Gan Eden because it offers a “taste of heaven.” “People said it was so good they would even buy it from me.”

Ed Prince of Highland Park, however, was not buying it.

“He’s a professional; he’s not playing fair,” Prince griped good-naturedly the night before, as he stood beside Margolin in the synagogue, chopping vegetables, potatoes, and meat for his own entry, Angel Food Cholent.

Congregants sampled and cast votes for their favorite concoctions following Friday night’s Shabbat services. The cooks used new or versions of time-honored recipes for the stew, traditionally a mixture of meat, potatoes, onions, beans, and barley that is placed on the stove or in the oven before sundown Friday and simmered overnight and through Saturday to enable cooks to adhere to the Shabbat injunction against igniting a fire.

“We had nine standard cholents and two vegetarian ones,” said men’s club president Michael Rabin. “They could use their own special ingredients as long as they were kosher. Each contestant paid an entrance fee and each was given a crock pot they can take home when they’re done.”

Margolin attributed his landslide victory to his abundant use of meat, meat, and more meat. There was lamb, beef, flanken, and something many never knew existed — kosher kielbasa. Margolin said the name of his creation was a joint effort by himself and his two sons, Avi, nine, and Aryeh, seven, who both filled the important role of taste-testers.

Margolin said he shares cooking duties at home with wife, Mara — who is in charge of side dishes.

Prince said he could not claim his was a traditional family recipe since the Prince clan was not partial to cholent.

“They thought it was peasant food,” he acknowledged, adding that his classic Eastern European cholent had a “mystical quality” to it. “This makes you feel drowsy on Shabbat,” he explained, “although someone pointed out Scotch would serve the same purpose.”

Cochair Steve Josefovitz pronounced himself impartial. “I cooked last year, but I was afraid people would say it was fixed, so I’m not this year,” he said.

There was the father-son cooking duo of Howard and Doniel Sherman of Highland Park, who offered their Original Polish Peasant Cholent.

“It’s nothing so unusual — meat and potatoes,” said Doniel. “It’s my father’s recipe and my grandfather’s too, so it’s a family recipe.”

But there was also the offbeat. Jeff Korbman’s chocolate cholent generated interest among his challengers, many of whom had never heard of or seen cholent as a dessert.

“I wanted to do something different, and my wife yelled at me,” said the Highland Park resident, who found his recipe in a book. “She told me everyone would be using meat, potatoes, and kishka in their cholent. I needed to come up with something that no one else would do to keep my wife happy.”

Then there were the special flourishes. Tzvi Berman of Highland Park used the standard lentils, beef, and barley, but added orange juice “for a Florida touch” in his Mixed Feelings Cholent.

“I’m not really a cook,” he said. “I can’t follow a recipe. I improvise every time.”

Ari Lewitter of Highland Park would reveal only that “the spices are the key” that put the zing in his Cholent of the Ages.

Michael Gordon of East Brunswick looked around before slowly pulling out his secret zing —a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey — from a brown paper bag to be used in his Yaakov Daniel’s 80 Proof Cholent.

Gordon said he got the idea after visiting the Jack Daniels distillery while vacationing in Nashville. The recipe, which also contains a can of beer, proved a hit when he tried it two weeks earlier.

The verdict: “Everybody thought it was very good.”