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I'm relatively new to making cholent. Before Shabbat starts I turn the temp down to around the warm area on the slow cooker. What I hadn't considered is whether it would boil or not. What happens is that most of the time it's still, but from time to time starts bubbling for a bit and stops.

My question is what counts as boiling on Shabbat? How do I stop this from happening if it counts as boiling?

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    As I understand it, the "boiling" per se is not the concern, it's "cooking". All rulles that I have read (have to locate a link to source) state that before Shabbat, the chulent must already be "cooked" meaning that it must be minimally edible, i.e. - no raw meat or hard inedible beans.
    – DanF
    May 30, 2014 at 21:06
  • If there's a source you can find on that, it would be greatly appreciated. I know the cholent is supposed to be edible before Shabbat begins, but whether boiling is fine afterwards, I'm not sure about. May 30, 2014 at 21:12
  • I see you got the answer, already, with source. In summary, it is cooking, not specifically boiling meaning "bubbles".
    – DanF
    Jun 2, 2014 at 15:39

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The prohibition of bishul on Shabbos is cooking which means taking an uncooked item and making it cooked. This process of cooking begins when the food's temperature is brought up to yad soledes bo - enough for one's hand to recoil, somewhere between 110-160 degrees Fahrenheit. (Wikipedia, see Mishne Berurah 318:23)

There is no prohibition for an item to boil on Shabbos (or to move a fully cooked hot item on the blech closer to the fire causing it to boil). When the Shulchan Aruch uses the term rosachas often understood as boiling (see 451), in the context of cooking on Shabbos it means yad soledes bo. (Mishne Berurah, ibid)

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