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What Bracha is Chulent, and since we are on the category of Brachos what Bracha are falafel Balls?

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Oh, man! When I saw your title, I thought you were asking about a new Easter European / Arabic fusion dish! I wonder how well falafel balls would hold up in a cholent pot ... – Isaac Moses Mar 4 '11 at 19:57
Its ground Chummus I would imagine quite well – SimchasTorah Mar 4 '11 at 20:05
Isaac, remind me to send you my cholent book. I've got a really interesting Hamin recipe. I don't remember if it was before or after you guys left, but I taught a cholent workshop when I was teaching Hebrew school. It was awesome. – Seth J Mar 4 '11 at 20:27
Yeah, I was picturing chulent as a filler in the pita. – YDK Mar 4 '11 at 22:22
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Shouldn't those be two different questions? – yydl Mar 6 '11 at 2:13
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3 Answers

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Depends if it has barley in it. If there is barley then it is a Mezonos.

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Just a note: If this is true (which I believe, but a source would be nice), then it's only because the barley used in American chulents is generally first pearled. Cooked whole barley kernels, if they haven't becomes mushy through being cooked, are haadama. That's my understanding, but contact your local orthodox rabbi for a ruling, as always. See also MB 208:15. – msh210♦ Mar 6 '11 at 4:52
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First for Falafel Balls see http://www.brochos.com/item/7541 (Haadama / B.N.) [I would imaging because Flour is just a binder if it's there]

And for cholent: It's a classical Ikar V'tafel Shailah:

First let's define the size of the pieces. I believe R' Bodner classified them by being "eaten in the same forkful" or "larger".

If "eaten in the same forkful" then entire Chulent will need one Bracha:

If there's Barley - it's Mezonos - because of concept of Chameishes Haminim being Ikkur [please excuse my transliteration]

If there's no Barley: go after majority ingredient: If majority = beans, kasha, or potatoes: Haadama. If majority is rice, say Mezonos.

If "larger", all components require separate Bracha.

Either Way:

  • Soupy - doesn't need Bracha on liquid.

  • Kishka and Kugel in chulent require separate Brachos.

  • Large portions of of chicken/meat, are not part of mixture and need own brachos.

Hope I was clear - if not please ask in comments.

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Most of my comment on R'Gershon Gold's answer mi.yodeya.com/questions/6216#6216 applies here too. – msh210♦ Mar 6 '11 at 4:52
@msh210 Yes, assuming the barley is Mezonos. But I can't imagine a case where the barley is cooked in the Cholent, and would somehow not become "mushy". As a matter of fact according to brochos.com/item/4328, cooked barley is always Mezonos. So in this case it wouldn't apply. – yydl Mar 6 '11 at 5:25
That brochos.com page cites the Artscroll book, page 272; can someone with access to the latter please relay what it says? – msh210♦ Mar 6 '11 at 9:52
Note that my comment referred to whole barley. I've never tried cooking whole barley, but my experience with rice is that whole rice does not become mushy when cooked, though white rice often does. – msh210♦ Mar 6 '11 at 9:54
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Excuse me for being contraversial, but as Barley is normally a small proportion of a cholent, the brocha would be on the 'rishon' - the predominent part of the food. In this case, I would say that the predominent (I don't mean that as biggest) component would be meat - therefore it is Shehakol. By predominent I mean the 'defining ingredient', for example, cheese and tomato pizza - you'd make the brocha based on the pizza base (no pun intended) - because it defines what you're eating. It is what defines it as pizza. Similarly, in my opinion, the meat is what defines the stew as cholent.

One last example, in the UK, a well known student food is chips (french fries) topped with cheese - these 'cheesy chips' are 'ha'adama' - yes, the cheese is nice, but people are eating it as something that compliments the chips. I would say similarly for cholent.

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Shimon, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks very much for your analysis of this question! We'd love to have you as a fully-registered member, which you can accomplish by clicking register/login, above. – Isaac Moses Mar 6 '11 at 2:10
Yes, while you are correct about general cases of Ikar and Tafel, barley is treated differently because it is one of the 5 types of grain. – yydl Mar 6 '11 at 2:31
While I value the meat as much as the next carnivore (and, indeed, I once asked a very serious question of a rabbi in which I asserted that in a salami sandwich the bread is Tafel to the meat), I don't think anyone could legitimately claim that the meat of a cholent is the 'Ikkar unless it proportionally is greater than the other ingredients. Especially since a grain (usually barley) is typically involved in great proportion, it's really hard to make that case. Furthermore, if there's a Kishkah, which is mostly flour, it's basically impossible to say anything supersedes the Mezonoth. – Seth J Mar 7 '11 at 2:34
Have to agree to yydl above and Gershon's answer. Grain Mezonos does not become a taful except in cases of "extreme tafel". – Barry Mar 7 '11 at 17:24

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