Happy Second Day of Jewish American Heritage Month. Today’s activity: Make cholent!
Our people are into stews. So is it really surprising that the great American Crock-Pot originally was coined the Naxon Beanery All-Purpose Cooker after its Jewish inventor, Irving Naxon? Naxon, who died in 1989 with more than 200 patents in his name, conceived an inexpensive and safe heating element inspired by his mother’s tales of making the traditional Sabbath meat-and-potato stew — a nearly 24-hour process — in her Lithuanian shtetl (his daughter recently wrote about her family memories for the Beyond Bubbie online food project). Not into the idea of cholent? Toss anything into a Crock-Pot, from lentils to grits to an entire chicken, and thank Mr. Naxon for making cooking so darn easy.
