How do you keep your soup hot on Friday night?

essie14

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 12:32 am

Bring the soup to a boil then transfer to the plata. Everything else goes onto the plata about 1-2 hours before the start of the meal. Plata goes off on a timer after dinner and then back on before lunch.

amother

Gray

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 12:38 am

seeker wrote:

Pretty sure this is only referring to when the oven is on/hot. So if you have your timer turning off the oven before you start removing food, then it doesn't matter.

If I'm incorrect, I think it would work fine to take everything out at the same time. If the main dish was nice and hot before, then it will still be warm when you finish the soup. Only soup really needs to be served HOT.

Yes only if the oven is on if it's off then there is no problem

chanchy123

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 4:49 am

Do you women not use a plata (hotplate/electric blech)? I thought that was universal. Maybe it's just an Israeli thing? Everyone I know brings their soup to a boil and than places on the plata. Sometimes I might keep the soup on the stove with a chagaz (gas timer for YT) that turns off when we get back from shul.

amother

Coffee

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 6:50 am

workaholicmama wrote:

I have a 6qt crock pot in which I put my cholent. Right before Shabbos I put my soup in double storage bags and place it inside crock. The kugel goes on top, covered with a towel. At the meal I take out the bag of soup and open it into a pot or bowl.
When I have guests(which isn't often) I either boil the soup and put in blankets, or use a hot plate which I also use yom tov.

Food storage bags are not meant to be used for really hot food and placed in a crock pot. Also the plastic chemicals from the bag can leak into your food or soup.

Iymnok

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 7:01 am

On the Blech.
Cholent in a pot over the flame chicken in a Pyrex pan to the side and about four tea lights under it. The challah on top of the pot and a folded bath towel over it.
I also have a disposable muffin tin with roasted garlic and olive oil nestled in the hottest spot.
Kugel on the perimeter.

workaholicmama

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 7:39 am

amother wrote:

Food storage bags are not meant to be used for really hot food and placed in a crock pot. Also the plastic chemicals from the bag can leak into your food or soup.

To clarify, I don't use the regular storage bags, I use those on a roll, that are not so thin. I've never had a problem. I actually freeze the soup ready in the plastic lined containers so I don't have to mess around Friday. For my family I use 2 32oz containers. This works very good cause I can just take out one bag at a time when the kids want to eat earlier.

workaholicmama

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 7:41 am

amother wrote:

Food storage bags don't melt? It's not a mess and too hot to work with from a bag? Also, I learned that you cannot take off the crock pot cover before ready for the chulent. I guess find out if it's allowed.

As far as I know, if the cholent is fully cooked you are allowed to take off the cover. And about the mess, I just put the bag into a pot and cut it, then pull the bag out and throw it out.
I like that this way I have just the crock pot on the counter.

Iymnok

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 7:44 am

workaholicmama wrote:

That would never be enough soup for us.

Cmon be nice

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:08 am

Boil it up right before shabat then put it in the hot oven and turn oven off right before shabat. The oven stays warm for a while and the soup, which is boiling, stays hot for a long time

Notsobusy

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:25 am

amother wrote:

I know so many people who eat cholent Friday night after the meal, especially on the long Friday nights. I've heard different shittos about how to take cholent, but never heard that you can't take off the cover until ready to eat.

I had the same thoughts as you about the plastic bag melting and also being a wet, dirty mess. Where would you put that down?

I warm up all my food, turn off the oven right before I light candles and put the soup inside. It doesn't stay piping hot, it's very warm, but my family doesn't like it piping hot. On Yom Tov I always have to remember to take the soup off the fire a half hour before we're ready to eat it, otherwise I get complaints.

etky

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:30 am

essie14 wrote:

Ditto

etky

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:34 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Also wondering about this. When we lived in the States my mother and all the women in the community used a blech. Here the platta is more prevalent but the idea is basically the same.
Do people not use the blech/platta for halachic reasons or for safety issues?

essie14

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:38 am

etky wrote:

I do not like the idea of a gas flame on for 24 hours and I also don't like it that a blech heats very unevenly. I like that my plata can be put on a timer just for the hours I need it and the entire surface is the same temperature.

animeme

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:40 am

I'm still wondering about putting a soup pot in your bed. What keeps it from spilling? What if it does spill?

In terms of the chulent pot, I was taught that you can't recover it while it's on the heat. You take it out, hold on to it, take off the cover, do whatever needs doing, re-cover it, and put it back in.

With an oven, I was taught that you can't close the oven door on Shabbos with food inside if the oven is on. I may be wrong, but I think it's because of hatmanah, the issur of fully insulating/surrounding something while it's on/in a heat source.

Iymnok

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:40 am

glutenless wrote:

If the food inside is less then 1/3 cooked, even opening the lid is considered augmenting the process, and thus not permitted.
Some people prepare their cholent just before licht bentching.

amother

Pearl

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:51 am

I put frozen soup in my pot and straight on the blech. its piping hot by the meal. chulent I obviously cook before. and it bubbles before I put it on. the blech is the best as I live in lakewood and we have a lot of power outages here. so if I use hot plate then I would not have chulent or soup. this is the best route.