Chowing down on the chulent at Brandeis

Eight teams made up of 40 students from fifth to eighth grade Brandeis students showed off their culinary skills in the Lawrence school’s first-ever chulent cook-off on Jan. 28.

Lined up in front of their crock pots the students stirred, spiced and then served their version of the traditional Jewish stew to six judges who rated the traditional Shabbos meal based on six attributes: taste, aroma, spice, texture, color and aftertaste.

After all the tasting and judging Team 8 comprised of eighth-graders Branden Beshkin, Motty Gozenpud, Ella Sellouk and Maor Shabtay captured first place. Team 6 placed second and Team 1 finished in third place.

The cook-off was the idea of Rabbi Nissan Goldberg, who said it was a way to show the students that though their cultural backgrounds might be different, “We are all Jews and all celebrate Shabbos,” Goldberg said after he has emceed the event that took place at lunchtime.

The student chefs a slow cooked their chulent dishes and were provided with the necessary ingredients and diced, sliced and seasoned their meals on Thursday afternoon. The dishes cooked overnight in the Frost Lane building, and the competition took the next day.

Our judging panel included Esther DeMarco, who represented the Brandeis Parents’ Association, George Soba, the school’s facilities manager, Leslie Gang, Brandeis’s director of admissions and special celebrity judges Chef Oscar of DOMA, Jeffrey Bessen, editor of the Nassau Herald, and Mozelle Goldstein, a community chef.