Cholent Review - Parashas Vayechi

I am still not used to our new Hamilton Beach Stay-n-Go Six-Quart slow cooker. The low setting is not as hot as the low setting was on our Rival Seven-Quart Crockpot, but hopefully the new slow cooker will last longer than the old one did  (the ceramic pot developed cracks throughout and while it never broke into pieces, we stopped using it when it no longer was water-tight). In any event, I am compensating for the lower heat by cutting the potatoes and carrots into smaller pieces and by having fewer carrots and more potatoes (the old pot effaced the carrot flavor, the carrot retain more of the their flavor with the newer pot). I think I have been largely successful. The ingredients are cooked through and with sufficient salt (three large teaspoons) and sufficient ground pepper (three large teaspoons), the flavor was very good. I should also say that I added about half a cup of dry porcini mushrooms, but I did not notice them in the finished product as I usually do with shiitake mushrooms.