You're not going to like my answer. Anything you do will compromise the safety of the food. The warm cycle is not intended for long term use, and putting food in with timing so it doesn't heat up for a while are just begging for food poisoning. I gave up, honestly, because the only things we could get to survive for that long were the beans and barley. Meat, of course, would work, too, but my family is vegetarian. There's got to be a way to pull it off, but no one I know has ever figured it out. Cholent is always so unappealing to me!
What cuts of meat are you using? Some cuts, like chicken breasts or the loin and rib cuts of beef, are just not suitable for long cooking--they become dry and flavorless. Other cuts--chicken thighs, beef chuck or round, and so on--hold up better.
Also, it seems to me that anything cooked for 20 hours is going to fall apart, so you should try to choose recipes where that's the goal. Chili or stew, for instance.
Cholent type things? But I guess you know that already. You can try the sephardi versions (variously named schina, hamin..something else which I don't remember). A tip that sometimes grosses people out but is pretty effective is wrapping the meat you put in in chicken skin. It keeps it from drying out. (I don't know if this applies to cholent, which is more thick and stewy than schina.)
Sorry for being dense, but I just reread what you wrote. Tell me if I understood this correctly.
Prior to Shabbos, you cook a meal. Just before candlelighting, you put in a full pot of water to "cook". An hour before it switches to the warm setting, you dump out the water and put in your precooked food to warm, same way you'd use a blech?
How long does the food stay in the pot? I don't imagine it's in there long enough to get out of the food poisoning "danger zone", though you could get a thermometer and check yourself.
If you have excess of money, there are new appliances that keep food cool until a certain time and then they start cooking. They are super cool. I saw them on Food TV. Don't ask me what they were called. Space Age Oven? I dunno.
And yeah I woulda said cholent but just to be a wiseguy.
One such company is TMIO. Their ovens have a great Sabbath mode, since the oven doubles as a refrigerator. Unfortunately, they are expensive. Check EBay for samples from appliance stores.
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Also, it seems to me that anything cooked for 20 hours is going to fall apart, so you should try to choose recipes where that's the goal. Chili or stew, for instance.
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Prior to Shabbos, you cook a meal. Just before candlelighting, you put in a full pot of water to "cook". An hour before it switches to the warm setting, you dump out the water and put in your precooked food to warm, same way you'd use a blech?
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How long does the food stay in the pot? I don't imagine it's in there long enough to get out of the food poisoning "danger zone", though you could get a thermometer and check yourself.
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And yeah I woulda said cholent but just to be a wiseguy.
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