By Anash.org staff
A brilliant invention that makes warming up Shabbos food much simpler and more efficient has just hit store shelves. The idea may have popped into your own head once or twice, but you probably didn’t turn it into a patented product. Lucky for you, Bentzion Chanowitz, creator of Babshi’s Shabbos Pan, did.
So, what is it?
Babshi’s Shabbos Pan is a malleable aluminum pot with a depression in its base that allows it to be placed on top of anything with a handle or knob. Think slow cooker, soup pot, samovar. The Babshi conducts heat rising from its supporting medium, keeping the contents nice and hot!
Babshi wins extra points as a safer alternative to heating food on a hotplate or blech.
What can I put in it?
The Babshi is not just for warming foods. Like any other aluminum pan, it can be used for cooking and baking too! Bake a kugel in the pan, for instance, and put it on top of the cholent to keep warm! Use it to bake a chocolate brownie and enjoy it hot on Friday night. On Shabbos morning, fill the pan with shnitzel and place on your slow cooker, enabling it to heat evenly. The possibilities are endless!
What’s its capacity?
The Babshi comes in two sizes and shapes: a smaller round and a larger oval, fitting on top of most slow cookers. Food cooked in a standard 9×13 easily fits in the oval size.
What is its halachic permissibility?
Babshi is good for all week long and is approved for Shabbos use by Rabbi Gavriel Zinner, author of the Nitei Gavriel, and Rabbi Yochonan Morosow, Rav of Beis Menachem Mendel of Flatbush.
When using before Shabbos, all foods can be put in the pan. However on Shabbos itself, only fully cooked foods may be placed inside. In addition, if food has liquid or moisture on it, it must be warm before being placed inside.
So no more balancing a dozen bulkelach on your cholent pot. Just throw ’em in a Babshi and enjoy them toasty warm at your Shabbos seuda!
In stores now and also available online.
