Instead of cholent I want to make meat for shabat lunch. Can I put meat in raw just before shabat or does it need to be 1/3rd cooked? If so why Thank you

Shalom, Thank you for your question. In order to answer there are several issues that need to be addressed. The first is how cooked does food have to be in order for it to be left on the fire from before Shabbat? This is an issue that is debated in the Gemera, and the Shulchan Aruch (Orech Haim 253). The opinions argue as to whether it is enough for the food to be just edible (Ma’achal Ben Dorshai), which is either 1/3 or ½ cooked. Or perhaps it needs to be completely cooked. We tend to rule that ideally one should be strict, but if needed one can rely on the more lenient view. But, even this law has its exceptions. In cases where there is little or no worry that someone might stir the fire up in order to speed up the cooking, the Rabbis did not forbid leaving even food not cooked enough, on the fire. When is there such a case? There are two examples, which create exemptions that might relate to your situation. Firstly, when raw food is put on the fire directly before Shabbat, because it will take a long time to cook (until Shabbat morning) there is no worry that a person will stir up the fire in order to cook the food quickly for Friday night dinner. In such a case the food may be left on the fire even though it is not 1/3 cooked, or fully cooked (according to the different opinions we mentioned above). However, on a practical level this leniency is not so simple to use, as the food needs to be raw when placed on the fire directly as Shabbat begins. Today, we all bring Shabbat in early as we are not able to determine with total certainty the moment Shabbat starts. This will mean that in all likelihood the food will not really be raw when Shabbat starts. Thus, it is not so simple to rely on this method (though many do rule it is allowed – see Shulchan Aruch ibid, law 1) The second exception is when the fire is “covered.” In such a case there is also no fear that a person will stir up the flame. So, when leaving food on a “plattah” or Shabbat warming tray (or blech) one does not need to worry about how cooked the food is. (None the less many Rabbis advice making sure the food is fully cooked, so as to avoid issues of covering the food, stirring the food, moving the pot, returning food to the plattah etc – a whole range of issues that can be easily avoided by making certain that the food is fully cooked when it is placed on the covered heat source before Shabbat comes in). Now we can turn to your crock-pot. There is much argument amongst the Rabbis of the last generation as to whether a crock-pot may be used at all for Shabbat, as perhaps it is considered as “hatmanah”, that is a form of forbidden insulation around the pot. Without going into all the opinions, it seems from your question that you normally use a crock-pot for the cholent, holding by the widespread opinion that a crock-pot is permitted on Shabbat. If so, our question would be “is a crock-pot considered a covered fire”? This revolves around the question of how we can cover an electric “flame.” Do we need to cover the heating element – which would be the same as covering the coals in the ovens of old; or do we need to cover the knob – which is parallel to the place where one would have stirred up the fire? (Or perhaps we need to cover both). In my opinion one can rely on just covering the knob. This is because we have may leniencies coming together in your case. 1. Perhaps covering the knob alone is considered a covered fire. 2. Perhaps because the heating element is covered by the metal of the crock pot, it is considered covered (this depends on the type of crock pot you have, but in many of them you cannot see the electric coil of the heating element, rather it is covered by the metal base of the outer crock pot). 3. Perhaps the meat will be raw at the time Shabbat begins (see above). 4. Perhaps with electric heat, which does not cool down and need stirring up like coal fires do, the laws of covering the fire do not apply. While all these reasons can be argued with, when put together we can certainly allow putting raw meat in a crock pot just before Shabbat, when making sure the knob is covered with foil etc. You do need to be careful that you do not uncover and recover the lid until the morning when the meat will be certainly fully cooked. And so too, stirring the food is forbidden. Blessings.