More than you ever wanted to know about chulent

We've already discussed the etymology of the word chulent on this blog; here's another chulent-y fact I wasn't previously aware of:

in the old country, Jewish families would take their cholent to communal bakers' ovens. To protect the food's kosher status, the pot was sealed with a paste of flour and water, says Brooklyn's Matthew Goodman, who writes a food column for the national Jewish weekly newspaper Forward.
On the way home from schul, or synagogue, families would pick up their pots. Typically this task was reserved for the men and children of the family, writes Cairo-born food historian Claudia Roden in The Book of Jewish Food.