I love to hear these cholent ideas. Last week I added a little Terriyaki sauce to the cholent. It gave it a real nice spicy flavor. Another trick, after u add enough water, if u r afraid the cholent will dry up, add oil on top. Oil doesnt evaporate, so neither will the water beneath it. I always add potato kugel to the crock pot, I put it in a crock pot bag and i punch a few tiny holes in the bag. The Kugel then sits overnight in the cholent and it gets a really awesome flavor. Remeber that potatoes eat salt, so if add a lot of potatoes to ur cholent u will need to add more spicing. It works both ways. If u ever add to much salt by mistake, ( my husband once poured salt and the cover came out, the salt disolved so fast that we couldnt take it out ) stick in a few extra potatoes to save the cholent.
When it comes to Kishke, I find Mealmart frozen kishke is THE BEST!. I have tried so many recipes theirs tops it off!
I also find flanken fabulous meat for cholent, not that I’ve tried too many other meats honestly.