The question was asked if it is permissible to take a pot from a hot plate or blech on Shabbat and put it directly on to a wet counter. This question was asked because those water droplets that are on the counter might get cooked from the heat of the pot, and as we know cooking is strictly forbidden on Shabbat. So is it permissible to put the pot down on a wet surface, or is it required to dry the surface beforehand?
The Chafetz Chaim (Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohen 1839-1933) in the Mishna Berura in siman 318:78, writes that placing a piping hot piece of meat on water is a problem for the meat comes to cook the water. Now if a hot piece of meat causes cooking, then of course the pot it came from would cause cooking as well.
So the Halacha, on Shabbat before putting a hot pot onto a counter, one should make sure to dry the counter first in order to avoid the problem of cooking.
We mentioned in previous Halachot, that Chacham Ovadia Yoseph is lenient to permit a cup with remaining droplets of water to be filled directly from an urn on Shabbat. That is permitted even though those droplets be might become cooked again by the hot water emanating from the urn. But that leniency that Chacham Ovadia Yoseph gave does not apply to our question of a counter top. Each case is different, and as stated above, on Shabbat one must dry the counter top before placing on it a hot Keli Rishon, in order to prevent the transgression of cooking on Shabbat.
