DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 860 KB)
What is the Status of Parve Food Cooked in a Meat or Dairy Pot?

If a person cooks a Parve food in a meat or dairy pot, does it obtain the same status as the pot, or does it remain Parve? For example, if a person boils string beans in a meat pot, do they retain their status as Parve, such that they may be eaten together with meat or dairy foods, or do the string beans obtain the status of meat, such that they may not be eaten with dairy foods? And if the string beans indeed remain Parve, is it permissible "Le’khatehila" (optimally, from the outset) to prepare them in a meat pot, with the intention of then using them with dairy food?

The Shulhan Aruch discusses a Halachic principle called "Noten Bar Ta’am Bar Noten Ta’am." When meat, for example, is cooked in a pot, the meat is "Noten Ta’am" – meaning, it imparts flavor – into the walls of the pot. Then, when string beans are cooked in that pot, the meat flavor in the walls of the pot is imparted in the string beans. This "second degree" flavor is called "Noten Ta’am Bar Ta’am." Since the meat flavor in the string beans did not come directly from the meat, the string beans do not have the status of meat, and may be eaten with dairy products. This applies in the converse situation, as well. If Parve food was cooked in a dairy pot, it may nevertheless be eaten together with meat.

One common example of this Halacha is mejedra (rice with lentils), which many people eat with yoghurt. If one prepared mejedra in a meat pot, he may nevertheless eat it with yoghurt, since the mejedra did not absorb meat flavor directly from meat.

The question remains as to whether one may knowingly bring himself into this situation. Meaning, is it permissible to intentionally prepare mejedra in a meat pot knowing that he will want to eat with yoghurt?

This issue is subject to debate among the authorities. Several Poskim, including the Kaf Ha’haim and Zibheh Sedek, ruled that the Halacha stated above applies only Bedi’abad – after the fact, once a person finds himself in this situation. Hacham Ovadia Yosef, however, based upon the ruling of Maran in Bedek Ha’bayit, ruled that this Halacha applies even "Le’chatehila." Thus, it is permissible to cook a Parve food in a meat pot with the intention of eating it with a dairy food (and vice versa), in light of the ruling of Hacham Ovadia, though some have the custom to act stringently, in deference to the stringent position.

It should be noted that this entire discussion relates to Parve food that was cooked in a pot that had been used for either meat or dairy within the previous twenty-four hours. If the pot had not been used in the previous twenty-four hours (as is very often the case), then according to all views one may cook the Parve food in the pot with the intention of eating it with either meat or dairy. The different opinions were stated only with regard to cooking Parve food in a pot that had been used for meat or dairy within the previous twenty-four hours.

Summary: If a Parve food was cooked in a meat pot, it may nevertheless be eaten with dairy foods (and vice versa). Moreover, one may cook Parve food in a meat pot with the intention of eating it with dairy foods, though some have the custom not to cook a Parve food in a pot that had been used for meat within the previous twenty-four hours to eat it with dairy food.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Is It Permissible To Ask A Goy To Perform A Task During Twilight On Friday Night and Saturday Night
Covering The Bread During Kiddush
Is A Button That falls Off A Shirt On Shabbat Considered Muktze
What Is The Proper Time For Ladies To Dip In The Mikveh On A Friday Night or Yom Tov Night
Spraying Insect Repellent on Shabbat
Asking a Non-Jew to Turn on One's Oven on Shabbat
Placing Roses in a Vase on Shabbat
Nursing or Expressing Breast Milk on Shabbat
Eating or Cutting Food With Lettering on Shabbat
Adding Personal Requests to One's Prayers on Shabbat
Laws of Sovea -Is It Permissible To Use A Napkin To Wipe Strawberries or A Similar Coloring Item From Your Face on Shabbat
The Laws of Tzoveia- Is It Permissible for Ladies To Wear Make-Up On Shabbat
Is It Permissible For A Chazan To Use A Tuning Fork On Shabbat
May A Person Make Netilat Yadayim On Shabbat if There Is Written Ink On His Hands That May Become Erased
The Various Stages of Accepting the "Neshama Yeteira" ("Additional Soul") During the Friday Night Prayer Service
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found