Reheating Rice

Q. On Friday, I cooked a pot of rice covered with water on the stove. The rice absorbed all the water, and by the time I turned off the fire, the rice was completely dry. Is this rice considered cooked or baked? If I want to add this rice to my pot of soup on Shabbos, is this allowed?

A. This rice was cooked in water and then baked. The Pri Megadim (AA 318:17) writes that if a food is first cooked and then roasted, it has the status of both manners of cooking, as the roasting does not undo the cooking. Such food may be reheated on Shabbos either in a dry state (on top of a hot pot) or in a kli rishon of water that was removed from the fire. “Ain bishul achar bishul” (the prohibition of cooking does not apply to previously cooked foods) still applies. However, the Mishnah Berurah (Beiur Halacha 318: s.v. Yeish) disagrees. He writes that the second method of cooking will be more pronounced than the first and recooking the food in water will alter the taste. The rice may be reheated without water, but it may not be added to a pot of hot water or soup. As noted in an earlier Halacha Yomis, a roasted food may be placed in a kli shlishi. As such, the dry rice may be added to a bowl of soup that was ladled from the pot, since that will be considered a kli shlishi.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.