Meat and Milk Kitchenware

Q. Does the prohibition of cooking meat and milk apply to cooking meat in a dairy pot that had not been used in 24 hours?

A. If a pot has not been used for 24 hours (aino ben yomo), the flavor absorbed in the walls becomes stale. Once the dairy flavor is stale, meat cooked in this pot would not become forbidden. Still, Chazal forbade cooking meat in this pot out of concern that if this were allowed, one might easily get confused and cook meat in the pot without first waiting 24 hours. What if one does not plan to eat the food—may one cook meat in a dairy pot that has not been used for 24 hours for a non-Jew? The Chamudei Daniel (cited by Pischei Teshuva YD 87:8) proves that this is forbidden in all cases, based on a ruling of Rema. The Rema writes that if a non-Jew has his pot on the fire, even if the pot contains only water, one may not stoke the fire even if the pot contains only water. This is because it is almost certain that in the past the non-Jew cooked both meat and milk in the same pot. The Chamudai Doniel points out that we may assume that the pot was not used with milk or meat in the past 24 hours, but nonetheless, the Rema rules that it is improper to stoke the fire, because this too is viewed as though one is cooking milk and meat.

____________________________________________________

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.