Aino Ben Yomo - Pre-Seasoned Cookware (Continued)

QUESTION: I bought a brand new pre-seasoned cast-iron skillet. I did not realize that it requires kashering, and I have already used it to cook foods and have served those foods on dishes with cutlery. What is the status of the foods that I already cooked? What about the China dishes?

ANSWER: As previously explained, pre-seasoned pans are treated with a coating of shortening or fat that is baked onto the surface of the utensil, and it is possible that the fats are animal derived. Although the pan is certainly aino ben yomo (not used in 24 hours) when purchased, the Shulchan Aruch (YD 103:5) rules that the leniencies of aino ben yomo do not generally apply to visible residue. (The Shulchan Aruch cites a second opinion that residue does become stale after 24 hours, however the first opinion in Shulchan Aruch is generally considered primary over the second.) As such, it would appear that the food would become non-kosher and the China dishes would be treif as well.

However, there are several mitigating factors. First, the layer of seasoning is very thin, and presumably any food that is cooked on this surface will be more than sixty times this thin coating and will be batel. Second, the status of the seasoning is at worst a safek (uncertainty), and in fact, the majority of shortenings manufactured in America are kosher. Additionally, as mentioned above, Shulchan Aruch cites as a second opinion that residue after 24 hours does become stale. Poskim write that in extenuating circumstances a second opinion can be used as a mitigating factor as well (see Chida – Machzik Beracha YD siman 9). Though it is questionable if one may eat the fried food without scraping off the outer layer that touched the pan, but regarding the dishes, one can let them sit idle for 24 hours, and due to all the factors mentioned above, they may then be used without kashering. 

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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.