Milk & Meat - Tavshil Shel Basar

QUESTION: I ate a potato that was cooked with meat. Must I wait six hours before eating cheese?

ANSWER: A potato that was cooked with meat is referred to as a “tavshil shel basar” (a food cooked with meat). Shulchan Aruch (YD 89:3) writes that there is no obligation to wait between eating a tavshil shel basar and eating cheese, however one is required to wash their hands. The Rama writes that although this is the basic halacha, the custom, which should not be changed, is to consider a tavshil shel basar the same as meat itself. As such, in practice, if one eats a potato that was cooked in a meat stew, one must wait six hours.

The Rama restricts eating actual cheese after eating a tavshil shel basar, but allows eating a tavshil of gevina (a potato cooked with cheese) after eating a tavshil shel basar (a potato cooked with meat). However, Rebbi Akiva Eiger cites the Minchas Yaakov (76:11) who writes that today the common custom is to not allow this as well. Thus, in this area of halacha, there is no practical difference between eating actual meat and food cooked with meat.

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