Cooking on Shabbos: Practical Applications - part 2
Question: What is permitted to do when eating hot cholent, meat or chicken on Shabbos? What should be avoided?
Discussion: Our Discussion assumes that cholent, meat or chicken were transferred to the plate using a serving spoon, etc. These foods are now in a kli shelishi. The following halachos apply:
It is permitted to pour ketchup or mustard over any hot food served on a plate.15
It is permitted to pour cold gravy (or cold soup) on any hot food served on a plate.16 Some poskim hold that unless the gravy is still warm, it should not be poured over a davar gush.17
It is permitted to eat hot cholent, whether it is soupy or lumpy, together with cold cuts or other pieces of cooked, cold meat.18
It is permitted to put pasteurized butter or margarine on a hot potato.19 Some poskim are hesitant to permit doing so.20
Some poskim maintain that it is forbidden to place a pickle on top of or underneath a hot davar gush, such as a hot piece of kugel. Other poskim are not concerned about doing so.21
It is forbidden to add raw spices (e.g., pepper, garlic) to a hot davar gush, even if the davar gush is in a kli shelishi.22
Question: Is there any way to prepare cooked, cold food to be served warm or hot on Shabbos?
Discussion: It is permitted to place dry, cold23 meat, chicken or kugel on top of the lid of a pot of soup or cholent which is on the fire or in a crock-pot,24 or directly on top of a radiator, even if the food will become hot after sitting on the lid or radiator.25 If these food items are wrapped in aluminum foil, the item should not be completely sealed; rather the edges of the foil should be left slightly apart to avoid the prohibition of hatmanah.26 But it is forbidden to place cold food—dry or liquid, cooked or uncooked—directly on the fire or on any area of the blech where the food could become hot.27
It is permitted to place cold foods—dry or liquid, cooked or uncooked—near a fire so that they may get warm. It is also permitted to place all cold foods on the edge of the blech, far enough away from the flame so that the food will never reach the temperature of yad soledes bo. But it is forbidden to place cold liquid such as soup or gravy, or any uncooked food, near enough to any heat source that will cause it to become hot.28
Question: What are some of the restrictions in regard to stirring and dishing out food from a pot on Shabbos?
Discussion: If, for any reason, the pot cover was removed from the pot while the pot is on the heat source, it is forbidden to replace the cover on the pot unless it is clear that the food inside is completely cooked.29
It is forbidden to stir hot food in a pot which is on the fire or blech, even if the food is completely cooked.30 It is also forbidden to stir hot food in a pot which has been removed from the fire or blech, but only if the food is not completely cooked.31
It is forbidden to dish out food from a pot which is directly on a flame,32 whether the food is completely cooked or not.33 Even if the pot is too heavy to pick up and remove from the fire, it is still prohibited to dish out food from it.34
It is forbidden to place a cold, wet ladle [either from tap water or from previously ladled soup which accumulated and got cold in the ladle] into a pot of hot soup, even if the pot is presently not on the fire or blech.35
Note: It is strongly advised not to add sugar or salt to a pot of hot liquid even after it has been removed from the fire or heat source.36
Question: What precautions must be taken when preparing coffee, tea, etc. on Shabbos?
Discussion: It is forbidden to pour hot water from the urn directly into a cup containing a teabag, cocoa or chocolate milk.37 It is forbidden to place a tea bag into a cup of hot water, or to pour hot water from a cup over a tea bag.38 Most poskim also strongly advise not to pour hot water from the urn directly into a cup containing instant tea, coffee or cocoa.39
It is permitted to lift off the lid of an urn and replace it, as long as the water inside was previously boiled—even if it is not boiling at the time that the lid is being removed and replaced.40
Question: When preparing a baby’s milk bottle, what may be done?
Discussion: It is permitted to pour hot water from an urn on a baby’s cold milk bottle. This is permitted because the hot water being poured from the urn (iruy kli rishon) does not have the “strength” to cook the milk which is inside the bottle41. It is also permitted to pour hot water from an urn into a vessel, and then place the milk bottle into it.42 The bottle should not be submerged entirely so as to avoid the prohibition of hatmanah.43
15. Since these items are precooked; Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-5. Rav S.Z. Auerbach and Rav Y.S. Elyashiv (quoted in Me’or ha-Shabbos, vol. 1, pgs. 267-268) permit this for other reasons.
16. Based on Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-5.
17. Since a davar gush is treated as a kli rishon, and cold gravy and soup are liquid items which have cooled off and are thus subject to the prohibition of Cooking; Rav S.Z. Auerbach and Rav Y.S. Elyashiv (Me’or ha-Shabbos vol. 1, pgs. 265-268).
18. Since the meat is already cooked.
19. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-6.
20. Rav S.Z. Auerbach (quoted in Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 1:64).
21. See Me’or ha-Shabbos, vol. 4, pgs. 420-422; Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchsah 1:65. There are several reasons to be lenient in this case: 1) One has no intention to cook the pickle, nor is it a p’sik reisha;
2) The pickle is not enhanced by the kugel, if anything it becomes slightly “ruined” by the heat emanating from it; 3) The kugel will generally be in a kli shelishi, and davar gush is merely a stringency in such a situation.
22. Mishnah Berurah 318:45 and 65; Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 1, note 174.
23. This should not be done for frozen items which have ice crystals on them, since cooking ice is prohibited; Minchas Yitzchak 9:31.
24. O.C. 253:5 and Beiur Halachah 253:3, s.v. v’yizaher. See Chazon Ish 37:14 who explains why this does not constitute “roasting after cooking.”
25. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-34. See following footnote concerning hatmanah.
26. The poskim disagree over whether hatmanah is a problem in this case: Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-3 and Shulchan Shlomo 257:5 are stringent, while Rav Y.S. Elyashiv (Ashrei ha-Ish, Shabbos, vol. 2, 4:12) and Rav Y.Y. Fisher (Me’or ha-Shabbos, vol. 1, pg. 84) are lenient. [This also seems to be the view of the Chazon Ish 37:32.] If the purpose of the aluminum foil, however, is not to retain the heat but merely to serve as a container, all poskim agree that it is permitted. If more than one piece of aluminum foil is wrapped around the food item, however, all poskim agree that it is prohibited; see Machazeh Eliyahu 32.
27. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-31, 32. [For a dissenting, more lenient opinion which permits placing cooked dry food directly on a blech, see Yechaveh Da’as 2:45.]
28. O.C. 318:14-15.
29. O.C. 254:4; 257:4. See Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-10, who may hold that it is forbidden to cover a pot which is on the fire even if the food is completely cooked, but most other poskim clearly permit this, and Rav Feinstein himself is quoted (The Shabbos Kitchen, pg. 9) as permitting this.
30. Mishnah Berurah 318:118. See Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-8 for an explanation of why it is prohibited to stir food which is completely cooked.
31. O.C. 318:18.
32. But if the food is on the blech and not directly over the fire, many poskim permit dishing out food from the pot; Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-11.
33. Mishnah Berurah 318:113.
34. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-9. See Chazon Ish 37:15, who is somewhat more lenient. See also Minchas Yitzchak 5:127-6.
35. Since cooking or reheating liquids in a kli rishon is prohibited.
36. Mishnah Berurah 318:71, since in the opinion of some poskim, soluble foods dissolved in liquids are themselves considered liquid and are subject to the prohibition of cooking cold liquids. It is permitted, however, to add precooked seasoning [sugar or salt] to solid food, e.g., a hot potato, since in that case the seasoning does not dissolve; see Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 1, note 199.
37. This is strictly prohibited, since these are foods which were not cooked before Shabbos.
38. Since tea leaves can easily become cooked in a kli sheini, and even by boiling water poured upon them from a kli sheini; Mishnah Berurah 318:39.
39. Even though instant coffee and tea are generally processed (cooked) foods, several poskim hold that one should not pour hot water directly from a kli rishon over them for several reasons; see Sefer Hilchos Shabbos, pg. 298.
40. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:74-14. It is also permitted to dish out water from an urn. Previously we mentioned that stirring and dishing out food from a pot which is directly over the fire is forbidden even if the food in the pot is fully cooked. However, this applies only to food, since we are concerned that there may be some small pieces that have not become fully cooked and will become cooked through the stirring or dishing out. This concern does not apply to water, and it is, therefore, permitted to stir and dish out water that has already been fully boiled.
41. Iruy kli rishon can only cook the outer shell (surface) of an item; it does not penetrate deeper. In this case, the iruy will affect only the bottle, not the milk; Rav M. Feinstein (Sefer Hilchos Shabbos, pg. 289); Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 1:56.
42. Mishnah Berurah 318:23. This is permitted since the milk is already cooked (processed) and re-cooking a liquid item in a kli sheini is permitted. Under extenuating circumstances, even a kli rishon which has been removed from the fire may sometimes be used, see Shevet ha-Levi 5:31.
43. Mishnah Berurah 258:2; Minchas Yitzchak 8:17, unlike Shulchan Aruch ha-Rav 318:23 and Chazon Ish 37:32, who are lenient. See Contemporary Halachah Discussions to Chapter 258 for more information concerning hatmanah.