Question:
My friend has a dairy pot which, at the time of this incident, had not been used for dairy in several days. Its lid is glass with a metal rim and a plastic handle. She was cooking soup in the pot on the stove, lifted up the lid to check the soup, it was so hot (despite the plastic) that she dropped it – straight into a dish of cool chicken. The question is: Is the lid now dairy, fleishig, treif, or what?
Answer:
1. Seeing that the pot lid was extremely hot, we must assume the possibility of some bliya (absorption).
2. Nevertheless, the chicken in question was cold; the temperature of the chicken as it was in contact with the lid could not therefore have been even near the boiling point.bbThe fact that the pot was not used for milk for several days is a further reason to be meqel (lenient).
It is therefore sufficient to pour boiling water (from a kettle etc.) all over the lid to render it kosher beyond any doubt.
3. As for the chicken – normally, in such a case, the outer layer of meat that touched the lid would need to be removed (by scraping with a knife etc.) – removing a millimeter or two is sufficient. The rest may be eaten. In this case, due to the pot not being ben yomo (not having been in use the same day), this is unnecessary – the chicken is muttar.
Monday, 15 December 2008