If
one inadvertently inserted a BAT YUMA [1]
milk spoon into a meat pot that had meat cooking in it, the cooking process
causes the active TAAM (taste) of the milk that was already absorbed within the
spoon, to get expelled from the spoon and enter into the meat.
Since we are not sure exactly
how much milk TAAM (taste) from the spoon gets expelled and absorbed into the
meat – we err on the side of caution and assume that there is milk in the
volume of the metal of the spoon in the section that entered into the pot.[2]
So now we need to measure the
volume of meat and ascertain if there is 60 times more meat against the volume
of (a section of) the milk spoon.
If there is, the meat is
permitted, but the milk spoon would need to be KASHERED by boiling,
because it now absorbed a TAAM (taste) of meat.
If there is not, the entire
quantity of meat is prohibited – and the meat pot would also become prohibited
since it has now absorbed a TAAM (taste) of BASAR BECHALAV (meat and milk), and
would also need to be KASHERED by boiling.
[Daf 31,32. Seif 5,6.]
[1] A
utensil used within the last 24 hours.
[2]
There is, however, some debate over exactly which section of the spoon we
reference for the calculation of SHISHIM (60). Imagine a cross-section of a
spoon inserted into a pot containing, say, meat soup. There would clearly be
three distinct areas:
1) The section above the brim of the pot which is exposed
entirely to the air.
2) The section below the brim but above the surface of the soup.
3) The section in, and below the surface of, the soup.
According to all views, the first section exposed
entirely to the air, need not be brought into the calculation, because it is
unaffected by the heat of the cooking process.
According to most views, the second and third sections
are to be measured, because they are the sections affected by the cooking
process (either by the liquid or the steam).
According to one view (that of the Chochmas Adam), it
is only the third section which is in the actual soup, that need to be
measured. This last view is obviously the most lenient view since with a
smaller volume of spoon we are more likely to find 60 times more meat.
Again, to be clear, the volume of meat includes any liquid in the pot also at the minimum.
ReplyDeleteIf we knew that the walls absorbed completely, we would apply the volume of the pot too.
And here we have an interesting conjunct. If the spoon and pot are metal, then they absorb and expel at the same rate. So we can be consistent in our erring. Further, if we hold on the second and third sections, we apply that to the pot too.
So where the spoon is the same as the pot, or less porous, then the food is safe.