Cold
צונן
Le-khatḥila, one should take care that permitted foods do not touch forbidden foods, and that meat does not touch cheese. If they touched and both were dry and cold, they are permitted without rinsing. If there is concern that crumbs stuck from one to the other, one should rub the place where they touched in order to remove them. If there was moisture or oiliness at the place where they touched, one must remove everything that stuck there by rinsing, and when necessary also by rubbing. If meat touched soft cheese that cannot be rinsed, one must remove from the cheese and throw away everything that touched the meat, and the meat must be rinsed (Ḥullin 107b; SA YD 91:1; Shakh 1; Pitḥei Teshuva 1).
Bread that touched moist meat is permitted to be eaten with meat. If one wishes to eat it with dairy, since it is not possible to rinse the bread without it becoming unappetizing, one must scrape off the part of the bread that touched the meat. Likewise, bread that touched moist cheese, if one wishes to eat it with meat, one must scrape off the part that touched the cheese (SA YD 91:3; Pitḥei Teshuva 4).
If a piece of meat fell into milk, if they are cold, there is no absorption; one should remove the piece of meat and rinse it well, and it is permitted (SA YD 91:4). The milk is also permitted, because even if a little moisture from the meat mixed into the milk, it is nullified in sixty.
Some are stringent and maintain that all this is on condition that the piece of meat was raw; but if the cold meat was cooked or roasted, it may absorb milk in its outer layer, and therefore one must remove from it kedei kelipa (the thickness of a peel), and the rest is permitted. And if the cooked or roasted meat has cracks or is seasoned with a sharp spice, then even though it is cold, the milk may be absorbed throughout it, and as long as this does not involve a great loss, all of it is forbidden (Rema 91:7).¹
Notes (1)
- If meat touched hard cheese and one of them was moist, one must rinse the meat and the cheese; and if one did not rinse and cooked it, it is kosher (Taz 91:1; and see Pri Megadim there). SA 91:2 wrote that it is permitted to place kosher and tereifa food together when it is customary to rinse the kosher food, as with raw meat together with tereifa. End quote. It seems that they ruled this way because of the pressing storage conditions, but le-khatḥila one should not place them together.
In Ḥullin 112a it is explained that raw meat of a young pigeon that fell into dairy gravy is kosher (the Rishonim explained that it must be rinsed), but roasted meat requires peeling. And if it has cracks or is seasoned, all of it is forbidden. End quote. Some say that the Gemara’s meaning in saying that roasted meat requires peeling is that it is hot. The same law applies to cooked meat, and the same law applies to beef. And if the hot meat has cracks or is seasoned, all of it is forbidden. But if the meat is cold, then even if it is roasted, cracked, and seasoned, rinsing is sufficient (Rashi, Rashba, Ran, Ritva, Me’iri, and SA YD 91:7).
On the other hand, some say that even when the roasted or cooked meat is cold, it must be peeled, because it has softened somewhat and can absorb milk in its outer layer. And if it has cracks or is seasoned, all of it is forbidden. But if it was not cooked or roasted, rinsing is sufficient (Smag, Smak, Or Zaru’a, Issur Ve-heter Ha-arokh). Some are stringent according to this approach even with raw meat, that if it has cracks or is seasoned, all of it is forbidden (Teruma, Sha’arei Dura, Pri Ḥadash, and Gra). On the other hand, some say that according to this approach the stringency applies only to poultry, since it is soft by nature (Tosafot, Rosh, and Pri To’ar 91:15). The central view within this approach is that the prohibition applies to cold roasted or cooked meat, and there is no difference between poultry and beef (Teruma, Sha’arei Dura, Rema, and Shakh). So wrote Rema 91:7 in practice, and in a case of great loss he ruled in accordance with SA.