Daf Yomi

What About the Pot?

“…[Hot] Fish That Was Served on a [Meat] Plate…”

(Chulin 111b)

Our daf continues the discussion of forbidden mixtures of foods and associated problems encountered. We center on a meat-and-milk issue as it relates to fish, which, though pareve, may never be eaten together with meat. The Gemara (Pesachim 76a) explains that this is due to the danger involved. And “Chamira sakanta me’isura”– danger is looked upon as even more stringent than a prohibition. Thus, even though there is no prohibition involved, we are nevertheless strict in this matter.

Shmuel on our daf asserts that a portion of hot fish that was (first) placed on a (clean) meat plate may be eaten (afterwards, when removed from that plate) with a milk sauce. His view, in contrast to that of Rab, is that even though the plate previously had hot meat upon it and thus absorbed that flavor, since the fish did not absorb that flavor directly from the meat, it may be eaten with a milk sauce.

Ab Initio or Post Initio

Rivan (Tosafos s.v. “hilch’sa”), citing his father-in-law, Rashi, states that even though Shmuel permits eating fish with milk after its having been placed on a meat plate, that is only where it was cooked in a neutral pot. However, if it was cooked or roasted in a meat pot, it may not be eaten with milk. Rema (Yoreh De’ah 95:2) rules according to this strict opinion that any pareve food cooked in a meat pot should not be mixed with milk ab initio. However, there is a caveat: He rules leniently in the event the pot in question was not used to cook meat within the previous 24 hours, i.e., the pot is not ben yomo (lit. “of that day”). In such a situation, the meat flavor that was absorbed into the walls of the vessel is considered pagum – rancid – and since there is no beneficial flavor imparted to the fish, it may be eaten with milk.

There are divergent views in this matter. The Gr’a (Yoreh De’ah 95:sk 10) indicates similarly that one may cook fish ab initio in a meat pot that is not ben yomo, even if his intent is to serve and eat the fish with milk.

Chochmas Odom (Topic 48:2) maintains that one should not initially cook fish in a meat pot with the intent to eat it with milk, even where the pot is not ben yomo. However, all are in agreement that once the fish was cooked, one may later choose to eat it with milk.

What Degree Danger?

Returning to the matter of the mixture of meat and fish, Maharshal (Yam Shel Shlomo, siman 15) indicates that due to danger, one should refrain from eating fish that was cooked in a meat pot (even where it is clean and not previously used for at least 24 hours) because the fish absorbs the flavor of the meat that was cooked in the pot earlier. Tur (cited by Chochmas Odom Topic 68:1) notes that some meticulous individuals designate separate pots to be used exclusively for fish and also refrain from eating fish on a meat plate.

The author of the sefer Issur V’Heter (Topic 39), however, cites our Gemara as proof that it is only dangerous to eat fish which is served with actual meat, but as far as eating fish that was cooked in a clean meat pot (not used for 24 hours), this does not pose a problem. It is obvious that afterward such fish may be served on either meat or dairy dishes.