Kashering Meat

From Halachipedia
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An important part of how kosher meat or poultry is made kosher is that it needs to be salted so that the blood is removed. Consuming blood is a biblical prohibition as the verse states - "רק חזק לבלתי אכול הדם" - "Be strong not to eat the blood" (Devarim 12:23). After the salting process the residual blood in the meat is permitted.[1]

How to Kasher Meat

  1. One shouldn't roast meat together if one is unsalted and the other salted. After the fact they are permitted since the blood that went from one into the other is exuded based on kbolo kach polto.[2]
  2. A thick piece of meat just needs to be salted on both sides and does not need to be cut.[3] If it is cut after it is salted it doesn't need to be resalted.[4]
  3. Before the meat is salted it needs to be washed off. If it is cut after washing before salting it needs to be rewashed.[5] If it was salted without being washed some say it can be washed and resalted, while others opine that it is forbidden.[6]
  4. Meat needs to be salted on every spot on both sides. After the fact, it is forbidden unless it is a large loss or necessary for kavod Shabbat.[7]
  5. The salt should be left on the meat for the time it takes to walk a mil, which is around 20 minutes,[8] but the minhag is to salt it for an hour.[9]
  6. One should use salt that has a medium thickness, not too thick or very fine.[10]
  7. After salting, one should wash off the salt, then soak it in water, emtpy the water, and soak it in water again.[11]

Washed within Three Days

  1. Meat that was left unwashed or salted for three days can not be kashered and cooked since the blood dried and became more significantly absorbed. It can only be eaten with roasting.[12]
  2. Once it is washed it still needs to be washed within three days of being washed.[13]
  3. A piece of meat that was not washed or salted within three days which was mixed up with other pieces of meat that were kashered properly, the piece that was unwashed is nullified and they can all be salted and then cooked if one wishes to eat them cooked and not roasted.[14]

Roasting

  1. It is permitted to roast unsalted meat since the roasting drains the blood.[15] The minhag is to salt meat for roasting with only a little salt.[16]

Stuffed Unsalted Meat

Roasting

  1. There is a dispute regarding stuffed unsalted meat in an unsalted chicken or goat (Heb. מולייתא; lit. stuffed) whether it can be permitted to roast and have the blood drain through roasting. The reason it is different than a regular meat roasting is because the stuffed meat doesn't exude the blood freely as it gets trapped within the chicken or goat. The halacha is that it is permitted and we view the fire roasting as causing the blood to drain and any blood that went from the inner meat to the outer meat also drained based on the principle of kbolo kach polto (Heb. כבולעו כך פולטו; lit. as it went in it goes out).[17] Ideally, one shouldn't do this; rather one should first completely salt each piece separately and then stuff the inner meat in the outer meat.[18]

Cooking

  1. It is forbidden to cook the unsalted meat since that would cause the blood to be absorbed in the meat and not drained out.[19]
  2. Once the inner and outer meats are properly salted it is permitted to stuff the inner meat in the outer meat even to cook it.[20]

Salting Them Together

  1. In order to cook the inner and outer together they need to be salted separately properly. If they were stuffed together and then salted it isn’t considered as though one is salting both of them. The salting of the outer one doesn’t help the inner one. The outer one needs to be salted on both sides. Only a unified piece of meat can be salted on both sides without cutting it since it is one unit, however, stuffed meat isn't a unit and blood from the inner meat can be absorbed in the outer meat and vice versa.[21]

Inner Unsalted and Outer Salted

  1. If the inner one was unsalted and outer one was salted and they were roasted together it is permitted.[22]
  2. If the inner one is unsalted and outer one is salted but didn’t wait in the salt for the requisite time, it is a dispute whether the inner one becomes forbidden since the outer one exudes its blood immediately and the inner one doesn’t exude until it is heated up.[23]

Outer Unsalted and Inner Salted

  1. If the inner one was salted and outer one was unsalted and they were roasted together, it is a dispute whether it is permitted.[24]
  2. If the inner one is salted but not left for the requisite time and the outer one is unsalted it is a dispute if the inner one becomes forbidden.[25]

Both Equally Salted or Unsalted

  1. If both were salted, or both unsalted, or both salted but not for the requisite time they don’t forbid each other because they can exude blood one to the other and then exude it out based on the principle kbolo kach polto.[26]

Meat With Eggs

  1. If there are eggs added to the inner meat then it is forbidden even if both are unsalted and it is roasted. The presence of eggs makes it similar to cooking and not roasting.[27] Sephardim are lenient even with roasting with eggs.[28]

Meat and Onions

  1. Unsalted meat that was roasted together with onions is a dispute after the fact if the onions are permitted. Perhaps only meat with meat do we apply the principle of kbolo kach polto, whereas onions might absorb the blood and not exude it in the roasting.[29]

Sources

  1. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:20
  2. Rama 77:1, Aruch Hashulchan 77:16
  3. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:4
  4. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:5
  5. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:1
  6. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:2. Rama is strict.
  7. Shulchan Aruch and Rama Y.D. 69:4, Kaf Hachaim 69:76 and 77:8
  8. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:6
  9. Rama 69:6. Kaf Hachaim 69:96 quotes the Kereti who says that this hour is 60 minutes and not zmaniyot.
  10. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:3
  11. Shulchan Aruch and Rama Y.D. 69:7
  12. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:12
  13. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:13
  14. Trumat Hadeshen 170, Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 69:14
  15. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 76:1, Tosfot Pesachim 74a s.v. kbolo
  16. Tosfot Pesachim 74a s.v. kbolo, Rama Y.D. 76:2
  17. Pesachim 75b, Rif Chullin 31b, Rosh Chullin 8:13, and Tur and Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 77:1
  18. Rama Y.D. 77:1. However, the Kaf Hachayim 77:15 notes that the Pri Chadash 77:5 and others contend that theoretically it is even permitted initially though we wouldn't do so as a stringency. Kaf Hachaim 77:9 records the minhag to follow this Rama.
  19. Rif Chullin 31b, Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 77:1
  20. Rashba (Torat Habayit Hakatzar 78a), Rosh Chullin 8:13, and Tur YD 77:1 hold that once the inner meat is salted properly it is permitted even to stuff it inside a chicken or goat and cook it. The Rambam (Machalot Asurot 6:17) and Raah (Bedek Habayit 80a) hold that it is forbidden. They hold that there is no way to stuff meat inside other meat if you cook it even if the inside meat is first salted and even if it is cooked. The proof is that the Gemara inferred a proof from the fact that Rav ate stuffed meat and didn’t distinguish whether it was salted or not. Rashba argues that the entire Gemara was discussing meat that wasn’t salted properly, or salted like is the minhag for roasting or kodshim. You see this from the first proof of the Gemara that it was talking about kodshim and it only has minimal salting and still we would have said kbolo kack polto. Bet Yosef 77:1 explains that the Rambam follows his opinion that even after salting you need to boil the meat in hot water and that’s why putting salted meat inside other meat is a problem since it can’t exude the blood and will be absorbed in the outer meat. Essentially the rambam thinks that salting does not remove all of the blood. Raavad Machalot Asurot 6:17 and Rivash 165 agree with Rashba and Bet Yosef says that this is the minhag. Rabbenu Dovid Pesachim 74a s.v. amar agrees. Shulchan Aruch 77:1 follows the Rashba. Aruch Hashulchan 77:2 writes that the whole world doesn’t follow the Rambam about this.
  21. Shach 77:4, Aruch Hashulchan 77:15, Kaf Hachaim 77:7
  22. Hagahot Maimoniyot (Constantinople edition cited by Bet Yosef 77:1) writes that roasting stuffed meat is only permitted if both are salted or unsalted, however, if the outer is salted and inner isn’t salted then it is forbidden since it can absorb the blood and it can't be extracted. The Tosfot Pesachim 74a s.v. kbolo argues that roasting can remove the blood from the inner one and even if the outer meat is salted. Even though meat that falls into blood brine is forbidden that’s because the blood gets absorbed and can’t be removed, however, if it is removed immediately such as when they’re roasting together that is permitted. Tur 77:1 agrees. Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 77:1 follows Tosfot. Shach 77:2 and Taz 77:2 concur.
  23. Shach 77:2 holds it becomes forbidden, while Kaf Hachaim 77:4 and Aruch Hashulchan 77:9 link this question with that of the Rama and others who are lenient unlike the Shach.
  24. Rama 77:1 permits when the inner is salted and outer isn’t salted, Shach 77:2 forbids. We don’t say kbolo kach polto since the outer one doesn’t have blood itself to exude. The inner blood goes into the outer one and forbids it. Even though we hold previously salted meat salted with other meat is kosher (end of YD 70) that is only because there’s a place for the blood to be released, however, if it is all trapped inside the outer meat then it is forbidden. Shach explains that although Tosfot and Shulchan Aruch permitted when the inner one wasn’t salted and outer was salted that is only because the outer one absorbs blood and immediately exudes it through salting or roasting. However, in the opposite scenario the inner one absorbs the blood and has nowhere to exude it to. Taz 77:1 agrees with the Rama. Aruch Hashulchan 77:11 sides with the Rama and Taz. Kaf Hachaim 77:4 quotes the Pri Chadash, Minchat Yakov, Chachmat Adam, and Zivchei Tzedek who are lenient.
  25. Aruch Hashulchan 77:9 based on Shach 77:2 and dissenting opinions
  26. Shach 77:2, Kaf Hachaim 77:4, Aruch Hashulchan 77:9
  27. Rama 77:1, Shach 77:5, Aruch Hashulchan 77:14
  28. Kaf Hachaim 77:13 cites the Pri Chadash and Zivchei Tzedek who dispute the Rama on the basis of the Rambam Machalot Asurot 6:17 and Smag.
  29. Pri Chadash 77:5 permits the onions as he compares it to two pieces of meat roasted together, one salted and one unsalted. Aruch Hashulchan 77:17 is strict like the Maharashdam since the onions might absorb the blood and not exude it. Kaf Chaim 73:46 is lenient but advises being strict initially. Kaf Hachaim 77:47 quotes the Kneset Hagedola, Chida, and Zivchei Tzedek who qualify the dispute to whether the onions are permitted but certainly the meat is permitted.