“Question: Is it permitted to cook parev food in an eino ben yomo meaty pot, intending to eat it together with dairy food?
Discussion: We first need to clarify the din of food cooked in an eino ben yomo pot, and then discuss the din of nat bar nat:
1) An eino ben yomo utensil is a utensil that has not been used in conjunction with issur in the last 24 hours. Regarding an eino ben yomo utensil, the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah Siman 122) tells us that although the utensil may not be used l’chatchilo, in an ex post facto situation the food used in conjunction with the utensil is not forbidden (since the bliyos inside the utensil have become pogum). Food cooked in an eino ben yomo pot is permitted irrespective of whether the bliyos originated from actual issur, or from dairy to meat or vice versa.
Two important exceptions to this must be noted:
• If a permitted food item was cooked in the pot within 24 after the issur had been cooked; the permitted food item may now be classified “chanan” or chatichoh na’aseh neveiloh and would require waiting from this point onwards another 24 hours (depending on the nature of the original issur cooked inside the pot and quantities of the issur and heter). A sheiloh must be asked.
• If a dovor chorif is cooked inside an eino ben yomo utensil, it may have the ability to “rejuvenate” the pogum bliyos absorbed within the utensil. Again, a sheiloh must be asked.
2) Nat bar nat (d’hetero) is the term used to describe a parev food cooked in a clean pot that has previously been used for either dairy or meaty foods. Nat bar nat is an abbreviation for nosein ta’am bar nosein ta’am; i.e. the dairy or meaty food item originally cooked in the pot imparts bliyos into the pot and these bliyos are defined nat rishon or nat. When a parev food is subsequently cooked in the pot these nat rishon bliyos are imparted into the parev food item rendering the parev food nat bar nat. Since the bliyos originated from a permissible food item, the parev food item is termed nat bar nat d’hetero and has a far more lenient status than the dairy or meat food item from which the bliyos originated from.
The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah Siman 95 se’ifim 1-2) rules that a nat bar nat food may be eaten together with food of the other “type”. I.e. if potatoes were cooked in a meaty pot, they may be eaten together with dairy foods.
The Remo (ibid) posits that the minhag is to be stringent and not to eat the nat bar nat food item together with food of the other “type”. Even according to the Remo, this is only l’chatchilo. If the nat bar nat food has already been mixed with food of the other “type” the Remo (ibid) permits it to be eaten, since this is considered b’dieved (ex post facto). (The Maharshal quoted in the Shach s.k. 4 posits that if the parev food was roasted [without liquid, as opposed to cooked in liquid] in the meaty pot, it is forbidden to be eaten with dairy, even ex post facto.)
The Shach (s.k. 3) posits that even according to the Shulchan Aruch, who allows nat bar nat, this is only once nat bar nat has already occurred. However, even according to the Shulchan Aruch it is forbidden to cook parev food in a meaty pot intending to eat the parev food together with dairy.
It should be clarified that regarding a nat bar nat scenario, there are three significant stages:
1) Before the parev food item is cooked in a dairy/meaty utensil.
2) After the parev food (now termed nat bar nat) has been cooked in a dairy/meaty utensil, but before it has been mixed together with food of the other “type”.
3) After the parev food (now termed nat bar nat) has been mixed with food of the other type.
According to the Shach, the only machlokes between the Shulchan Aruch and Remo is in the second stage. In the first stage even the Shulchan Aruch agrees that it is forbidden to cook parev food in a meaty pot intending to eat the parev food together with dairy (or vice versa), and in the third stage even the Remo permits the food because this is already b’dieved.
The question we now need to address is: Although we have established that one may not cook in an eino ben yomo pot l’chatchilo, and we have also established that one may also not create a situation of nat bar nat l’chatchilo, is it permissible to create a situation of nat bar nat l’chatchilo – in an eino ben yomo utensil? Can we suggest that since these two situations are both independently forbidden l’chatchilo but permitted b’dieved, perhaps with the combination of both eino ben yomo and nat bar nat it is mutor even l’chatchilo? Or, is no distinction made, and this combination is still forbidden l’chatchilo?
The Chochmas Odom (Klal 48 se’if 2) clearly rules stringently in this situation; i.e. that it is indeed forbidden to cause a situation of nat bar nat l’chatchilo even in an eino ben yomo utensil.
Conclusion: It is forbidden l’chatchilo to cook parev food in an eino ben yomo meaty pot, intending to eat it together with dairy food (even though if this already occurred it would be permitted b’dieved to eat it with dairy).
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