Questions of nat bar nat
(twice removed taste, i.e., food into pot and then pot into food) are often
complex due to the multiple permutations of l’chatchila (proper action)
and b’dieved (after the fact). Let us proceed from rules to details.
Amoraim dispute whether pareve
food that was placed while hot on a fleishig utensil can be eaten
with milk, and we rule leniently (Chulin 111a). Therefore, the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah
95:1) rules that one may mix pareve food cooked in a fleishig
pot (nat bar nat of fleishig) into milchig
food. However, the Rama (whom Ashkenazim follow) rules that cooking food in
a fleishig pot is more severe than simply placing hot food in a
utensil. He says that in the former case, the originally pareve food
may not be mixed in with milchig food (ad loc. 2).
However, the Rama incorporates a few
leniencies. If the food cooked in the fleishig pot was subsequently
mixed into milchig food, it may be eaten, b’dieved. Also, the
pareve food may l’chatchila be placed hot into a milchig
utensil without affecting the status of the pot or the food (ibid.). Thus,
the soup you describe may be placed in a milchig pot or
bowl.
However, there is a complicating
factor – a further level of l’chatchila. The Beit Yosef cites several Rishonim
who say that one may not set up l’chatchila a situation of nat
bar nat. While his final opinion is unclear, most prominent Sephardi
poskim (see Kaf Hachayaim, YD 95:1) say that one should not put hot
pareve food in a fleishig pot if he intends to subsequently
mix it in with milchig. The question is whether there are other cases
where a food would be treated as pareve, b’dieved, but should
not be “created” in that way.
One case in point is when a
fleishig pot has not been used for fleishig within the 24
hours before the pareve use. The Rama says that in such a case, the
resulting food is pareve enough to mix in with milchig. The Gra (95:10) says that in such a case it
is even permitted to l’chatchila cook the pareve in that
fleishig pot with intention to mix it in with milchig.
However, the Chochmat Adam (48:2) says that one should not cook it in the
fleishig pot with that intention, and this is the more accepted
position.
Regarding your first specific
question, making the soup in a fleishig pot with intention to
put it into a milchig pot, there is a machloket among the
Acharonim. Among the earlier authorities, the Bach allows it, and the
Pri Megadim (Mishbetzot Zahav 95:4) forbids it. Amongst contemporary
authorities, Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, YD III :10) leans toward leniency, whereas several less
prominent authorities lean toward stringency (see differences of degree in Badei
Hashulchan 95:30, Ma’adanei Hashulchan (95:23), and Laws of Kashrus (Artscroll),
p. 242). (Realize that there are serious opinions that even
b’dieved, it should not be put into a milchig pot
(see discussion in Darchei Teshuva 95:23).) It seems to be better policy to have
a large pareve pot for big soups to avoid this issue. However, in cases
where this is not readily feasible, leniency is
legitimate.
In cases where there is an
additional reason for leniency, one can be lenient freely. One is the second
case you ask about – where the second utensil is itself pareve, not
milchig. Since nothing can go wrong to the food in this utensil, and it
is just a question of making the utensil fleishig, we do not have to go
so far in our concern. It also makes sense that if the fleishig pot has
not been used in 24 hours, it is permissible to cook in it with the intention of
putting the food in a milchig pot.
It is important to realize in
questions such as these that “all bets are off” if one is dealing with onions or
other sharp vegetables that were sautéed in the fleishig pot or cut
with a fleishig knife (Rama, ibid.). The details are beyond our present
scope.
Machon Eretz Chemdah
