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What is the appropriate way to prepare the Beitzah for the Seder Plate?

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The Shulchan Aruch (OC 473:4) says that the custom around him was to cook the egg in liquid. The Mishna Berura there explains that this is because the egg represents the Korban Chagigah which, unlike the Korban Pesach, could be either roasted or cooked in liquid. The Rama there notes that the custom in his city is to have the egg roasted, as was certainly a permissible way of preparing the Korban Chagigah.

The Aruch HaShulchan (:9) suggests that the custom in Ashkenaz developed out of deference to the rejected opinion of Ben Teima (Pesachim 70a) that required the Korban Chagigah to be roasted as well.

In all the sederim I have attended the egg is hard boiled. There doesn't seem to be much of a preference either way, and I would suggest each family continue in its tradition.

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Sooo interesting. I've only ever seen it with a burnt look. Not entirely burnt, but enough to easily identify that it was roasted. In fact, when my wife made it the first time, following my mother's instructions, we were both shocked that it didn't look burnt in the least, and we debated whether it should be put back in until it attained that appearance (we decided appearances were not as necessary as the integrity of our oven, though, and we had just heard a story of someone's egg exploding in their oven that day, so we left it as it was). – Seth J Apr 30 '12 at 19:05
@SethJ in my parents' house, the burnt look derives not from roasting the egg but from holding it for a few seconds over an open flame after it's been hard-boiled. (Or is that called roasting it?) – msh210♦ Apr 30 '12 at 19:33
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@msh210 יש צלי אחר בישול? – Double AA♦ Apr 30 '12 at 19:35
@DoubleAA :-) Yes, actually, IIRC. But the question (as you know) was about roasting not about halachic צלי. Nice catch, though. – msh210♦ Apr 30 '12 at 19:39
@msh210, as a side question - ?יש בישול אחר צלי – Seth J Apr 30 '12 at 20:37
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The Shulchan Aruch Harav says that the egg should be either cooked or fried.

Nonetheless, the footnote quotes Sefer Haminhagim that in Chabad, the egg is hard-boiled and eaten with salt-water.

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typos :( .......... – Shmuel Brin Apr 30 '12 at 19:50

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