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A lot of people have a custom of boiling 3 eggs at a time, as mentioned here, among any other places.

One reason given for this practice is that if one egg turns out to be unkosher, the remaining two kosher eggs will be a majority against the prohibited taste, and they and the pot will remain kosher.

I do not understand this reasoning. If you boiled 3 eggs and cracked one open and found a neveila chicken inside, it is totally clear to me that everything would be prohibited. Kashrus 101: You need 60 parts kosher to nullify the 1 part unkosher! So what good does it do to have 3 eggs?

Is this practice really justifiable by that reason or not?

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The reason you give for an odd number doesn't even make sense. The probability of half or more of a given set of eggs being unkosher is low enough that adding one more egg doesn't really affect that probability at all. Plus, adding two eggs in that case improves your odds even more, and then you've got an even number again. – Daniel Jul 26 '12 at 20:56
There is one aspect of this question that is not a duplicate. Namely, why are eggs that are boiled together "Batal B'Rov"? Why is 60x not required? If you revamp the question it will probably get reopened. – Menachem Jul 26 '12 at 23:08
I agree with Menachem. If you do update it, ping me @DoubleAA or another mod to reopen. – Double AA♦ Jul 27 '12 at 3:16
@DoubleAA - I have updated the question - please reopen it – Shaul Jul 31 '12 at 19:55
@Shaul Opened and +1 – Double AA♦ Jul 31 '12 at 20:37
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

There are two cases I can think of in which having a majority of eggs will help.

  1. If you mix up the eggs and don't remember which was the non-kosher one, you can have any of them if rov were kosher

  2. If the eggs got mixed up, but they all taste the same, then you only need a rov (51%) to permit the entire thing (Yoreh Deah 109:1).

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the second is probably the reason – Shmuel Brin Jul 31 '12 at 21:09
That's talking about yavesh b'yavesh, where there's no taste transfer. Our case is where one part treif was cooked with 2 parts kosher. In which case you need 60:1 to nullify the taste. Yoreh Deah 109:2 - thanks for the link! – Shaul Jul 31 '12 at 21:35
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@Shaul ba clarified that they all have the same taste. (I can't vouch for the metziut.) Also, are you sure taste transfers through an eggshell? – Double AA♦ Jul 31 '12 at 22:03
@DoubleAA - have you ever had a chullent with whole eggs in it? The eggs fully absorb the meat taste. So yes, eggshells are porous. – Shaul Aug 1 '12 at 9:48
@DoubleAA - Regarding them all having the same taste, that's exactly the case that YD 109:2 is dealing with, where you have min b'mino, i.e. the same taste, and you still require 60:1 to nullify the issur. – Shaul Aug 1 '12 at 9:51

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