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If one used oil to fry meat and the next day used the same oil to fry something pareve (eg. french fries), is the pareve food considered 'meat'? Is there any differences between Sefardic and Ashkenazic Jews in this regard?

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    Do they taste like meat?
    – Double AA
    Aug 23, 2016 at 20:42
  • H. Maakhaloth Asuroth 17:22 and SA YD 104:3 seem relevant here. Nov 24 at 15:30

2 Answers 2

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http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-kosher-cons-handbk.htm (footnote 10):

One must also wait six hours if he ate french fries that were fried in oil previously used to fry chicken. Therefore, if one eats french fries (or other deep fried items) prepared in a fleishig restaurant, he should assume that he is fleishig unless the certifying agency of the restaurant indicates otherwise. Similarly, if one is fleishig one may not eat french fries that were fried in oil that was previously used to fry dairy products. When in doubt, consult with the restaurant’s certifying agency.

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    An additional issue might be whether the "french fries that were fried in oil previously used to fry chicken" can be eaten with fish. Mar 24, 2014 at 10:04
  • This doesn't seem to address Sepharadi/Ashkenazi differences, if they exist.
    – Lee
    May 10, 2016 at 1:35
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    This is an incredibly Machmir ruling. It's basically a minhag on a chumra on a minhag on a chumra on a minhag on a chashash trei-derabanan. Almost comical.
    – Double AA
    Aug 23, 2016 at 19:08
  • @DoubleAA Do you mean that literally?
    – shmosel
    2 days ago
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    @shm see my comments to the other answer. I don't know if I can match all those terms right now off the cuff, but treating tavshil shel basar as meat is an extreme minority opinion in rishonim, waiting more than an hour is famously only a chumra for ashkenazim, the gemara says explicitly you don't need to wait after chicken, even if you ignore that waiting after chicken is trei derabanan, rendered animal fat doesn't get between your teeth so the rambam may not require waiting, this all assumes the schmaltz isn't batel in the fryer if they even use the same fryer, and there's still the Shach.
    – Double AA
    2 days ago
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The Tur (Yoreh De’ah 89) writes that one does not have to wait between a meat dish and a dairy dish if neither one contains actual meat or milk.

The Bach notes that while Semak allows one to eat cheese after foods cooked in meat fat, the prevailing custom is not to do so, and one should not deviate from the common custom. The Rema (89:3) goes further, saying that one must wait after a meat dish just as if he had actually eaten a piece of meat.

Although the Shulchan Aruch is not stringent on this matter, the Beis Yosef (Orach Chaim 173) does mention the stringency, and later authorities (Ashkenazi and Sefardi alike, including the Ben Ish Chai and the Kaf Hachaim) are stringent in this matter.

Eating the fries implies consuming the meaty oil, and therefore one must wait after eating them before milk (Source: dinoline.org).

On the other hand, Rav Schachter ("Basic Kitchen Kashrut" end of shiur) explained that one doesn't need to wait 6 hours after having french fries from a restaurant that fried them in the same deep fryer that was used to fry chicken. This is true if the cook didn't intend for the meat taste to be imparted into the french fries and just uses the same oil for convenience. In that case, the fries aren't even considered tavshil basar. This ruling is based on the Rama YD 89:3, Shach YD 89:19, and Yad Yehuda 89.

Nevertheless, Horah Brurah 89:43 writes that the pot needs to be clean in order for the food to be considered parve and not meat. In the biurim he explains that for Sephardim the idea of the Shach doesn't follow from the Bet Yosef 173:1. Additionally, the Bet Meir 89 argues on the Shach since if the remnant foods are more than sixty certainly that's called a meat dish.

This also disputed between Rabbi Felder and Divrei Moshe whether the deep fried food which was fried in the same oil as meat or chicken was fried in requires the one eating the food to wait six hours. Rav Felder is strict since the Shach was only talking about a pot which was clean but there was a bit of meat remaining unintentionally. Also, teimat yisrael doesn't help since the taste of chicken or meat fat and vegetable oil is very similar.

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    "Eating the fries implies consuming the meaty oil" This logic doesn't follow halachicly (even if it follows scientifically) since the trace amounts are unintentional and clearly nullified. Incidental trace grease is the famous exception to the custom you mention of being strict for the minority position of waiting after non-substantive meat (Shach 89:19)
    – Double AA
    Nov 24 at 13:40
  • "The Rema (89:3) goes further, saying that one must wait after a meat dish just as if he had actually eaten a piece of meat." This is not further, it's actually less than most realize. The rama holds you wait 1 hour after meat. There's no reason to think he'd recommend to be strict for the non-ashkeanzi position of 6 hours on top of the minority opinion in rishonim that you wait after non-substantive meat (even assuming this fat can get caught in your teeth, which it probably can't, which is another reason not to worry especially לשיטתיה the rishonim who hold 6 hours usually hold of teeth)
    – Double AA
    Nov 24 at 14:54
  • @DoubleAA I hear you, the whole Kashruth laws as we practice today as machmir min hamachmirim even to the extreme of rejecting the Gemara in some cases to forbid things that were clearly allowed in the Gemara. In many case simplifying the law made it more strict as most people are not experts so we use a lot of “lo plug” kind of arguments. Nov 26 at 10:37
  • @DoubleAA updated with fresh information 2 days ago
  • wonderful update! The idea that the Shach doesn't agree with the beit yosef is a bit anachronistic since the beit yosef holds you don't have to wait after tavshil. So either way (Shach or beit yosef) you don't have to wait. It's only through combining across opinions (מחומרי בית שמאי ומחומרי בית הלל - עליו הכתוב אומר: הכסיל בחשך הולך) that you can come up with new chumras to keep here.
    – Double AA
    2 days ago

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