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I know I've learned somewhere that you can't kasher a meaty pot for use with dairy (except for Pesach), but I can't find a source for it now. Can anyone provide a source? (The sauce would be a light Alfredo; the source would be somewhere in Yoreh Deah I expect...)

Following on from that, and hopefully to be found in the same source, is my more practical question: can you kasher a pot from meaty to pareve, so that you could cook pasta to be eaten with that yummy Alfredo sauce?

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  • This doesn't really answer your question, so I'm posting it as a comment instead, but: I learned that the G'ra (95:10) implies that if the pot wasn't used for meat within a day then you may l'chatchila cook noodles in it and eat them with dairy; however, the Chochmas Adam (no citation, sorry) says no. I learned further that one should act in accordance with the Chochmas Adam, but CYLOR for a ruling.
    – msh210 ♦
    May 16, 2011 at 7:39
  • @msh210 - your comment pertains more to the kashrut topic of "nat bar bat" (noten ta'am bar noten ta'am) which is a whole (very complicated) mini-subject within the laws of kashrut.
    – Yaakov Ellis ♦
    May 16, 2011 at 11:32
  • @YaakovEllis, yes, it does. But it helps to answer the OP's conundrum, if he practices like the G'ra.
    – msh210 ♦
    May 16, 2011 at 14:53
  • @msh210 The Rema explicitly permits the same. I have heard from a contemporary rabbi (of me, not of the Rema) that this can be done today. It seems to be a minority opinion nowadays.
    – Ze'ev misses Monica
    Jun 28, 2011 at 17:19
  • @ZeevFelsen, by it seems to be a minority opinion you mean permission?
    – msh210 ♦
    Jun 28, 2011 at 17:54

3 Answers 3

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The Sefer הכשרות by רב יצחק יעקב פוקס explains as follows (chapter 3:5)

  • For Sefardim, as long as the item is not ben yomo (has not been used for cooking with dairy/meat) in the last day, it is permissible to change from Dairy to Meat, even lechatchila. Sources: Pri Chadash YD 97:1, Chidah - Machzik Beracha 509:2, Aruch haShulchan YD end of siman 89 and 181:11, Yabia Omer YD 3:4.
  • For Ashkenazim the minhag is not to change from one type to the next (Magen Avraham OC 509:11 - since if you get used to changing over, you might make a mistake and kasher a ben yomo pot by mistake) unless it is one of the following circumstances:
    • Sha'at haDechak - Pressing Need/No other choice (i.e.: you need to use the pot for something pressing) (Prim Megadim Eishel Avraham OC 152:13)
    • Kashering pre-Pesach to get rid of chametz, can switch over from Meat/Dairy (Mishnah Berurah 451:19)
    • If you will use it for some period of time as a pareve pot before going to the other type (Shu"t Maharsham 2:241, Tzitz Eliezer 9:38)
    • If it had become treif anyway (ex: it was a milk pot that was accidentally used for meat, when you kasher it you can change it to meat) (Mishnah Berurah 509:25, Shu"t Be'er Moshe 3:105, Maharsham from above)
    • It hasn't been used for a year+ with its current milk/meat type (Shu"t Maharsham from above)
    • Received it as a gift and want to change it
  • If you want to kasher using libun you can do so at any time, even for Ashkenazim (Sha'ar haMelech, Hil. Yom Tov, 4:8)

Following from all of that, it seems that if you are Sefardi then as long as the pot is not ben yomo you can kasher to the other type. If you are Ashkenazi then you cant do it unless one of the conditions from above apply (I don't know if wanting yummy alfredo sauce would be considered a pressing need).

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    Wow, I asked for sources, and got them in abundance! Thanks for a really well researched answer!
    – Shaul Behr
    May 16, 2011 at 8:41
  • for sefaradim even if is not ben iomo, the way you wrote it doesn't make sense
    – Avraham
    May 16, 2011 at 10:52
  • @Avraham - Can you be more specific? If you are Sefardi, then you can kasher from Meat<->Dairy unless the pot is ben yomo, in which case you cannot. Writing even if it is not ben yomo implies that you can kasher if it is ben yomo (which is not correct).
    – Yaakov Ellis ♦
    May 16, 2011 at 11:03
  • Someone once told me -- and it seems at the very least not prohibited, at least as far as you've quoted above -- that if you have a kasherable pot that you want to convert milchig->fleishig or vice-versa, just make it trief first. Then, you need to kasher it and can choose at that point whether to make it milchigs, fleishigs, or pareve.
    – Jonathan
    May 16, 2011 at 11:31
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    There is no Magen Avraham 199:11.
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 4, 2016 at 3:39
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See the Aruch HaShulchan YD 89:17 where he writes:

יש מי שרוצה לומר שאין להגעיל כלי של בשר לשל חלב או להיפך, מטעם שמא לא יהיה לו רק כלי אחת ויגעילה מבשר לחלב ומחלב לבשר ואתי למיטעי, וחומרא יתירה היא, ואין לנו לגזור גזירות מדעתינו. (ועי' מג"א סימן תק"ט סקי"א שכתב גם בשם הגאון מפוזנא להתיר):

from which we see that there is no prohibition to kasher the milk pot to meat or vice versa according to him. That was a superfluous stringency held by some. According to the Aruch HaShulchan, you can kasher the vessels all you want without any "conditions"

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    This is one of the sources that I found, curiously enough, given as reason for the sefardi minhag. I assume that the author's rationale is that the normative ashkenazi minhag is not like the AHS, so it can be used as a basis for the Sefardi. Definitely worth noting though, since AHS is definitely an Ashkenazi posek.
    – Yaakov Ellis ♦
    May 16, 2011 at 14:10
  • He's right that we don't add gezeiras, but any good kitchen keeper knows that there are things we do to keep things straight and it's better that way, gezeira or no gezeira.
    – Double AA ♦
    Apr 28, 2013 at 18:30
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I'm not sure you'll find a clear source, since one may Kasher from meat to/from dairy all year round. (Yoreh Deah 93)

(In some religious neighborhoods in Israel they provide Kashering facilities (a huge boiling pot of water) every few weeks; usually on Erev Shabbat Mevorchim.)

There are opinions (as I was told by an learned Rabbi) that one should not Kasher "back and forth" so as not to get confused. For this reason he suggested we get 2 ovens.

So if you want a "one off" Kashering to make a pot permanently Pareve you probably will not find anybody who will prohibit it.

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    See @Yaakov Ellis's answer - it appears you are missing some critical info here...
    – Shaul Behr
    May 16, 2011 at 8:45
  • an oven needs libun anyway, so shouldn't be a problem (but CYLOR, as always); see also Yaakov Ellis's answer.
    – msh210 ♦
    May 16, 2011 at 14:57
  • @msh210 An oven doesn't need libun to go from meat to milk (or milk to meat), which is what we are discussing. (I agree Hagala on an oven would be challenging, practically.)
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 4, 2016 at 3:41

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