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How Much Salt is Required for Kashering Meat |
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YD Siman 69:4
יְפַזֵּר עָלָיו מֶלַח שֶׁלֹּא יִשָּׁאֵר בּוֹ מָקוֹם מִבְּלִי מֶלַח וְיִמְלַח כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יְהֵא רָאוּי לֶאֱכֹל עִם אוֹתוֹ מֶלַח No place on the meat should be without salt. [a "place" means a significant area] and the salt must be heavy enough to render it inedible. [this means that when tasting the surface it is unpleasantly salty] וּמוֹלְחוֹ מִשְּׁנֵי צְדָדִים וְעוֹפוֹת צָרִיךְ לְמָלְחָם גַּם מִבִּפְנִים
הַגָּה: וְיֵשׁ אוֹסְרִים אֲפִלוּ בְּדִיעֲבַד All surfaces must be salted; poultry must be salted in the cavity, the Rama adds that if the cavity is not salted, it is not Kosher. [irrespective of the thickness of the piece being salted, all surfaces must be salted. No matter how thin, if all surfaces are not salted, it is not Kosher.] |
PREFACE We salt freshly slaughtered meat in order to thoroughly remove the blood which is prohibited and must in turn, wash off that bloodied salt. This process is known as Kashering. INTRODUCTION These days when the supervising Rabbi is asked how much salt must be used to Kasher? the answer is along the lines of, "It can't hurt to use a little more." This is due to an inherent vagueness in the Halacha which does not differentiate between salting a whole carcass or a thin slice of meat. In each case the requirements for amount and duration are identical. In other words, salting a piece of meat 50cm thick requires no more salt and no more time than salting a piece 2cm thick. And yet the Rama Paskens that unless it is salted on both sides, it will not be Kosher. Moreover, the Rama in Toras Chatos 1:2 dismisses the Ohr ZaRuA [quoted by the ShDura] that even a thin piece of meat will have so little salt upon it that it will be Battel to the piece of meat itself, in other words the salt applied is less than one sixtieth of the meat's mass. For example, a 600gm steak requires no more than 10gm of salt. 10 gm is about a teaspoonful of salt. The following Halacha, codified in the Shulchan Aruch YD 59:9 is the only source I am aware of that actually provides a precise measurable value of the mass of salt used for Kashering. בָּשָׂר שֶׁנִּמְלַח וְנִתְבַּשֵּׁל בְּלֹא הֲדָחָה אַחֲרוֹנָה, צָרִיךְ שֶׁיְּהֵא בּוֹ שִׁשִּׁים כְּדֵי הַמֶּלַח שֶׁבּוֹ Meat that was cooked before the salt applied to it for Kashering was removed, will make the entire pot non-Kosher unless there is 60 times the salt's volume in the pot. הַגָּה: וְכָל הַקְּדֵרָה מִצְטָרֵף לְשִׁשִּׁים The Rama notes - Whatever is in the pot accrues to the 60 parts required to neutralise the bloodied salt וְאִם יֵשׁ בַּקְּדֵרָה כ''כ כְּמוֹ הַחֲתִיכָה שֶׁנִּמְלַח וְלֹא הוּדַח, הַכֹּל שָׁרֵי, דְּוַדַּאי אִכָּא שִׁשִּׁים נֶגֶד הַמֶּלַח שֶׁעַל הַחֲתִיכָה דְּהַחֲתִיכָה עַצְמָהּ בְּוַדַּאי הִיא שְׁלֹשִׁים נֶגֶד הַמֶּלַח שֶׁעָלָיו If the pot's own mass and its contents are as large as the piece of meat itself, then it is Kosher because it is a certainty that the salt is less than 1/60th - the salt on the piece never exceeds 1/30th of the mass of that piece of meat.
וְכָל זֶה מַיְרֵי שֶׁלֹּא הוּדַח בָּאַחֲרוֹנָה כְּלָל, אֲבָל אִם הוּדַח רַק פַּעַם אַחַת וְנִתְבַּשֵּׁל כָּךְ, מֻתָּר, דִּבְדִיעֲבַד סָגֵי לֵהּ בַּהֲדָחָה אַחַת בָּאַחֲרוֹנָה This is true only when the meat has not been rinsed at all. However, if it was rinsed, even if only once [although in the first instance we wash it 3 times] it is Kosher since after the fact a single rinse is adequate. In practice this means that the maximum salt used for Kashering should not exceed the ratio of 1:30 i.e. a 300gm steak with 10gm [about a teaspoonful] of salt. So far, no Rav we have approached, when shown such a steak and the measure of salt proposed for Kashering it, considered it anywhere near enough salt. Most just laughed at the proposition, although they had no response to the ShA. In fact it appears from the research performed by ?? published in Techumin ?? that the Kosher proecessors in Israel and the US are using almost 10 times as much. |
Our interaction with Gd and Life, is predicated upon the premise that everything is permitted, other than that which is specifically prohibited. Our Sages take a very dim view of those who look for unjustified stringencies. This is fake fear and fake saintliness. Gd created this world to be enjoyed. It is deceptive, both of others and of oneself. The Soul, the Neshama is what we today describe as one's inner consciousness. The masters of esoteric wisdom categorise five broad levels with the highest being YeChiDaA. This name reflects the status of that level as being alone. Certainly it is great to be in a crowd, to be with friends and to be with a team. These all contribute to ones self awareness and feed ones drive, ambition and energy levels. However, in some measure, these are not ones own but belong and attributed to the group. Let's imagine you are travelling to the Holy Land to join your Rosh Yeshivah or your Rebbe, your spiritual guide and energiser. However, your flight experiences mechanical problems and you end up over the high holidays in an expensive hotel many miles from the nearest Jew. You have all your requirements, Kosher food, a Machzor, your Tallis, a Shofar and you know how to blow it. You might spend the day immersed in Tefillah or watching movies or basking in the sun reading a book. No one will know but you and HKBH. That is the identity of the YeCHiDaA; you are alone with HKBH - what does your day look like? If you had a chicken to Kasher, would you bother splitting it when no one would know the difference? |
