Showing posts with label Kashrut: Absorption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kashrut: Absorption. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

What is "yad soledet bo"?

Hi,

In kashrut and Shabbat, we say that food undergoes some level of cooking, and taste is absorbed, at a temperature called "yad soledet bo". Literally, this describes a temperature at which "one's hand would be scalded", such that one would pull his hand back from [unanticipated] exposure to that level of heat [Rashi Shabbat 40b]. What is this temperature, though?

Rav Moshe Feinstein tested this, and determined a lower bound of 43 degrees Celsius / 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and an upper bound of 71 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees Fahrenheit. In between is doubtful, and halachic rulings will depend on the issue involved.

(Rav Moshe Feinstein, Igrot Moshe Orach Chaim 4:74:Bishul 3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai