Kashrut Learning: Meat and Milk

(1) It is biblically forbidden either to cook or to eat meat with milk.— — Anyone who cooks both together [as little as] the size of an olive is to be lashed, as it is written: "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21). So too, anyone who eats of both the meat and the milk that have been cooked together, [even as little as] the size of an olive, is to be lashed, even if he has not done the cooking himself.

(2) The reason Scripture is silent, and does not explicitly prohibit the eating of meat with milk, is that it has already forbidden the cooking; that is to say, since the cooking of the meat-milk mixture is forbidden, it is needless to state that partaking of it is likewise forbidden. Similarly, Scripture is silent and does not explicitly prohibit taking one's own daughter to wife, having already prohibited the taking of one's granddaughter to wife.

(4) So too, the meat of beast or bird cooked with the milk of beasts or cattle is biblically not prohibited from eating; hence, it is permissible to cook it and to derive a benefit from it. It is, however, prohibited from eating it on rabbinic grounds, so that the people may not reach out beyond what is permitted and transgress the biblical meat-milk prohibition by eating the meat of a clean animal with the milk of a clean animal, since the literal meaning of the verse is restricted to a kid in its mother's milk only. For this reason, the sages have prohibited all meat with milk.

At the academy of Rabbi Yishmael it was taught: The Torah states 'You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk' on three separate occasions (Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21). One forbids the consumption of a mixture of meat and milk, the other forbids the deriving of benefit from such a combination, and the third forbids cooking it.

(1) All meat is forbidden to cook with milk, except for the meat of fish and locusts. And it is forbidden to place it with cheese on the table, except for the meat of fish and locusts. One who vows [to abstain] from meat, is permitted to [eat] fish and locusts. "A bird may go on with cheese on the table, but is not eaten," in the words of Beit Shammai. And Beit Hillel says, "It does not go and it is not eaten." Said Rabbi Yose, "This is [one] of the lenient rulings of Beit Shammai and stringent rulings of Beit Hillel." About which table were they speaking? About a table on which one eats. But for a table where one sets dishes on it, one puts this next to this and does not worry.

Agra, the father-in-law of R. Abba, recited: A fowl and cheese may be eaten without restriction.He recited it and he himself explained it thus: it means without washing the hands or cleaning the mouth [between the eating of the one and the other].

R. Isaac the son of R. Mesharsheya once visited the house of R. Ashi. He was served with cheese which he ate and then was served with meat which he also ate without washing his hands [between the courses]. They said to him: Has not Agra the father-in-law of R. Abba recited that a fowl and cheese may be eaten without restriction? A fowl and cheese, yes; but meat and cheese, no! — He replied: That is the rule only at night, but by day I can see [that my hands are clean].

It was taught: Beth Shammai say. One must clean [the mouth]; Beth Hillel say. One must rinse it. Now what is meant by ‘one must clean’ and ‘one must rinse’?...

— Rather this must be the interpretation: Beth Shammai say: One must clean [the mouth], and also rinse it; Beth Hillel say. One must rinse [the mouth], and also clean it. But one [school] mentions one [requirement], the other [school] another, and they do not really differ.

‘R. Zera said: Cleaning the mouth must be done with bread only’. This means only with wheat bread but not with barley bread. And even with wheat bread it is allowed only if it is cold, but not if it is still warm, for it cleaves [to the palate]. And it must be soft and not hard. The law is: Cleaning [the mouth] may be done with everything except flour, dates and vegetables.

R. Assi inquired of R. Johanan: How long must one wait between flesh and cheese? — He replied. Nothing at all. But this cannot be, for R. Hisda said: If a person ate flesh he is forbidden to eat [after it] cheese, if he ate cheese he is permitted to eat [after it] flesh! — This indeed was the question. How long must one wait between cheese and flesh? And he replied. Nothing at all.

The [above] text [stated]: ‘R. Hisda said: If a person ate flesh he is forbidden to eat [after it] cheese, if he ate cheese he is permitted to eat [after it] flesh’. R. Aha b. Joseph asked R. Hisda: What about the flesh that is between the teeth? — He quoted [in reply] the verse: While the flesh was yet between their teeth.
Mar ‘Ukba said: In this matter I am as vinegar is to wine compared with my father. For if my father were to eat flesh now he would not eat cheese until this very hour to-morrow, whereas I do not eat [cheese] in the same meal but I do eat it in my next meal.

If a vessel is used to cook meat, then you shall not cook milk in it.

(8) ... A pan of milk, placed in an oven, underneath a pot of meat - the steam rises, enters into the pot, and renders it forbidden. Rema: If there was actual milk in the pan, then we require sixty times its volume in the meat. All of this is when the pan is open, and the steam rises up from the food itself, to the pan that is above it, and also if the two are so close to each other that the steam that rises is so how that it would make your hand retreat rapidly. If not, then everything is permissible. Therefore, we hang meat pans over dairy pots, and we don't worry about the steam that rises. And if something is covered, then everything is permissible, since it is like two pots that touch each other, which do not make each other forbidden, and all the more so with mere steam. Yet it is good to be strict on all this.