What makes an oven kosher

Kashering from milk to meat is prohibited, however, for other reasons. One therefore must follow the following guidelines:. The walls of an oven are viewed as having absorbed flavour from previous cooking sessions. This step is particularly necessary when kashering the oven shelves and any area which may have come into direct contact with non-kosher foods. The householder is generally not equipped to meet these kashering criteria, and members of the public are recommended to seek professional koshering assistance with this.

See question 5 for a discussion of the ovens whose in-built self-cleaning systems are viewed as sufficient for kashering. The temperature required for kashering a non-kosher oven is only provided by running a pyrolitic setting. The pyrolytic setting meets these requirements and allows one to kasher their chometz oven; where this is not available, a dedicated Pesach oven should be used.

To allow the two compartments of a double oven to be used for meaty and milky, one would need to establish that the two compartments are indeed totally separate ovens. How do I bake challah in a fleishig oven and keep it pareve?

Make sure the oven is completely clean and either turn the oven to the highest temperature for 2 hours or allow the oven to remain off for 24 hours. The pan must be pareve as well. According to most poskim, a self-clean cycle is sufficient to kasher an oven. If an oven does not have this option, a high temperature blow torch must be applied to the entire oven surface until it becomes red hot. Some poskim also allow kashering by cleaning the oven with chemicals, waiting 24 hours, and turning the oven to the highest temperature for 2 hours.

The idea behind the convection oven is that it provides an even circulation of hot air, so the product is baked and browned evenly and not burnt on one side and in less time than a traditional oven. There are some additional varieties of convection ovens, but they all use the same basic mechanism of a fan blowing hot air. Convection ovens have the same basic kashrus requirements as a traditional oven — it should be dedicated to either meat or dairy, etc.

What do I do if I want to kasher a convection oven? Nonetheless, many contemporary halachic works recommend waiting 24 hours after cooking meat or dairy before kashering as an added safeguard. Before kashering commences, the oven surface and racks must be thoroughly cleaned preferably with a caustic oven cleaner to remove all residual matter.

After a hour down time, the oven is set at its highest temperature for one hour and it is then considered kashered. Many poskim accept this same procedure to kasher a non- kosher oven as well, while other rabbinic authorities require a more intense heat source [3]. Most poskim consider the cleaning cycle of a self-cleaning oven to be the equivalent of libun chomur.

The OU follows this view. What would happen if you are staying in a motel and wish to use the oven to prepare your meals? The oven is dirty and you are not inclined to spend your vacation cleaning the oven. Based on our previous discussion, it follows that one may use a non-kosher oven simply by covering the food.

The cover eliminates the circulating zeiah, and therefore the non-kosher oven has no impact on the food. However, because the oven is treif, it is best to use a double wrap to insure against any zeiah leakage.

It is precisely this logic that is utilized with kosher airline meals. The meals are double-wrapped and may therefore be heated in non-kosher ovens without compromising the kosher integrity of the product. The Talmud Avodah Zorah 66b raises the following question: Let us suppose that a rib steak and pork chop are roasted in the same oven.

Even if the two pieces rest on separate pans and there is no gravy in the pans which will be transformed into zeiah, the rib steak will absorb some of the aroma of the pork chop. What halachic status does the aroma have? The halachah, as recorded in Shulchan Oruch Yorah Dayah is that lichatchilah before the fact we are concerned that perhaps reicha milsa — aroma is significant unless the food is covered , but bidieved after the fact we generally [4] assume reicha lav milsa — aroma is insignificant.

What this means is that one should not bake dairy and meat foods simul-taneously in the same oven, but if one did so the food may be consumed, provided they are both dry and there is no zeiah factor.

Furthermore, a pareve product baked in an oven simultaneously with meat cannot be eaten with dairy, since we are dealing on the level of lichatchilah unless no other substitute to the pareve item is available.

There is a practical application of reicha which is often overlooked. If an oven is not clean, it may produce reicha even if there is no liquid in the oven. If the residue is not charred, it maintains its halachic status. Therefore, before using a meat oven for dry dairy food or vice versa, and before baking bread and cakes or other pareve foods which may be eaten with milk and meat, the oven should be inspected and found free of residual material which is in an edible state.

Alternatively, if the food is covered, the concerns of reicha are obviated. Yorah Dayah Can one place a dairy pot which produces no zeiah i.

Nonetheless, Rabbi Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss Minchas Yitzchok V: maintains that it is preferable to use a separate rack for dairy and meat, or to cover the surface under the pan with aluminum foil for the non-designated use.