THE BAIS HAVAAD HALACHA JOURNAL: Volume 5776 Issue XXXV Shoftim HALACHOS OF MICROWAVES What are the different types of problems I might run into with my microwave? By: OU Kosher HALACHA YOMIS FOR RAV BELSKY
I have heard that one may use the same microwave oven for dairy and meat, since the food is heated by microwave radiation and not with fire and the walls don’t really get hot. Is this correct?
If a microwave oven was used to cook a dairy food, it should no longer be used for meat, and vice versa (unless kashered – to be discussed in a future Halacha Yomis). There are two ways that heating a dairy food in a microwave will make it dairy. If the food is placed directly on the surface of the microwave, once it becomes too hot to touch (yad soledes bo), which is approximately 120°F, ta’am (taste) of the food will be absorbed into that surface. This is true, even if the surface that the food is resting on does not get hot. Furthermore, if a dairy food is heated in an open container, even though there is no direct contact between the food and the microwave surface, it will also become dairy, once the food gives off steam. The steam that emanates from a dairy food has the same status as the food itself. Because microwave radiation heats the water molecules in the food, a lot of steam is quickly generated. The hot steam is absorbed into all the surfaces of the microwave, even those that are not hot.
I have heard that one may use the same microwave oven for dairy and meat, since the food is heated by microwave radiation and not with fire and the walls don’t really get hot. Is this correct?
If a microwave oven was used to cook a dairy food, it should no longer be used for meat, and vice versa (unless kashered – to be discussed in a future Halacha Yomis). There are two ways that heating a dairy food in a microwave will make it dairy. If the food is placed directly on the surface of the microwave, once it becomes too hot to touch (yad soledes bo), which is approximately 120°F, ta’am (taste) of the food will be absorbed into that surface. This is true, even if the surface that the food is resting on does not get hot. Furthermore, if a dairy food is heated in an open container, even though there is no direct contact between the food and the microwave surface, it will also become dairy, once the food gives off steam. The steam that emanates from a dairy food has the same status as the food itself. Because microwave radiation heats the water molecules in the food, a lot of steam is quickly generated. The hot steam is absorbed into all the surfaces of the microwave, even those that are not hot.
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