How to Keep Potatoes Super-Crispy on Shabbos?

AlwaysGrateful

Thu, Jan 08 2009, 7:08 pm

mali wrote:

and if those potatoes are indeed moisture-free, they still have the geder of a baked food, and the halacha goes, yesh bishul achar afiya. please consult with your LOR before doing this!

I agree. Consult with your LOR. My LOR holds that this is fine. In fact, he holds that a little bit of moisture isn't a problem either. (So meat with gravy on the bottom would be a problem, vegetables that happen to have a tiny bit of liquid at the bottom of the pan but not a lot is okay.) I know that not all rabbanim hold like this, but mine does.

Um, and as for the "geder of baked food" - first of all, it's not so pashut that we hold yesh bishul achar afiya, it's a big machlokes with poskim on either side of the fence (if I remember correctly from the shiur). In addition, bishul means cooked IN liquid (not with a tiny bit on them) - like boiled, or deep fried. So they've been baked (not cooked) twice. Ain bishul achar bishul, ain afiyah achar afiyah.

Please don't trust me on this, especially because different rabbanim hold differently about hilchos Shabbos. This is what my LOR holds. I know that he holds some chumros that others don't, and I know that he also holds some kulos. We follow both, because he's our rav. I'm assuming that mali's rav holds differently, and that's okay. I agree with her that people reading this thread should ask their own shaylos before relying on either of us Very Happy

TzenaRena

Thu, Jan 08 2009, 7:24 pm

mali wrote:

davar lach means anything that has any moisture in it. even a challah you pull out of a freezer that has frost (a not-no-frost freezer) is a davar lach!

you may heat food on the perimeter of a blech if that food will never reach the temperature of yad soledet bo, not even if you leave it there for a day. yad soledet bo is lukewarm, by the way. 42 degrees celcius, a little warmer than your body temperature. who likes lukewarm potatoes?

My freezer is no frost, but often the challah has frost on it, inside the freezer bag.

chanchy123 wrote:

There is a machloket regarding reheating liquid, most poskim say you cannot unless it is yad soledet (I.e. too hot to tuch) and the Rambam says it is fine (אין בישול אחר בישול בלח) so Yemenite Jews who follow the Rambam's psika DO reheat soup, etc.

According to the Bais Yosef, there is bishul achar bishul with lach, even if still warm, even just slightly less than yad soledes bo. So the BY is more machmir than the Rama, who says if its not nitztanen l'gamri- completely cooled off- it's not bishul. The question is what's lo nitztanen l'gamri. This is explained by the Alter Rebbe - Baal HaTanya v'haShulchan Aruch - to mean that it's still warm enough that people enjoy it as a warm food.

chanchy123 wrote:

The other issue is what if I have chicken with a little bit of souce (sauce) - can I reheat the chicken or does it need to be completely dry. Most poskim say that if the עיקר main dish is יבש or solid it is permitted to heat it up with its few liquids, others say it is not. Follow what every your LOR says.

According to the Alter Rebbe, even a bit of liquid, including fat, or sweat on the surface of the food in question makes it assur to reheat, if that moisture is "tofeach al mnas lhatfiach" wet enough to make something else it contacts wet. that is, if you touch the wetness with one hand, then touch the second hand with the first one, and the second one gets wet from this contact. If the wetness is more than "tofeach al mnas l'hatfiach", although most of the food item is dry, it has a din of lach.

Also, a solid that melts is considered a liquid, according to the Alter Rebbe. (an example is this is sugar, fat of roasted or cooked chicken, which melts upon being warmed) if it reaches yad soledes bo is issur Torah.

mali

Thu, Jan 08 2009, 7:26 pm

AlwaysGrateful wrote:

Um, and as for the "geder of baked food" - first of all, it's not so pashut that we hold yesh bishul achar afiya, it's a big machlokes with poskim on either side of the fence (if I remember correctly from the shiur). In addition, bishul means cooked IN liquid (not with a tiny bit on them) - like boiled, or deep fried. So they've been baked (not cooked) twice. Ain bishul achar bishul, ain afiyah achar afiyah.

you might be right about this one. I wouldn't try testing dh's knowledge in his sleep, but he'll be able to answer. as far as "a little gravy", it's very problematic when that gravy is fat because it's issur nolad. that I'm pretty sure about. I understand that op wants to reheat potatoes that were baked in oil. problem. in any case, getting a cold food to a degree of yad soledet bo requires a shaila. a plata doesn't solve all problems. at all.