Warming food on Yom Tov - Electric blech? Shab mode oven?

MamaBear

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:06 am

But on that mode, when you say I can raise and lower the temp, how do I know that it "took" if I don't see the new temp posted on the display. I just wait and stick my hand in the oven to see?

Reheating soup is such a pain...could I put my metal pot in the oven? Would that be quicker than a blech?

OOTBubby

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:10 am

MamaBear wrote:

Please note that mode is what I was referring to when I said "the vast majority of other poskim DO NOT allow this method to be used." If you're considering it, please ask your LOR.

If you are told you can use it, then you know how long to press by timing the press.

You can put metal pots in the oven, but a blech over a burner is the best method.

saw50st8

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:16 am

Ask your LOR. We were told we could raise and lower temperatures on Yom Tov. No need to be machmir if your Rav doesn't hold that way.

Also, a friend of mine recommended getting an analog thermometer to put in the oven. That will tell you the temperature.

Barbara

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:22 am

mummiedearest wrote:

YESHASettler wrote:

And don't forget, you can turn the temp UP, but can't LOWER it.

not everyone holds that way. I lower my flames on y't.

AIUI, you can't lower it just to make it more confortable for you. You CAN lower it for cooking or warming purposes.

In any case, CYLOR.

OOTBubby

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:22 am

saw50st8 wrote:

Please do ask your LOR and don't assume. FYI, this is a link that discusses the subject in depth: http://yudelstake.blogspot.com......html

mummiedearest

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:31 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Do you not have a chagaz in chul?
We have a gas timer specially for YT. You set the timer for however long you want the gas to be on, and light the flame it will cut the gas by itself and turn out the burner when you want it. So you don't have to leave a flame all chag. I use it to cook on YT then I cover the burners with a blech for warming.
I also leave my oven on occasionally with a timer (in Israel everyone has an electric oven) so it goes on whenever I want it to.

interesting. my rav told me I can't use a flame unless it was on from before y't. so I can't leave my crock-pot on a timer, which would be lovely.

oh, and if anyone's interested, I noticed a part of an article in r' blumenkrantz's book that says (this is paraphrased) "according to my rebbe, r' moshe feinstein, one can turn off a gas burner on y't. r' feinstein held that this is not considered extinguishing a flame, rather that it is comparable to no longer feeding a wood fire in the fire place." if anyone's interested, I can look up the quote. I found this a few years ago. anyway, just putting that out for discussion.

MamaBear

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 2:56 pm

Well my rav said in a shiur I attended last week that we could use the Sabbath mode so that's fine with me, I just feel like it's weird to adjust the temp and all when you can't "see" what you're doing. I think I'll use my blech which I've done in the past and just keep a back burner on. Honestly, it's just us for the meals so it's not a ton to make in advance and just reheat on the blech.

MamaBear

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 9:44 pm

I can set the blech on a timer which I prefer to leaving an oven on for all of yuntif. Also, I use it shabbos day, which of course can't be done with an oven. Reheating things is, imo, easier in an oven. But one other thing is the oven heats up the house which would be annoying on a warm 2 or 3 day yuntif.

MrsMortgage

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 9:57 pm

mummiedearest wrote:

do you folks use a blech for halachic purposes or because it has more warm area to heat things on? just curious. I don't own a blech.

I use the blech on shabbos for Halachik reasons, & on YT cause it feels safer than a flame burning unsupervised for 3 days.

yaeli83

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:02 pm

1387 wrote:

I got something similar to this as a wedding gift. For shabbos, you would need to put aluminium foil or something under the dish as a blech.
http://www.oxone-online.com/pr.....id=68

we also got something similar to this for a wedding gift. it works beautifully (too bad ours is not pesadik, but I use it on other yomim tovim) It's from macys and its a metal stand that has a spot for a tea light, and then there is a dish that you put on the top of the stand. The dishes that we have can double as nice looking serving platters. They heat the food very well and once the candle goes out, you don't have to worry about having an appliance on all of yom tov.

Also, I just found out that my oven has a shabbos mode. Is there a way to set it to go off at a certain time,. or does that only mean that it will stay on for longer than 12 hours and not beep when it shuts off?

mummiedearest

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:02 pm

MrsMortgage wrote:

mummiedearest wrote:

do you folks use a blech for halachic purposes or because it has more warm area to heat things on? just curious. I don't own a blech.

I use the blech on shabbos for Halachik reasons, & on YT cause it feels safer than a flame burning unsupervised for 3 days.

that's what I thought. I reheat things on shabbos by placing them on top of my crock pot, but more often I just don't reheat.

Mommy3.5

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 10:16 pm

YESHASettler wrote:

chanchy123 wrote:

mummiedearest wrote:

YESHASettler wrote:

And don't forget, you can turn the temp UP, but can't LOWER it.

not everyone holds that way. I lower my flames on y't.

You can lower the flame only if it is necessary for what you are cooking (I.e. you need to simmer the sauce).

Can you provide the sources? I learned (at various points in my life) that you can't lower a flame on Yom Tov.

You can if the food will burn if the flame remains that high.

life'sgreat

Mon, Apr 11 2011, 11:16 pm

MrsMortgage wrote:

But I can't warm a soup on the blech, right? It would take too long...

Would it be unsafe for my toddler to have my oven on all Yom Tov? I wonder if the oven lock would work...
What would I set the temp to ?

(Btw, a blech is a blech on a flame, not a hotplate.)

Regarding warming a soup on the hotplate - it would depend on your specific hotplate. Some are not hot enough and the soup can go sour before being properly heated.

Do not lock it. AFAIK, once you lock it, it somehow is connected to self clean mode and you might have a hard time unlocking it. People have issues with this sometimes.

YESHASettler wrote:

chanchy123 wrote:

mummiedearest wrote:

YESHASettler wrote:

And don't forget, you can turn the temp UP, but can't LOWER it.

not everyone holds that way. I lower my flames on y't.

You can lower the flame only if it is necessary for what you are cooking (I.e. you need to simmer the sauce).

Can you provide the sources? I learned (at various points in my life) that you can't lower a flame on Yom Tov.

If you need it lowered so that the food doesn't burn, you are allowed to AFAIK.

1387 wrote:

I've heard of putting tealights on the "floor" of the oven to keep food warm for a yom tov night meal.

Dangerous!!! Don't do that. There was a fire about 2 years ago that was caused by this.