Shabbos hot plate question

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 4:00 am

amother wrote:

I am sooo embarrassed to ask this, because maybe we've been doing the wrong thing all this time. Are you allowed to put food from the fridge onto the hotplate on Shabbos morning? If not, how do you warm your food for Shabbos lunch?

yes, just not with liquid.
I always take the liquid out on friday before I put it into the firdge.

shalhevet

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 4:45 am

amother wrote:

I knew about liquid, although for sephardim a sauce is fine. Our guest said even without liquid it's assur? He said it has to be left on the hotplate all of shabbos, not taken from the fridge.

Are timers okay for hotplates?

You can put it on the hotplate with a little liquid, as long as the liquid is tafel (relatively insignificant). So you can put fish or meat that has a little sauce, but not goulash or soup. If it is food I served on Friday night I take out the pieces of actual chicken, meat, fish, vegetables etc with a fork (be careful of borer - only when you need to put it on the platta, and taking out what you want and leaving the rest behind) and put them in another pan to heat them up. It doesn't matter that there will be a little sauce, gravy etc with them. This is assuming the food was fully cooked and that the platta has no knobs to adjust the heat (or they are covered).

Ashkenazim need to put something underneath the pot, pan etc - you can use an oven tray or an upturned pot or pan or buy a slightly raised metal sheet - it shouldn't be directly on the platta because it looks like cooking.

This is the ashkenazi halacha AFAIK. Sephardim do a little differently, IDR.

I'm not sure about timers.

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 5:24 am

You are allowed to heat up food on the hotplate, but I don't think you are supposed to put food from the fridge DIRECTLY on the hot plate - generally, you should put it onto something else that is cooking there anyway (like the cholent pot, or a kettle of water). I don't know if everyone holds like that, but I was told that is the most okay way to heat things up.

That aside, I can't stand guests who think it is okay to criticize the way you run your home and question your halachic standards... even if they're right. It kind of gives the impression that if I had known how you run your kitchen, I never would have come!

RachelEve14

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 5:46 am

I agree there are lots of opinions. Our Rav holds there is no point in the metal grate, either you need to put it on something significant (overturned pan, not cookie sheet, etc), or just put it straight on. He holds the plata doesn't "look" like cooking because there are no temperature controls and people never cook directly on one, it is only for heating, but there may be a problem with direct heating, thus the overturned pan.

freidasima

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 6:04 am

Which is why I was taught there are different opinions. We don't use a hotplate but a blech, a piece of aluminum that goes over the whole top of the stove and we don't put anything directly on the area that is on or right next to the fire, it's a question of yad soledes, not to heat up anything "too hot". There are those who put in only dry, some with a bit of liquid that it tofel, others put in dry but if they have hot water that has been on the blech and is always hot they can add that to the solid to keep it from sticking (like in rice) not to make "gravy" or anything like that.

And there are those who won't put anything on the plata or blech if it wasn't there from erev shabbos.
All this, again for ashkenazim. Sefaradim do it differently.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 8:20 am

shalhevet wrote:

amother wrote:

So interesting. This is where we see that there are so many different opinions. I learned as did my mother, that we can not put any gravy/liquid on the plata or blech on shabbat day. it must be dry dry.

Raisin

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 8:25 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

shalhevet wrote:

amother wrote:

my rav also holds this. basically I just heat up challa and bread.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 8:30 am

Raisin wrote:

shabbatiscoming wrote:

shalhevet wrote:

amother wrote:

my rav also holds this. basically I just heat up challa and bread.

I heat up my chicken, but I take each piece out of the container, hold it up with a fork to let it all drip off and then, and only then, do I put it into a clean container.

OutATowner

Mon, Feb 27 2012, 8:33 pm

Ask your Rav.
From what I understand, you can't put anything cold on a direct source of heat. You can use a pan or oven rack-slightly raised and it's not directly on. I totally understand your embarrassment though because I had the same situation. We looked into it and yes, you need to use something on top. Friday night you can put it on before shabbos and as long as it's warm before shabbos you can put it directly on the plata.

Timers- we used one until recently. DH learned that R' Moshe Feinstein says timers can be used for lights etc, but not for cooking. I don't understand it myself, but we hold by R' Moshe. You should have a Rav in general because you will have many questions in future, it's just part of a Jewish home.

granolamom

Tue, Feb 28 2012, 7:13 pm

I never knew about the timers.....
anyone know why its ok for lights but not for hot plates? dh likes to set the timer especially in the summer because the kitchen gets so hot.
I know ppl use timers for air conditioners, electric nursing pumps, and things like that.
is it only problematic for cooking?

I will probably ask my rabbi too, but the response here is faster Smile

Mrs Bissli

Tue, Feb 28 2012, 7:41 pm

My recollection is LBD (main Ashkenazi orthodox group, comparable to OU) actually recommends using the timer on plata, so you put cold non-liquid food straight from the fridge to a cold plata whose timer is not turned on yet. You set the timer so that the plat turns on automatically after the food is already placed. Some people do put a blech/foil underneath.

chocolate moose

Tue, Feb 28 2012, 8:19 pm

Rov Moshe held that way years ago because timers were not a usual thing to use in someone's home. Today, they are more commonplace and many rabbonim allow their widespread use.

As far as a plata, you will get the gamut of replies. Some say anything can go on it, and others will say noting can go on it. You need to ask your rov how your community holds. You don't wants guests coming to your house and refusing to eat.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Feb 29 2012, 1:20 am

chocolate moose wrote:

And I am sure that even within a community, there are people that hold differently than the next.