By COLlive reporter
The Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc) has released a list of answers to common questions that are raised during the summertime about kosher product supervision and kosher certification.
Q: While on the road, can I buy coffee in a gas station that doesn’t serve any other food?
A: Yes, one may purchase unflavored, black coffee at such a service station.
Q: At the hotel, can one use the in-room coffee maker?
A: If there is no dishwasher in the room, you may use the in-room coffee maker to make coffee.
Q: How about the in-room microwave of the hotel. Can it be kashered?
A: Yes, a microwave can be kashered. Remove the glass plate (which cannot be kashered). To kasher the appliance itself, the microwave must be thoroughly cleaned and not used for 24 hours. Then, a cup of water should be boiled in the chamber for an extended amount of time, until the chamber fills with steam and the water overflows from the cup. If a microwave has a metal grate, it should be kashered in a pot of hot water.
Q: We purchased a portable BBQ grill on vacation and there is no mikvah around. Can we use a nearby lake to toivel the BBQ grate?
A: If you can confirm that the lake is natural and not man-made, you can use it to toivel your grate.
Q: We like to visit parks during the summer. Is there a way to kasher the public BBQ grills?
A: Yes, there is a way to kasher the grill, but it may not be so practical. Before you begin kashering, the barbecue pit and grates would have to be perfectly clean, which is likely not going to be easy to accomplish. Next, you’d have to put enough coals to cover (a) the entire floor/pit, (b) the underside of the grate, (c) the top of the grate, and (d) any contact points between the grate and pit. Lastly, you would light the coals and let them burn for about an hour, after which you could use the barbecue for kosher food.
Q: Do charcoal briquettes for BBQs need a hechsher?
A: In general, briquettes are actually made from wood mixed with ingredients that are not kosher-sensitive and do not require hashgachah. The flavor of the food cooked with these items is impacted by the type of wood used, and the manufacturers highlight this by identifying the source of the wood. Thus, the names “mesquite briquettes” or “applewood briquettes” refer to items made from the wood of mesquite or apple trees. However, if the wood is pretreated, coated, soaked in wine, produced from barrels which previously held wine, or are labeled as containing some other kosher-sensitive ingredients they would need a hechsher.
Q: I have noticed American products in foreign countries. While the American version is kosher certified, the foreign product does not have certification on the label. Is the unmarked product permitted?
A: Similar products can be made in different manufacturing facilities, and while one facility is certified, the other may not be. Additionally, formulas can be tweaked to cater to local tastes. As such, we would not recommend such products without a hechsher on the label.
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straight talk, clear answers, no room for ambiguity. please post more such items
Anyone have a good relationship and writing style to go to a Chabad Rav and put together something like this easy to read article based on what we do (which might be slightly diff than other frum jews)
I think the Chabad readers could benefit greatly from that.
To #9 – That is why if you just place your own small grill on top of theirs, you avoid all the Shailos. To #10 – Second best. May not be totally sealed, foil could tear and deteriorate after being exposed to the heat, who wants to cook directly on Chazzer. See suggestion for #9. To #12 – You’ll never get it that hot in a reasonable amount of time, with a reasonable amount of coals. The amount of coals, and in the time used for cooking will not heat it up nearly enough. (I’ve used an IR thermometer during… Read more »
EZ Grill disposable grills are available on Amazon, but if you want well cooked BBQ I would advise you to invest $50 in a Weber Go-Anywhere Charcoal Grill. Much better results and still no kashrus problems.
The problem with this is that there isn’t anyone saying which comments are correct or false. People will take direction from the comments and this may be an issue.
why does if need to be clean if you will be doing libun gomur with the coals (it will burn everything and make it kosher)
Why cant we get a Lubavitcher Rav to paskin these shailos instead .
can one just double wrap food with 2 layers of tin foil and then use the grill? WHy wasn’t that written as an option? I have learned it was ok?
Clarification: If you want to use the actual treif grill for heat and put a disposable foil pan with your food on the treif grill (or a can of beans), that would NOT be okay (since there is mamashus on the treif grill and that is not pogum after 24 hours. Thus your food would become treif from the treif mamashus on the grill. However I believe you can circumvent that by putting a keili (foil pan? tin foil?) in between the treif grill and your foil pan/can. Perhaps another method would be to spray chemicals on the treif grill… Read more »
You say –
“Regarding microwaves you may double wrap something and warm it up in the nonkosher microwave, without kashering it first, as long as it is clean”
Why does it need to be clean? and if it does, how do we eat kosher meals on the plane? who knows how clean the plane microwave is?
Where can you buy a disposable grill online?
Why don’t they suggest “Work Around’s” for things like the microwave.
Instead of trying to permanently Kasher the microwave, why not suggest using a double seal on the food that you are warming in the non-kosher microwave. (Just as you must do with a kosher meal on an airplane.)
Instead of trying to Kasher a Treife grill In a public park where you can only use their permanent grills for cooking, just place your small portable or disposable grill on top of theirs, and cook that way. (I’ve done it while travelling in the Catskills, and it worked just fine!)
Great info. (Best not to use a microwabe at all. So bad for u.)
I always carry with me in my travels an electric teapot the smallest available, and an electric frying pan. I use one for water the other to heat up food (eggs, potato, tuna latkes, and any thing kosher usable in the store). At a picnic why not take the disposable barbecue grill.
You can use it a few times and dispose of it. It does not take up to much space in the car and you are always eating kosher foods.
Great info
Many lubavitcher rabbonim do not allow that method of kashering. (Unless it is a case of b’dieved)
Please bear in mind that the older style coffee maker where you have to fill up the pot with hot water and it gets heated up, some people use that to warm up soup so they may not be kosher to use. This does not apply to the new keurig machines .
Regarding microwaves you may double wrap something and warm it up in the nonkosher microwave, without kashering it first, as long as it is clean, but make sure you have a double wrap for example two closed Ziploc bags would be OK