At one of the Shalosh Seudot meals we had this past semester, we were served a cake that was baked in an oven in which meat was baked as well. The following question came up: if someone eats a piece of the cake do they have to wait before eating milk products the same time they would ordinarily wait after eating meat?
The Talmud[1] quotes Mar Ukvah as saying that he is not as righteous as his father because his father used to wait 24 hours after eating meat before he would eat cheese whereas he himself waits only until ''the next meal''. All agree that we do not have to wait 24 hours as did Mar Ukvah's father because that was only a stringency that he took upon himself. But the medieval commentators are divided as to how the expression "the next meal" should be interpreted. Is it to be understood literally or is it describing a period of time which usually passes between meals?
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| What does it take to make this fleishig? |
The Tosafot[2] determine that Mar Ukvah is not referring to the next set meal of the day, rather to the next meal that is actually eaten – even if it follows the first one immediately. Thus, according to Tosafot one may clear off the table, recite the grace after meals and eat milk products right after a meal at which meat was consumed. The Rambam[3] on the other hand, interprets this phrase to mean ''the time that usually passes between meals'', and concludes that this is around 6 hours. Rambam explains this law by stating that meat tends to stay between ones teeth. Rashi[4] takes a slightly different approach and says that the fat from the meat sticks to ones teeth, and so the meat flavor lasts a long time.
The Shulchan Aruch[5]rules in accordance with Rambam's opinion (although he says that one should wait 6 hours, not ''around 6''), whereas the Rama mentions Tosafot's opinion. The Rama adds that it is the custom of those who follow Tosafot's opinion to wait one hour after a meat meal.
As mentioned above, even according to those who say one has to wait 6 hours, this is because of the actual meat that stays in the mouth – either between the teeth or as flavor coming from fat. According to that, when food is cooked in a utensil that was used for meat and then consumed, there would be no reason to wait at all. The Rama[6] in fact rules in accordance to this logic. The Shach[7] mentions that in YD 95:1 the Shulchan Aruch rules that when food is cooked in a meat vessel it is permissible to eat that food together with milk. Therefore, he concludes, we must interpret the Rama's leniency in YD 89:3 to mean that even if there is some remainder of the meat in the abovementioned utensil one does not have to wait before eating milk products, otherwise it would make the mention of this law in YD 89 superfluous.
According to this, I believe there is no need to wait at all after eating cake that was baked in the same oven with meat. Even if there would be some actual meat that would fall into the cake (which is highly unlikely) that is akin to a case where food was cooked in a utensil that was not properly cleaned and contained remnant meat.
In my opinion it is preferable to eat the cake in honor of Shabbat and then be able to eat milk products in honor of Melaveh Malka[8]!
[1] Chullin 105a
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