Using a Dairy Spoon in a Meat Dish: In-depth Halachic Analysis and Practical Guidelines

Hi, I need some halachic guidance.
 By mistake, I used a dairy spoon, which had been used within the past 24 hours for hot dairy food, to stir a meat dish while it was hot. Do I now have to discard the entire dish, or is there a way to determine whether it is still permitted to eat?

Thank you for your question.

If there was not 60 times the volume:

If the spoon had been used within the past 24 hours for hot dairy food, and you then inserted it into hot meaty food, whether the food was still on the fire or just in a kli rishon that was still hot, then if there was not sixty times more meaty food than the part of the spoon that was inserted, the food would be forbidden, and the pot would require hagalah.

As mentioned, this applies even if the food was in a kli rishon (a pot that was heated on the fire). The source for this halacha is the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Siman 105, Se’if Katan 2.

שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות תערובות סימן קה סעיף ב

חום של כלי ראשון שהיד סולדת בו, מבשל ואוסר כולו. 

The heat of a keli rishon, as long as it is yad soledes bo, retains the ability to cook and therfore prohibits the entire mixture.

We see that a kli rishon, even when it is no longer on the fire, still retains the ability to cook. Therefore, it has the same halachic status as a pot that is still on the fire.

cham mikzato, cham kulo:

However, one might ask, why don’t we apply the rule of "cham mikzato, cham kulo", meaning that if part of a piece of food is hot, the entire piece is considered hot, since the heat spreads throughout and therefore causes the entire food to both absorb and release flavor?

If so, shouldn't the same apply to the dairy spoon, that if part of the spoon became hot when it was inserted into the hot dish, then all the absorbed dairy taste from the entire spoon (even the part that wasn't inserted) would be released into the food? And if that’s the case, wouldn’t we need sixty times the entire spoon in order to nullify it?

Hagaon Harav Fried, shlit”a, explains that this as follows, that we only calculate sixty times the volume of the part of the spoon that was actually inserted, is based on the Chochmas Adam, Klal 46, Se'if 6:

חכמת אדם שער איסור והיתר כלל מו

התוחב כף חולבת שהיא בתוך מעת לעת מתשמיש כלי ראשון אף על פי שעכשיו הוא צונן ונקי בקדירה של בשר רותחת שהוא כלי ראשון שהיד סולדת בו ואפילו לאחר שהעבירו מן האש או איפכא וכן כף איסור בקדירה של היתר צריך ששים נגד כל מה שתחב מהכף בתוך התבשיל אם אינו יודע כמה בלע ואם יודע כמה בלע צריך ששים נגד כל מה שבלע ומבואר לעיל כלל מ"ד סימן י"ח אבל מה שלא תחב בתבשיל אפילו מה שהוא בתוך חלל הקדירה אין צריך לשער נגדו. ואפילו בכלי מתכת אף על גב דחם מקצתו חם כולו ואף על גב דקיימא לן בחתיכה שמקצתה ברוטב שמפעפע ומפליט מכולו כדלעיל כלל מ"ד זהו דוקא במאכל אבל בכלי אפילו כלי מתכת קיימא לן דאינו מפליט מכולו 

Even with metal dishes, although when part of it is hot, the whole vessel is considered hot, and even though we hold (as mentioned above in Klal 104) that when part of a piece of food is in hot bubbling liquid, it causes the entire piece to emit and absorb flavor, that rule applies specifically to food. But when it comes to a dish, even a metal one, we hold that it does not emit flavor from the part that was not actually heated.

So we see that, according to halacha, there is a difference between absorbing taste and emitting taste. When it comes to absorption, we say that the entire spoon becomes treif since it absorbed the meaty taste. However, with regard to the meaty food that was stirred with the milky spoon, we say that the spoon only emitted the milky only from the part that was actually inserted into the dish.

The Chochmas Adam adds that this ruling is based on the opinion of the Magen Avraham in Siman 451 and the Shach in Siman 121.

If there was sixty times the volume: 

If there was sixty times the volume of the part of the spoon that was inserted into the dish, then both the pot and the food are permitted. However, the spoon itself would require hagalah, since it has now absorbed both meaty and milky taste, as ruled in the Shulchan Aruch.

שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות בשר בחלב סימן צד

אם יש ס' לבטל הכף, הקדירה והתבשיל מותרים אבל הכף אסור, בין עם בשר בין עם חלב, לפי שהיא בלועה מבשר בחלב. 

If there is sixty times (the volume of the spoon) to nullify it, then both the pot and the cooked food are permitted, but the spoon is forbidden, whether it is meat or dairy, because it has absorbed the taste of meat and milk together.

If one isn’t sure about the status of the spoon:

If one doesn’t know whether the spoon was used within the past 24 hours with the opposite type of food, and there is no way to find out, then we may assume the spoon is not ben yomo, meaning, it is assumed not to have been used with hot food within the past 24 hours.
However, the spoon would still require hagalah, just like any utensil that is not ben yomo and was inserted into food of the opposite type, such a utensil would need Hagalah.

שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות הכשר וטבילת כלים סימן קכב סעיף ז

כך סתם כלים שלנו בחזקת שאינן בני יומן. 

Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Laws of Kashering and Immersing Utensils, Siman 122, Se'if 7:

 Generally, utensils are assumed not to be ben yomo (unless one knows otherwise).

Wishing you all the best.

1. Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Siman 105, Se’if 2
2. Chochmas Adam, Klal 46, Se’if 6
3. Chochmas Adam, Klal 44, Siman 18 
4. Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim, Siman 451
5. Shach, Yoreh De'ah, Siman 121
6. Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Siman 94 
7. Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, Siman 122, Se’if 7 (Hilchot Hechsher Keilim)