Stirring a Fully Cooked Dish
Question
Regarding the prohibition of stirring on Shabbat, in a dish that is on the plata: if the entire dish has been fully cooked, does the prohibition of stirring still apply?
Answer
Shalom u’vrachah.
It is forbidden to stir it.
As for removing food with a spoon, which thereby stirs it slightly, according to the basic halachah it is permitted. However, some prohibit it as a Torah prohibition.
Source
Mishnah Berurah, siman 318, se’if katan 113–114
“Which were removed while boiling” — he stated “which were removed” as a novelty: that even in this case it is forbidden when it was not fully cooked; but when it was fully cooked, even if it is standing on the fire, it is permitted to remove with a spoon — so it appears from the Beit Yosef. However, in the Eliyah Rabbah he concludes that this should be prohibited:
And in Sha’ar HaTziyun, siman 318, se’if katan 136
So he proved (the Eliyah Rabbah) from Kol Bo; and according to the Kol Bo, if it was actual stirring, one is liable to bring a chatat offering, since it is on the fire, as the Magen Avraham wrote in his name. And what the Eliyah Rabbah wished to reject, that perhaps the Kol Bo is speaking of a case where it was not fully cooked, is not convincing, since he immediately concludes that for this reason it is permitted to mash onions with the wooden spoon inside the pot, because it is after removal from the fire; and there it is fully cooked, as is implied from the responsum brought in the Beit Yosef at the end of siman 321:
