What's cooking..........on Shabbat

(2) The primary labors are forty less one:sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, bleaching, hackling, dyeing, spinning, weaving, the making of two loops, weaving two threads, dividing two threads, tying and untying, sewing two stitches, tearing in order to sew two stitches, capturing a deer, slaughtering, or flaying, or salting it, curing its hide, scraping it [of its hair], cutting it up, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters [over the erasure], building, tearing down, extinguishing, kindling, striking with a hammer, [and] carrying out from one domain to another, These are the forty primary labors less one.

(1) If a double stove was heated with stubble or straw, they may put a cooked dish on it. If it was heated with peat or wood, one may not place [a dish on it] until he sweeps it out or covers it with ashes. Bet Shammai says: hot water, but not a dish; And Bet Hillel says: both hot water and a dish. Bet Shammai says: one may remove it, but not put it back; But Bet Hillel says: one may even put it back.

(1) One who bakes [something] the size of a dried fig is liable. It is the same whether he bakes bread, cooks a food or herbs or heats up water – it all has one function. The [requisite] amount of heating water is enough to bathe a small limb. And the [requisite] amount of cooking herbs is enough that they be fit for the purpose for which they are being cooked.

(3) And we place a stewpot on top of the fire, or meat in the oven or on the coals, and they cook and continue the whole Shabbat and we eat it on Shabbat. But with this thing, there are things that are forbidden, [as a] decree lest he stoke the coals on Shabbat.

(4) How is this? We do not leave on the fire on Shabbat, a cooked food that is not fully cooked or hot water that is not fully heated or a cooked food that is fully cooked, but the more it condenses the better it is for it – even though it was placed [on the fire] while still day [on the eve of Shabbat, as a] decree lest he stoke the coals on Shabbat in order to complete its cooking or in order to make it condense. Hence if he raked [the coals of] the fire; or covered the fire of the stove with ashes or with thin flax scraps; or the coals dimmed, as they are then surely as if covered by ashes; or he [only] fed the fire with straw or stubble or the dung of [sheep and goats], as there are surely no burning coals there – it is surely permitted to leave [cooking foods] upon it. For he has surely removed his mind from this cooked food, and [hence] we do not decree lest he stoke the fire.

(8) It is permissible to leave on the fire, a raw food that has not cooked at all or [a food] that has been fully cooked but the more it condenses the worse it is for it – whether with a stove or a kupach, or whether with an oven. Likewise, if one throws a [raw piece of meat] at twilight into any food that is partly cooked or that is fully cooked but the more it condenses the better it is for it – all of it becomes like a raw food, and it is [thus] permitted to leave it on the fire even though he did not rake and did not cover [it. This] is because he had already removed his mind from it and will not come to stoke the coals.

(9) Any cooked food that is forbidden to leave [on the fire]: If he transgressed and left it, it is forbidden to eat it until the conclusion of Shabbat, and he waits [the time needed] in order to make it (as if there had been no cooking or condensing on Shabbat, and he would have to make it now). But if he forgot it, it is forbidden until the conclusion of Shabbat [only] if it was a cooked food that had not been fully cooked. But if it was a cooked food that was fully cooked but the more it condensed the better it was for it, it is permissible to eat it immediately on Shabbat.

(10) Anything that is permissible to leave on [an open] fire is forbidden to return to its place on Shabbat once it is removed. And we only return [a cooking food] on top of a raked or covered stove or in a stove or kupach that was fed by straw or stubble. And that is when he has not placed the stewpot on the ground. But once he placed it on the ground, we do not return it – even on top of a stove that is raked or covered. And we do not return [food] to an oven nor a kupach that has been fed with olive pulp or wood – even though he raked or covered [it] – because its fumes are very hot. And with anything that we do not return [food to it], neither do we place [food] next to it on Shabbat.

(8) [In the case of] something that was cooked before Shabbat or soaked in hot water before Shabbat, it is permissible to soak it in hot water on Shabbat. But [in the case of] something that was originally cold and never came into hot water, we may [only] rinse it in hot water on Shabbat—so long as its rinsing is not the completion of its production. However we may not soak it in hot water.

(2) 2. A Kirah that is Gerufa or Ketuma, if one removes a pot from it even on Shabbos, he may return it as long as it is boiling hot RAMA: and it is still in his hand (Tur) and he has not placed it on the floor RAMA: and his intention is to return it (Tur). This is specifically to the top [of the stove] but to the inside it is forbidden. It is forbidden to return [a pot] to a Tanur even if it is raked and covered up. Similarly, a Kupach when fired with Gefes [olive waste] and wood. RAMA: This is specifically when the food is fully cooked (Beis Yosef). It is then permitted to return it, even to another Kirah. But if it is not fully cooked it is forbidden even to return it to the same Kirah. There are those who say that all is forbidden only where one removes it from the Kirah while it is still day and wishes to return it after dark. However, if he removes it after dark it is permitted [to return] even if in the meantime he places it on the floor. (R"an Perek Kirah). This is our custom to be lenient for our [type of] ovens, that have the status of a Kirah, because the lenient opinion is relied upon. And it is better to be more stringent. But in all opinions where it has cooled off it is forbidden [to return it] [Beis Yosef]. There are those who say that if one removes the food from the Tanur on Shabbos it is forbidden to wrap it up in pillows or blankets. There are those who say that close to dark or close to Barchu which for us constitutes an acceptance of Shabbos (Ha'agahot Mordechai), where it is so close to Shabbos that if the pot would be cool it would be impossible to boil it up while still day, the same law (of Chazora) applies as to Shabbos itself. Some are lenient in this, and such is the accepted practice. Nevertheless it would be preferable to be stringent where there is no real need. But this refers only (to returning) directly onto a Kirah, however placing it next to it (the stove) or even next to a fire where the heat is Yad soledes bo is permitted even close to dusk. For a Tanur there is no difference between returning a pot onto it or next to it when that area is at a temperature of Yad soledes bo, but if that area is not Yad soledes it is permitted even on Shabbos, as will be stated below in Siman 318.

(4) 4. Food fully cooked which has cooled down may not be reheated because of the Melacha of Bishul (cooking). RAMA some hold that this is only if the food is Mitztamek ve’yafe lo. [R' Yerucham] Food not fully cooked, even if cooked to the degree of Ma’achal ben Derusa’i and even if the food is hot, is nevertheless forbidden to cook any further. The reheating that is forbidden, only applies to food with liquid, but a cooked food item that is a solid (has no liquid), may be immersed in hot water on Shabbos. A solid food item that has not been cooked before Shabbos, may not be immersed into hot water on Shabbos, but one may pour hot water over it on Shabbos, with the exception of aged salted food and a fish called “Kulias ha’ispanin”, which do not require much cooking, and by pouring water over them one completes the Melacha. RAMA: This rule applies to all hard foods that cannot be eaten without first marinating them. Therefore one may not soak them (in hot water) on Shabbos, as it is a completion of a Melacha. [Ha'gahot Mordechai]

(15) 15. One is permitted to place fully cooked dry food, with no liquid, near a fire, even in a place that is Yad soledes bo, RAMA: even if it is now cold, but if it is hot, even if liquid is present it is permitted. Some authorities are lenient and say that even if the food has cooled down it is permitted to place next to fire, as long as it is not placed above a fire or Kirah. (HaMagid, Perek 22). The custom in this matter is to be lenient as long as it has not completely cooled down, as I have written in Siman 253.

(3) 3. If one rises early (on Shabbos morning) and finds that the food in his pot is beginning to burn, if he is concerned that it might burn more, he may remove it, place a used empty pot on the mouth of the Kirah, and then put the pot containing the food atop the empty pot. One should be careful not to place the pot (containing the food) on the ground and it should be boiling hot. (It has already been stated that it is customary to be lenient (and permit returning a pot to a stove) even where it has been placed on the ground).