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Cooking a steak

Question:

Dear Rabbi,

There are of course prohibitions of never eating blood of an animal and in all best the blood to my kosher knowledge is drained from the animal as it is sent to slaughter.

Is there any jewish law or preference on the amount a beef steak be cooked. Myself i prefer medium well but I have noted many who eat rare and it has been to me very unsavory to think it is as good.

Am I in right to think that it would be best to cook a steak as strong as the eater can tolerate the meat cooked or is any basic condition of the meat considered kosher.

Curious as I have not yet found this in my jewish study.

Thanks.

Answer:

We are not allowed to eat the blood of a human, an animal or the blood of fowl. An animals blood can be either from the veins and arteries, or it can be absorbed inside the meat of the animal. When an animal is slaughtered there is a significant amount of blood that leaves the animal, however there is still a lot of blood still in the animal, which we may not eat. There are two ways of removing the blood inside the meat, either by salting the meat, or by roasting it, the salt or the open flame next to the meal draws the blood out of it. (I am not going to get into the technicalities of how to salt or roast meat properly, as this is a big topic and not for now). This is why any kosher meat that you will buy at a kosher butcher etc.is already salted, and processed to remove any blood from the meat. The red liquid that you see when a steak is cooked or roasted rare is not blood, but a red liquid that is not blood. ( Blood is think and sticky, and coagulates, his red liquid however is thin and not sticky). Therefore since the meat has already been salted, you can eat the meat however you like it rare or well done.

Sources:

Yoreh Deah 66-1,10,  67-1,

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