Question:
If I have leftover cooked steak friday night can I add it to the cholent?
Answer:
Thank you for your question.
The food may be placed on an upside-down tray, (which is on a blech or hotplate), but not inside a pot of food on the fire. The reason is because there is a prohibition called “nesina l’chatchila”. Even a solid food that has already been cooked, when placed on to the fire appears to be cooking and we don’t do it on Shabbos. This is one of the reasons that when we return a pot to the fire it has to have been in the persons hand the who time, and even when it was removed it has to be with the intention that it will be returned to the fire.
Sources:
Rashba Shabbos 40b, O:CH 253-2, 5, M:B 253-58, 87.
