Question:
I have set of basic mixing bowls of thin metal I think stainless steel. Haven’t used in year as unsure if meat or not
How can I kasher them and choose what I want them to be now?
One bowl is too big for putting into a pot for kashering
Answer:
Thank you for your question.
You may kasher the mixing bowls and then use them for whatever you want to. Although the Ashkenazi minhag is not to kasher from meat to dairy or vise versa and the reason for it is because we might get mixed up what the status of the utensil is at this point, is is milky or meaty. Therefore the minhag is not to kasher from one to the other. There are however a number of leinencies regarding this minhag. According to some opninions if the utensil wasn’t used in a year this minhag will not apply, but more than that, there are poskim that say that if the reason why you are kashering the utensil is because you don’t know if it was used for meat or milk, then the whole ratinale for the minhag doesn’t apply. The reason for the minhag was not to confuse the status of the utensil, but here you are only doing it as a one time kashering because you want to designate it as something. Secondly, the minhag only applies when it is clearly meaty or milky, however since it isn’t clear that the bowls were indeed meaty, the minhag will not apply. Therefore it is permitted.
To add to this, mixing bowls are not usually used as a kli rishon, but maybe as a kli sheini, and most probably they weren’t even used for hot things. There fore even if they were used for meaty, it was most probably not used for hot things, and not absorbed taste is inside the bowls.
Therefore, even the large bowl, canbe kashered by cleaning it, pouring boiling water over it, and then you may choose what you want to use them for.
Best wishes
Sources:
שבט הקהתי ח”א ס’ קכ”ה וז”ל,”בא”א שם (ס’ תק”ט) סקי”א וכתב דנוהגין להקל להגעיל מבשר לחלב או איפכא על ידי שמטריפין הכלי מקודם עיי”ש א”כ אע”ג דנהגו דאין מגעילין מבשר לחלב היינו היכא דבודאי נשתמש בו חלב ורוצה להשתמש בשר או איפכא אבל היכא דמספק מה השתמש בה ואפשר שישתמש עכשיו בו מה שהשתמש בו מקודם וה רק ספק שמא ישנה מתשמישו הקדם ודאי אין לחוש להגעיל דאין לחדש גזירות מעצמנו ודי לאסור רק באם ודאי השתמש בו בשר או איפכא. ועוד דלא שייך הטעם שכתב המג”א דלא יהיה לו רק כלי א’ ויגעלנו בכל פעם וכו’ דהא יש לו סיבה דרק עכשיו מגעילו שאינו יודע מה השתמש מקודם אבל אח”כ כשיודע על מה הכלי מחד לא יגעילנו לשנות תשמישו. וכן מצאתי סברא זו בשו”ת שארית שמחה סי’ כ”ה.” וע’ גם מהר”ש אנגל ח”ו ס’ כ”ז אות ד’, שפסק כן.
