Question:
Hi,
I’m a professional private chef. For several summers I worked in a lake house of a Jewish family whose members keep varying degrees of kosher. Within the house, they all seem respectful, eating only meat and pareve at those meals, only dairy and pareve at those meals, only pareve at those meals. The house has several ovens, sinks and stove tops, including ovens and sinks that are designated pareve – it’s a large house and kitchen. Whatever happens outside the kitchen and home isn’t my business though I’ll sometimes be told where someone ate or see the not kosher leftovers brought inside from the car to the garbage. No judgment. I had to say it because of my question.
I have top quality knives and blenders I use. I was told the family members are afraid of the knives and blades and wouldn’t use the knives and have no use for the blenders when I’m not around. The blenders are of a horsepower in which any hard, raw food can be pulverized into a cream, a dressing, a soup, an ice cream or a drink. The blender technically “cooks” food as it quickly blends, unless it’s frozen for a smoothie or pareve ice cream so there’s less heat. If it’s a little bit of whole apples, leafy greens and lemons to make a drink, there’s a bit of “cooking”. The food isn’t necessarily hot, it’s never hot unless it’s a soup I already cooked and want to puree while it’s still warm or hot, or something similar, but it’s known that food that must keep its nutritional integrity can only be pulse blended in these blenders for a very small amount of time or put in with some frozen fruit or ice, if making a dressing or drink because it could otherwise heat up. I’m not sure what temperature the food becomes and whether “cooking” here is applicable to the Jewish law of cooking. I’ve only used pareve food with the knives and blenders so there’s no concern about anything I did. It’s all been pareve, used with pareve equipment and cleaned in the pareve sink.
I left one of these blenders, with a label clearly marked pareve on the blender jar, in the home for a few weeks while I was away. It’s on an easily accessible shelf. I also left the knives, marked pareve on each knife, on the first box they’re sealed in and on the box it’s stored in. They’re in a safe, lower drawer, so they don’t fall on anyone, with a childproof protection.
I’m back and as far as I know, no one touched the blender or the knives, though I’m a little concerned because over time I learned that the family tends to be quick to give answers without asking around and will often reply with what they think I want to hear instead of making it easier by telling the truth. The concern is that they have guests who possibly used the items and not necessarily following Jewish law. The guests are known to enjoy cooking and don’t follow or know the law.
I was told that absolutely no one, from the family to the guests used any of my equipment and that I’m the only one who uses it. Everything looks clean but they would have cleaned it. But again, they have a way with their answers about many issues throughout the years, not necessarily Jewish law, which has me concerned.
The guests left last week.
As I use these items to cook for people who keep kosher, in that family and others, I’m asking for a little clarity about what to do because I would never want to use potentially not kosher equipment or not kosher equipment for any Jewish person.
Thank you so much.
Answer:
Hello,
It is nice to see how careful you are about kashrus. You don’t have to be concerned that your knives or blenders were used, as they were put away, and we don’t have to worry that maybe they were taken out by the family members, especially since they told you they weren’t used.
Best wishes
