Question:
If I purchase kosher meat with hashgacha, can I give it to a non-jew who cooks for us to marinate it in her home? Or does this fall back under the issue of having the meet sealed, even if we purchased it and gave it to her to prepare for us?
If this is an issue. To what extent is the fact that she is a professional chef and wants to retain her reputation in the market a mitigating factor?
Answer:
Hello,
Giving your kosher meat to a gentile to take home and marinate is very problematic. First, the meat will now be considered basar shenisalem min hoayin, and the non-Jew might switch it for a different piece of meat, and you wouldn’t know the difference. Second, we cannot trust the gentile not to add non-kosher ingredients to what she is making. The fact that she wants to keep her good reputation and have the meat taste good might even cause her to add non-kosher ingredients. I remember a story from years ago about a family with a live-in maid who occasionally cooked the meat for supper. The husband noticed that whenever she made the meat, it tasted even better than when his wife prepared it. He asked her why it was that when she cooked the meat, it tasted even better than his wife’s. The maid answered him: "They have a family secret: if you smear butter on the meat before baking it, it will come out tasting delicious." Aside from eating real basar b’cholov, they had to throw out many of their utensils because they were treif.
Best wishes
