[Avodah] Induction stovetop halachic status

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 06:38:37PM +0300, Marty Bluke via Avodah wrote:
> I saw a news report that a restaurant in Israel lost its hashgacha because
> they switched to an induction stovetop and had an Arab cook. The rabbanut
> seems to hold that there is a problem of bishul akum...

Well the reason for that is, as Zev wrote, because the heat is restarted
every time you put the pot on.

(Although I find it hard to believe the stovetop rarely reaches yad
soledes bo. Doesn't the pot heat the surface it's sitting on?)

I wanted to comment on something else. What I've heard about microwaves
and bishul aku"m involve two arguments:

1- Microwave cooked food is of lesser quality and not oleh al shulchan
melakhim.

2- Technically, the taqanah was about food put al ha'eish, and microwave
cooked food doesn't qualify.

Well, I'm pretty sure that one could produce quality food on an induction
cooker, even if I cannot picture a 5-star chef wanting to take that route.

But that second argument.... R Heinemann writes at
<https://www.star-k.org/articles/articles/1182>:
   Bishul akum does not apply to microwaved food. The Rabbinical
   prohibition of bishul akum applies only to conventional cooking
   methods, eg. cooking, frying, roasting. Food prepared through
   microwaving is not included in the prohibition.

That's different than saying al ha'eish, since you can fry in a pan
on an induction cooker. But is that what he meant? The historical term
would imply that induction cooking isn't "conventional cooking methods"
parallel to those in the original taqanah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 The same boiling water
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   that softens the potato, hardens the egg.
Author: Widen Your Tent      It's not about the circumstance,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    but rather what you are made of.