Bishul Akum
Question
1. If you are in anon-kosher restaurant, and they have veggie burgers that are kosher, you just order a veggie burger or do you have to know how they cook it etc. so as to keep it away from the regular burgers. For example, what would be the halakhah if they grill it on a grill with non-kosher burgers or if they put it in a microwave? 2 Re. veggie burgers, I would have thought that this is different than regular vegetables when it comes to bishul akum because you would never eat a veggie burger raw, and there are probably a variety of vegetables in it? 3. If you see a hot dog vender selling glatt kosher hot dogs, can you eat one if the vendor is a non-Jew. The vendor showed me the packages and they were all kosher hot dogs. However, there is no mashgiach on this vendor, and maybe he has some non-kosher dogs (which are cheaper) in a compartment somewhere and is tricking the customers. Since hot dogs can be eaten right out of the package, I assume there is no issue of bishul akum. If I watch him take the hot dog out of the package and heat it up, would it then be OK, or must we be concerned that some of the possibly treif hot dogs (my earlier safek) have made the entire thing non-kosher
Answer
Answered by Aaron Abadi1) It should be cooked separately. It's Ok if it is put in the microwave by itself. Or have it grilled on a cleaned grill. The grill is so hot that it is constantly Kashering itself. 2) It goes by the majority or main ingredients. Find out what is in it. Corn is OK, carrots, green beans, peas, are all OK, etc... 3) You can eat it if you watch him take it out, because he makes his living off of the Kosher hot dogs and will be very careful not to use non-kosher. Once in a while, maybe he cheats a little, but why should you assume that the last time he was heating non-kosher. If it wasn't the last one, then it was Kashered during the next use. Hot dogs are cooked already and I don't think there's an issue of Bishul Akum. If there are pieces of previous hot dogs that will come on yours, ask him to put it on a cleaner spot. AA