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Rabbi Yishai Natan –
Q: May I cook pareve noodles in a meat pot if I plan on eating them afterward with cheese?
A: The Gemara (Hullin 111b) rules that fish that absorbed meat flavor from a meat dish may still be eaten with dairy. This is called noten ta’am bar noten ta’am dehetera — the meat gave flavor into the utensil, and the utensil then gave that secondary flavor into the fish. The Rishonim disagree how far this leniency goes, but our question is whether one may intentionally create this situation lechat’hilah.
There seems to be a contradiction in Maran. In the Bedek HaBayit (Y.D. 95), Maran quotes Rabbeinu Yeruham, who says that although vegetables cooked in a dairy pot may afterward be eaten with meat, one should not intentionally cook them in that pot for this purpose. Maran rejects this and writes, “ve’ein devarav nir’in” — his words do not appear correct. This strongly implies that Maran permits doing so lechat’hilah.
However, in Shulhan Aruch (Y.D. 95:1), Maran writes only that fish that were already cooked in a meat pot may be eaten with kutah, a dairy food. His wording describes a case that already happened, implying that one may not cook them this way lechat’hilah. This led to a disagreement among Sephardic poskim.
The Ben Ish Hai (Year 2, Korah 13) and Kaf HaHaim (Y.D. 95:1-3) are mahmir, and hold that Maran retracted from his leniency in Bedek HaBayit and ruled stringently in Shulhan Aruch. One should not intentionally cook pareve food in a clean ben yomo meat pot when he plans to eat it with dairy. If it was already cooked there, it may be eaten with dairy. However, if the pot is eino ben yomo, it is permitted even lechat’hilah.
Rav Ovadia Yosef (Yabia Omer, YD 9:4) and Rav Yitzhak Yosef (Yalkut Yosef, Issur VeHeter, vol. 3, p. 420) are lenient based on the Bedek HaBayit. The wording in the Shulhan Aruch is just the words of the Gemara and is not meant to be implied that it is only permitted bedieved. Therefore, they permit a Sephardi to lechat’hilah cook pareve food in a clean ben yomo meat pot intending to eat it afterward with dairy.
Hacham Ben Tzion Abba Shaul (Ohr LeTzion, vol. 5, 25:1) permits using a ben yomo meat pot for this purpose only when another pot is unavailable. Otherwise, one should use an eino ben yomo pot.
For Ashkenazim, the Rama (Y.D. 95:2) is stricter. If pareve food was cooked in a ben yomo meat pot, one should not eat it with dairy, although if it was already mixed with dairy, it is permitted. If the pot was eino ben yomo, it is permitted to eat it with dairy, however, it is not permitted to cook lecha’hilah with intention to eat with dairy (Badei haShulhan 95:33).