Question: Our sitter accidentally put meat on a milky plate, must I throw it away? I’ve heard you can bury it in your backyard and use it again, but I live in the city. What should I do?

Rabbi Elie Weinstock:

No need to move to the country or consider a career as an undertaker. If milk falls on a meat dish or meat onto a milk dish, there may be no problem at all. If it’s a cold piece of meat on a dairy plate–or the other way around–just wipe it clean. The Torah talks of heat or liquid being potential sources of transfer from one type of dish/food to another. So if it’s a roast beef sandwich on a milky plate, let’s say, just cleaning may suffice. Complications arise when the mix-up involves liquids and hot or spicy foods, perhaps because the residue is harder to remove. If the taste remains, it may be mixed up even after cleaning. If in doubt, call in a rabbi who may consider how hot the food was, what the dairy ingredients were and how much of them were in the mix, how much meat was on the plate, etc… The bottom line: No need to throw out the milky plate with the offending meat if, in fact, it was a cold cut–or coldcut.