Halachot and Customs
Is It Permitted to Eat a Bloody Steak, Cooked Medium?
Question
Hello, is it permitted to eat meat or steak that is cooked but bloody? In this case, cooked medium. For my whole life, I have been unsure about steaks cooked medium-well, and even then I usually had to ask for it to be cooked more so that I would not eat a bloody steak. Recently I sat in the kosher El Gaucho restaurant in Netanya, and indeed I saw quite a few Hasidic people sitting and eating steaks at different levels of wellness. After I explained to the waitress my preference regarding how the steak should be cooked, she did not understand what I was talking about. According to her, they are a kosher steak restaurant, and sadly there are not many such quality places in the area, which in fact draws many people from the haredi sector. She said that she has served many haredi people, including several respected rabbis from Netanya, steaks cooked medium, and even rare, when the steak is completely bloody. So what is actually permitted to eat?
Many thanks.
Answer
Hello and blessings,
After the proper process of koshering and salting, it is permitted to eat the meat even if a liquid that looks like blood flows from it. In the Talmud, in tractate Chullin, it is written that the Amoraim would eat it this way, and they referred to that liquid as "chamra de-bisra" - the wine of meat.
Success - Menashe Yisrael
