Kashering Pots, Pans and Frying Pans

Two vessels that sit next to each other on the hob are kashered by different methods, and the reason is simple once stated: a pot cooks in liquid, a frying pan does not.

That single distinction runs through this whole area.

Pots

Pots used for cooking are kashered by hagalah — immersion in boiling water — in a kli rishon, matching how they are used.

Two practical points:

• Clean the bottom properly first. Pots with grooves or dark pitting at the base need thorough cleaning beforehand. Stains that are merely discolouration, with no substance to them, do not prevent the kashering.
• Everywhere that folds. Handles, rims, seams — anywhere two surfaces meet needs attention.

Lids are cleaned and kashered in exactly the same way as the pots themselves, which is easy to overlook.

Frying pans

Pans used for frying are kashered by libun, not hagalah — because frying happens without the liquid that would carry the absorption out.

And there is a condition attached that matters: they must be cleaned thoroughly inside and out before the libun. Where a pan cannot be properly cleaned, it should not be kashered at all. Libun on a dirty pan does not help; it bakes the residue in.

Baking vessels

A pot used for baking rather than boiling follows the frying-pan logic and takes libun, since it is used over fire without liquid — the same category as a spit or a baking tray.

Non-stick

Modern coated pans are a real question rather than an assumed one.

The guidance is that it is preferable not to kasher non-stick pans by hagalah, precisely because they are the vessels people cook in without liquid — so hagalah does not match how they were used.

In pressing circumstances, where someone genuinely needs the pan, some are lenient to kasher by libun — but only if there is no concern that the coating will be damaged.

That last condition is doing real work, and it is the same reasoning that appears with plastic worktops and glass hobs: someone worried about ruining the item will not carry out the kashering properly, so the risk of damage is itself a reason the method does not apply.

A mixer

Worth including here because it is the appliance people forget. A mixer is two things:

• The body, holding the motor. The concern is material lodged in holes and crevices, so it is dismantled as far as it goes and the parts cleaned with a brush.
• The detachable parts. If used with hot food, they need cleaning and pouring from a kli rishon. If used with sharp food, they need hagalah.

What your own vessels need depends on how you actually use them — which is the question to bring to your rav. See also the three methods of kashering.