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I am working on an app that allows users to enter in recipes. I have access to some data about certain ingredients that the user can select for the recipe, such as if the ingredient is kosher. If all ingredients selected for a recipe are kosher, is the entire recipe kosher? Or are there other rules, such as how the ingredients are prepared or what pot the dish is cooked in, that will make a dish non-kosher even if all the individual ingredients are kosher?

While some recipes will be available to the general public to make themselves, most recipes are used by employees to make dishes that will be for sale.

Note: I'm sorry if this question is really un-informed. I am a non-Jew and am trying to understand kosher rules and just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

Ghostship
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    What is your goal in developing the app? People who keep kosher know how to use non-kosher cookbooks, making substitutions as may be needed. – Yehuda W Sep 17 '15 at 15:39
  • @YehudaW It could be very useful for finding disguised non-kosher ingredients on commercial packaging. – Double AA Sep 17 '15 at 16:13
  • @DoubleAA Would the app have the product name and manufacturer for all packaged goods? Even if it did, some products have both hechshered and non-hechshered versions, like baby foods (some have a hecksher and some do not). It is an impossible task for an app. – Yehuda W Sep 17 '15 at 16:45
  • @YehudaW The app would just list ingredients that have complicated names and tell you what they are and if there are Kashrut concerns associated with them. Simple. Nothing about manufacturers. For instance, it might say 'dextrose' is just starch, while 'stearate' could come from catfish. – Double AA Sep 17 '15 at 16:47
  • Thanks everyone, I understand kosher a bit better now, and we have decided to be on the safe side and not to mark recipes kosher no matter what. – Ghostship Sep 17 '15 at 16:48
  • I've reread the Q a few times, and viewed the answers. My understanding of the app - the user marks a "filter" that says "kosher". OP says " all ingredients selected for a recipe are kosher" - I understand meaning it has reliable certification. (What "reliable" means is debatable for various groups of people - beyond the app's guessing.) Other than problems of mixing meat w/ meat or fish, etc. if a Jew is cooking it, no Bishul akum & using kosher utensils I think can be assumed in this context. If a non-Jew cooks it, who cares about how it's cooked, anyway? Do we need such detailed answers? – DanF Sep 17 '15 at 16:51
  • The middle par. in your latest edit, I think just added more vagueness. "For sale" - to whom? If for sale or general use for non-Jews, nothing matters. You can do what you wish. If it's for Jews, I'm still vague on what you mean when you say that the user selects "kosher". Does your app make things general enough to list ingredients generically such as "margarine". If it is that way, then the only concerns I see for assuring the dish will be kosher are mixing meat with milk or fish (for some fish and dairy - see below.) A Jewish user will have to buy kosher brands. A non-Jew - doesn't need to. – DanF Sep 17 '15 at 17:01
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    Depending on the user-base, a filter for "kosher" in such an app could be quite useful, if "kosher" is clearly defined to mean "assuming kosher versions of all listed ingredients are used in a kosher kitchen, could be prepared as a kosher dish," and if it returns "true" as long as the ingredients don't contain any inherently non-kosher ingredients and don't contain both meat and either one of fish or dairy. – Isaac Moses Sep 17 '15 at 17:22
  • What's more complicated is that there are even different rules for which religious group is the one doing the choosing. i would buy any US based dairy, and most of those dairy products have a kosher symbol for them, but they still aren't "kosher enough" for lots of people. This also includes certain oddities like not cooking fish with dairy....unless it's butter which somehow is an exception to certain communities. So your first question shouldn't be will it be kosher? But it should be, what is my exact target audience? Are we talking super orthodox, middle of the road? Ashkenazi or Sephardic? – Aaron Sep 17 '15 at 17:58
  • @Aaron I'm not discounting your general concerns. However, in just about every kosher recipe book I have seen, (I have a few too many in my home. Unfortunately, not enough people to cook all the recipes!) not one of them says, "Use 1 gal. of Dairyland milk, but, if you don't trust the OU and you only hold by Cholov Yisra'el, then, maybe you want to use New Square brand. But... if you're Bobov, then maybe you should milk your own cow.." You get my point. I think an app user can decide what's "kosher enough" for his use. – DanF Sep 17 '15 at 18:12
  • @DanF "While some recipes will be available to the general public to make themselves, most recipes are used by employees to make dishes that will be for sale." My comment was referring to this part of his post since the OP says this is where most of the recipes will go. If a company/employee is going to produce things that are for sale, then they need to first decide what standard they will use. – Aaron Sep 17 '15 at 18:22
  • @Aaron Ah! Yes, that's a very valid point :-) G'mar Tov – DanF Sep 17 '15 at 18:28
  • Incidentally, ItemMaster has a field for whether the product is claimed to be kosher and another that lists kosher-certification symbols on the product. – msh210 Sep 17 '15 at 19:46

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It is a start. However it must be cooked in Kosher pots & pans. Meat & Dairy, Meat & Fish should not be combined. There are other rules such as Bishul Yisrael, Pas Yisrael, Yayin Nesech that can affect this. Also vegetables and fruits in many instances require checking for insects. Blood spots in an egg can be a problem. Meat and chicken require slaughtering according to Halacha.

Ypnypn
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Gershon Gold
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