1And the other food is not forbidden due to the liver’s blood, but rather due to the fat of the liver it absorbed. But if permitted liver is cooked with another piece of meat, and the concern is only that the meat might be prohibited due to the meat absorbing excess blood from the liver, what is the halakha ? Perhaps blood is absorbed less easily than fat.
2When Rav Safra again ascended to Eretz Yisrael, he found Rabbi Zerika once more and asked him about liver cooked with another piece of meat. Rabbi Zerika said to him: You need not ask this question either, as I and Yannai, son of Rabbi Ami, arrived at the house of Yehuda, son of Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi, and they brought before us the windpipe of an animal with all the parts attached to it, i.e., the lungs, heart, and liver, all of which had been cooked together, and we ate it. This proves that the blood emitted from the liver does not render prohibited other pieces of meat cooked with it.
3Rav Ashi, and some say Rabbi Shmuel from Zerokinya, objects to this conclusion: But perhaps in that incident the mouth of the windpipe was positioned outside of the pot, allowing the liver’s excess blood to run out of the pot rather than being absorbed by the other pieces of meat. Alternatively, perhaps they poured boiling liquid on the liver at the outset, before it was cooked with the lung and heart, like that custom of Rav Huna, for whom they would pour boiling vinegar on liver, and that of Rav Naḥman, for whom they would pour boiling water on liver. This would cook the excess blood into the liver and prevent it from diffusing into the other pieces. Abaye’s question remains unresolved.
4And with regard to the pouring of boiling vinegar on the liver, Rav Pappa, when he was a student before Rava, thought to say that the vinegar becomes prohibited for consumption in the process, since it absorbs blood from the liver. Rava said to Rav Pappa: If you claim that the vinegar is prohibited, then the liver itself should also be prohibited, since just as the liver expels blood and prohibits the vinegar, so too it then absorbs the blood back from the forbidden vinegar. Rather, one must say that no blood is expelled from the liver during this process at all, which is why the liver is permitted afterward.
5The Gemara relates that Rav bar Shabba visited the house of Rav Naḥman. They brought him cooked liver, but Rava bar Shabba did not partake of it. The members of the household said to Rav Naḥman: There is a student of Torah inside who is not eating. And who is he? Rav bar Shabba. Rav Naḥman said to them: Feed Shabba against his will.
6The Gemara notes: Abaye’s question above with regard to liver cooked with other meat is subject to a dispute between tanna’im , as it is taught in a baraita : Rabbi Eliezer says: The liver that was cooked with other pieces of meat prohibits them, but it itself is not prohibited, because it expels blood as it cooks but does not absorb it again. Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka, says: If the liver was spiced when cooking, it prohibits the other meat and it becomes prohibited as well, as the spices cause the liver to reabsorb the blood that was expelled. Likewise, if the liver was stewed, i.e., heavily cooked, it renders the other pieces prohibited and is itself prohibited.
7The Gemara relates: Rabba bar Rav Huna visited the house of Rabba bar Rav Naḥman and dined with him on Shabbat. They brought before him three se’a of fine bread that had been kneaded in oil and honey. Rabba bar Rav Huna said to the members of Rabba bar Rav Naḥman’s household: Did you know that I was coming, that you prepared such superior food? They said to him: Are you more distinguished than Shabbat, as it is written with regard to Shabbat: “If you proclaim Shabbat a delight, the sacred day of God honored” (Isaiah 58:13).
8Meanwhile, Rabba bar Rav Huna found among the dishes before him a certain liver that contained an artery suffused with blood. He said to the members of the household: Why do you do this? Although the blood absorbed in the liver is permitted, that which is collected in the blood vessels is prohibited. The members of the household said to him: Rather, what should we do in order to prepare the liver? Rabba bar Rav Huna said to them: First tear the liver lengthwise and widthwise, and position the side with the tear downward, so that the blood will flow out when you place it on the fire.
9The Gemara comments: And this statement applies only to liver, due to the blood that collects in its blood vessels; but there is no need to tear the spleen in this manner, as it merely contains fat. And this ruling accords with that which is reported about Shmuel, that his attendants would prepare a dish of spleens for him on the day that he performed the practice of bloodletting.
10§ It was stated: If liver and other meat are roasted on spits in an oven such that the liver is positioned on top of the meat, the meat is permitted even though blood from the liver flows onto it. This is because the blood that flows from an item roasting in the oven slides over meat located underneath it and is not absorbed. But if an udder is positioned on top of the meat when roasted in the oven, the meat is prohibited. What is the reason? It is that the milk expelled by the roasting udder adheres to and is absorbed by the meat.
11Rav Dimi from Neharde’a would teach the opposite: Whenever an udder is positioned on top of the meat, the meat is permitted. What is the reason? The prohibition of meat cooked in milk of a slaughtered animal applies by rabbinic law, and is treated less stringently. But if liver is positioned on top of the meat, the meat is prohibited, as the prohibition of blood applies by Torah law, and one must be concerned that perhaps the meat will absorb blood from the liver.
12Mareimar taught in public: The halakha is: Whether in the case of liver or in the case of an udder, if it is underneath the meat, the meat is permitted, but if it is on top of the meat, then after the fact, yes, the meat is permitted, but ab initio , no, one may not situate them in this manner.
13The Gemara relates: Rav Ashi arrived at the house of his father-in-law Rami bar Abba, and he saw that the son of Rami bar Abba was