Chullin 111a (קיא.) — the Talmud in English

He said to him:

Abaye said to Rav Safra: This is not a proof.

Perhaps there

it is referring

to a forbidden liver—

for example, the liver of an animal with a disqualifying defect—and the prohibition is not due to the blood emitted from the liver, but [precise page-location marker]

because of the fatty substance

of the forbidden liver, which renders the piece cooking with it forbidden because the piece absorbed fatty substance from the liver, which is forbidden on account of terefa. And so the tanna of the Mishna in tractate Terumot said: A forbidden liver renders its companion, which was cooked with it, forbidden because of the fatty substance of the prohibition that its companion absorbed from it. But permitted liver that was cooked with a piece of meat from a terefa does not become forbidden, because the liver is preoccupied with emitting blood, and as long as it is preoccupied with emitting blood, it does not absorb.

But I

was in doubt because of the blood

that emerges from a kosher liver:

What is the law?

Is the blood of the liver, which is fit for consumption when it is inside the liver, because the liver is essentially composed of blood and nevertheless the Torah permitted it, also permitted when it separates from the liver and imparts flavor to another piece of meat? Or perhaps, once it separates from the liver, it is forbidden with the prohibition of blood and renders forbidden the piece into which it was absorbed?

When

Rav Safra

returned and came up, he encountered Rav Zerika

and asked him what the law is concerning the blood of the liver after it has separated and imparted flavor to another piece.

Rav Zerika said to him:

Rav Zerika said:

You too need not raise this question! For I and Yannai, son of Rabbi Ami, once happened to come to the house of Yehuda, son of Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi, and they brought us a windpipe with all that was attached to it—

the windpipe of the animal together with everything attached to it, namely, the heart, the liver, and the lungs. And all of them were cooked together—

and we ate

them.

And it is proven that although the heart and lungs were cooked together with the liver, they did not become forbidden because of the blood emitted from the liver. It follows from this that the blood emitted from the liver is not forbidden as blood.

Rav Ashi challenged this, and some say Rav Shmuel of Zerukinya: But perhaps the opening of the windpipe—

was outside the pot

and the blood did not enter the pot. Rather, the blood of the liver spilled through the liver’s windpipe into the large windpipe of the lung, and from there it spilled outward. Therefore, they were permitted to eat the heart and lungs even though they had been cooked together with the liver!?

Alternatively,

it is possible that

at the outset he had thoroughly scalded it

the liver by itself, and once it had been scalded, the blood congealed within it and no longer emerged [and the blood embedded inside the liver is permitted to eat, since it had not been emitted]!

As in the case of Rav Huna: They would thoroughly scald it

his household would scald the liver

in vinegar

—in vinegar; and once it had been scalded in vinegar, it no longer emitted blood, after which they would cook it with other meat.

And they would thoroughly scald it

his household would scald the liver of Rav Naḥman

in boiling water.

And Rav Pappa considered saying before Rava—

a liver that had been congealed in vinegar: that

vinegar

in which the liver had congealed

is forbidden,

because some of the blood was emitted and became mixed with the vinegar.

Rava said to him:

Rava said to him:

If the vinegar—

the vinegar in which they scalded the liver—

is forbidden, then

it—

the liver itself—

should also be forbidden!

For

just as it emits

blood into the vinegar when it is being scalded,

it then reabsorbs

the emitted blood from the vinegar, since once the blood has congealed and it is no longer preoccupied with emitting, it returns and absorbs. The liver itself, then, should have to become forbidden. Rather, this is proof that when it is scalded, the blood congeals within it, and it does not emit any blood outward at all.

Rav Shava happened

[he happened to come]

to the house of Rav Naḥman, and they brought him cooked liver

[cooked liver, that is, boiled. See Tosafot, who state that the liver had not been scalded in boiling water!],

but he did not eat

the cooked liver.

They said to

Rav Naḥman:

A student

a disciple,

of yours

who was staying as a guest in your home

does not eat

from the liver dish that was served to him. Rav Naḥman asked them:

And who is he?

Who is that student? And they answered him:

Rav bar Shava!

Rav Naḥman said to them: Force him to drink

give him to drink

“Shava”

[he called him by his father’s name] against his will!

And we say:

It is subject to a dispute between tannaim!

For the tannaim disputed the law of liver that was boiled.

As it was taught in a beraita:

Rabbi Eliezer says: The liver renders forbidden

that which is cooked with it in a pot,

but it does not become forbidden

through its cooking,

because it emits

its blood during the cooking

but does not absorb

from it, because it is preoccupied with emitting.

Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka, says:

If it was

spiced,

the spice softens it and therefore it

renders forbidden

that which is cooked with it,

and

also

becomes forbidden

itself, because as a result of being softened by the spice it absorbs blood even while it is preoccupied with emitting.

And if it was

boiled

very extensively, it

renders forbidden and

also

becomes forbidden

itself, because after it finishes emitting the blood, it returns and absorbs, since it was boiled far beyond the period during which it emits.

Rabba bar Rav Huna happened to come to the house of Rabba bar Rav Naḥman. They brought before him

on Shabbat

three se’a of fine bread

[three se’a of fine bread, whose surface they spread with oil and honey].

He said to them: Did you know that I was coming

—how did you know that I intended to come to you, that you took the trouble before Shabbat to prepare such bread in my honor?

They said to him:

We prepared the bread in honor of Shabbat, for it is as precious in our eyes as an honored guest such as you, because

who is dearer to us than it

than Shabbat,

as it is written

concerning it, “

And you shall call Shabbat a delight.”

Meanwhile, he found

Rabba bar Rav Huna

a certain liver in which there was an obstructed bronchial tube

in it

with blood.

He said to them: Why did you do this?

For only the blood absorbed in the liver itself is permitted to eat [when it has not emerged outward]; but the blood of the bronchial tubes collected within it [see Tosafot, s.v. “and its cuts”] was not permitted!?

They said to him: What else should we do?

He said to them: Cut

the liver

lengthwise and crosswise, and its cut

when you come to roast it in the oven, shall be

downward

so that the cut in the liver faces downward, allowing the blood collected inside it to flow out below.