Chullin 104

Three times the Torah says: “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21). From this threefold repetition, the rabbis derive a threefold prohibition against cooking, eating and benefiting from mixtures of milk and meat. The eighth chapter of Chullin opens with a mishnah that explores these prohibitions:

It is prohibited to cook any meat in milk, except for the meat of fish and grasshoppers, and it is prohibited to place any meat together with cheese (e.g., milk products) on a table, except for the meat of fish and grasshoppers. And one who takes a vow that meat is prohibited to him is permitted to eat the meat of fish and grasshoppers.

The underlying question is what animal flesh, for the purposes of this prohibition, counts as meat. From the mishnah, it is clear that fish does not count, and neither do grasshoppers, a few species of which are kosher (in contrast to all other bugs).

We might have supposed that the flesh of any animal that does not produce milk can be mixed with milk. After all, if an animal doesn’t make milk, it is impossible to accidentally stew its young in its own milk. But the rabbis see it differently. Given that the mishnah specifically exempts fish and grasshoppers from the biblical prohibition, they infer that fowl do not fall into that category:

The meat of birds cooked in milk is prohibited by Torah law.

In other words, chicken parmesan is out.
 
Rav Ashi reads the mishnah differently, however:

It is prohibited to cook any meat in milk, but some types of meat are prohibited by Torah law, while other types of meat are prohibited by rabbinic law. This prohibition applies to all types of meat except for the meat of fish and grasshoppers, which are not prohibited, neither by Torah law nor by rabbinic law.

Rav Ashi agrees that it is prohibited to cook the meat of birds in milk, but he believes this prohibition was enacted by the rabbis and is not included in the biblical prohibition.

In contrast, Rav Yosef next argues that the consumption of the meat of birds and milk is in fact forbidden biblically. He notes that the mishnah prohibits placing meat and cheese on the same table, lest they are accidentally consumed together. This is not one of the three primary prohibitions (cooking, eating, benefiting), but a secondary prohibition. If the prohibition to refrain from eating bird meat and milk were rabbinic, Rav Yosef argues, then the prohibition on placing bird meat and cheese on the same table would be a rabbinic prohibition applied to a rabbinic prohibition — something which the rabbis do not do. Therefore, we must conclude that the biblical prohibition against eating milk and meat together includes the meat of birds.

In response to Rav Yosef, Abaye argues that when there is a good reason to place a rabbinic decree upon a rabbinic decree, it is okay to do so. In his view, this is such a situation, as it provides protection to a biblical law:

If you permit one to place the meat of birds and cheese on the same table, some might come to place the meat of domesticated animals and cheese on a single table and to eat this meat cooked in milk, thereby transgressing a prohibition by Torah law.

As this discussion suggests, the Torah is not clear about whether birds are to be considered meat or if they are to be exempted from the prohibition like fish are. Some rabbis hold that the Torah prohibits eating chicken parmesan; others think that it is prohibited only at the rabbinic level. Most commentators think that the prohibition on eating chicken parmesan is rabbinic, not biblical. As a result, the rules about mixing fowl with milk are more lenient — and only one of the three biblical restrictions applies. A rabbinic prohibition prevents the consumption of fowl and dairy together, but one is still permitted to cook them together and derive benefit from the mixture. So, you can’t eat the chicken parmesan, but you can cook it and sell it to non-Jews. 

Read all of Chullin 104 on Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 12, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.