In our home, the non-Jewish housekeeper has strict instructions that only a member of the family is permitted to turn on the stove or oven before she cooks. Not being a rabbi, my understanding is that this level of supervision is required to ensure the kashrut of the kitchen (at least in the Ashkenazic tradition).
Question: What if, in this era of "internet of things", we were to devise a device which allows us to turn on the stove or oven remotely, so that the housekeeper would call us when she is ready to start preparing dinner, and we lit the stove for her from a distance? Would this meet the requirements of kashrut?
Answer
The OU uses a system where they remotely light an oven in order for the product to be Bishul Yisrael.
Rabbi Yehuda Shain has recently developed an ingenious system whereby the mashgiach can monitor the production from an off-site location. By installing a special device, it is possible to turn the oven on and off through the use of a touch-tone phone.
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