Matzo Brie (pronounced bry).
The holiday of Passover lasts for eight days. Many strictly observant jews will not mix their matzo bread with water at all during the first seven days. The reason for this is because there is a collective worry that there may be some flour inside the small tiny bubbles of the matzo with which the water might mix. If that mix is put in the oven and bakes, the person will accidently have baked chametz — any dough and water baked together to the point where the dough rises — which is a tremendous transgession for a religious Jew on Passover. The eighth day of Passover is the day which G-d split the Red Sea for the Hebrews who had an angry horde of charioted and mounted Egyptians chasing them on their heels. Since on this day there was such a great revelation of G-d in this natural world by miraculously intervening, it is believed by modern-day Jews that on this day G-d will not allow there to be a Jew who makes chametz by mistake. Therefore, many Jews make a point to make dishes which mix matzo and water.
I hope that was clear and understandable.
One of the most famous ashkenazaic dishes which is made on that day is matzo brie. Matzo brie comes out as a pie with a moist and inflated texture. It is made by soaking matzo in water in the morning. The you drain it and add other ingredients — whether it be onions or sugar, to be explained shortly — and formed and put into the oven. When it comes out, people just can’t get enough of it. It’s delicious. I’m having a hard time describing to you what the food looks and tastes like.
In my house, matzo brie is served in two distinct ways. Sweet and salty. The sweet recipe comes from my maternal grandmother who is of Hungarian origin. In school, whenever cole slaw served, on of my friends would put on sugar. He explained that that is how his grandmother would make cole slaw — with a lot of sugar — and she comes from Hungary. I derived from this that Hungarian cuisine tends to stress thee sweet tooth.
The salty recipe comes from my father’s mother, who is Ukranian. A prominent part of Russian and Ukranian cuisine can definitely be said to be salt. This is an insight into the influences of different ethnic origins and national tastes, which were in turn influenced by the abundant produce of the country.
This is one of those dishes that will only taste good if it was made on the day which it is supposed to be made. Meaning, if in middle of December time, one were to make this dish, not only would it not as satisfactory, but it may not even be appealing. That doesn’t mean that the dish isn’t good, it’s just that is the way the world works. Some things only work in the right setting with the right people. That’s the beauty of the holidays. It provides a utopia of the right setting with the right people in middle of the year which is generally mundane, and for some more than others it can be the wrong setting with the wrong people more often than not. Holidays — one of the best ideas G-d gave us.
munchwords 