Matzoh Brei
Matzoh brei (rhymes with "eye") is Jewish comfort food, a distant cognate of French toast. It's a natural for breakfast, and also a quickly-made late-night snack. Our recipe is based on one from Ratner's, a vintage New York deli (1905-2004) that served dairy products but no meat. We've added sour cream and upped the amount of butter used because it is impossible to use too much butter when making matzoh brei.
Ingredients
- 6-8 whole matzohs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 6 tbsp butter
Method
- Crush matzohs very coarsely in a large bowl. Do not crumble. Pieces should be about the size of playing cards. Fill the bowl with water and immediately drain all the water out. You want the matzoh pieces damp but not soaked.
- Stir in eggs, salt and pepper, crushing the matzoh more as you stir so that you get a variety of pieces from crumbles to matchbook-size.
- Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Add the matzoh mixture and gently flatten it out in the pan with a spatula. Dot the top of the mixture with the remaining butter. When underside is golden brown, flip the large pancake. It’s OK if it breaks up as you flip it; in fact, we believe in breaking it up and stirring the semi-cooked matzoh around in the pan (with more butter, of course). When it is mostly browned, it is ready to serve.
- Serve hot with sour cream and/or apple sauce.
Discuss
What do you think of Matzoh Brei?