matzo vs. table water crackers

Is there any difference?
The taste, the texture — they seem identical.

 

Wait, where did you find matzoh with taste?

 

I want to say that all the matzo i ever ate was thicker than table water crackers, but maybe not.

maybe more textured.

 

Depends if its plain, egg or whole wheat matzoh.
I think Manschevitz has started making flavored Matzoh crackers as well.

 

I've never had whole wheat matzo.
I've had the egg matzo, but the comparison I was considering was the plain matzo and table-water crackers.
I'm on vacation from the newspaper after Friday. I'm going to conduct a taste test.

 

I love matzo. Matzo bry (fried matzo is unbelievable when done the right way). Can't tell you how many Pesachs I spent stuffing my face with mustard-covered matzo or pounds-of-butter-covered matzo, or matzo sandwiches with salami or turkey, etc. The matzo bry was the best. Quick recipe: break up lots of matzo (not all the same size; some large pieces and some small) and dip into egg batter, salt and pepper and any other spice you look, put into a frying pan with oil and cook for 10-15 minutes so that some of the pieces are still crispy and the rest is somewhat like scrambled-eggs consistency.

As for the find-the-afikomen game ... the afikomen is the round matzo that symbolizes (OK, I'm a bad Jew and I forget the whole symbolism, but it's something about wandering in the desert; then again, aren't all historical Jew stories about our travails in the desert?). Anyway, one of the parents hides the afikomen, and the kids in the house go running around looking for it. The winner gets a prize or something.

 

Are table water crackers kosher? I guess now one would have until the first day of passover to find a brand that is, since Purim just happened.

(Here I am, a dirrty Gentile rattling off Jewish holidays.)

 

Streitz matzoh and Yehuda matzoh have a slightly better taste than Manaschewitz matzoh.

For my matzoh brie I do it differently than the vast majority of my fellow jews do it. I take 1 egg, just enough milk to surround the yolk, a dash of vanilla, and cinnamon . Mix them together in a bowl. Break four or five pieces of matzoh into the batter. Or simplifed - take your favorite french toast batter and substitute crushed matzoh for the bread. Fry it up like scrambled eggs until its just slightly moist.

 

Another question, for a food to be kosher, does it have to be prepared under a rabbi's direct supervision, meaning there is always a rabbi on the premises during production?
Or does the rabbi just make regular inspection visits?

 

Please note:
I will neither confirm nor deny reports that I am leaving journalism to open a kosher cracker shop.

 

There is nothing good about matzoh. Passover is like 8 days of pouring cement in my intestines.

 

Different answer depending on which group's hecksher (kosher marking) is on the package.
Some have direct supervision from a rabbi, some have regular rabbi inspections, others just go with periodic rabbi inspections.

That's why some synagogues will have a rabbi that will say one (or more) kosher symbols aren't allowed in the synagogue -- because that group/organization doesn't meet certain standards. For instance there's one kosher symbol referred to as 'Tablet K' (or 'Ten Commandments K') - it's a K in the middle of two 10 commandments tablets. The rabbi at my synagogue won't allow those products in the synagogue because that certifying group/rabbi is lax in follow-up visits.

There's this article http://www.kashrusmagazine.com/ksg/Old%20and%20deleted/ksg_index.html
about kosher supervision
and this list of many of the agencies/groups that certify kosher http://www.kashrut.com/agencies/
(however for some reason this morning the symbols aren't coming up on the website when a few weeks ago they were)