Matzo them a denser texture than ordinary baked foods made with flour. Hasidic Jews do not cook with matzo, believing that mixing it with water may allow leavening; this stringency is known as "gebrochts". However, Jews who avoid eating "gebrochts" will eat cooked matzo dishes on the eighth day of Passover outside the Land of Israel, as the eighth day is of rabbinic and not Torah origin. Sephardim use matzo soaked in water or stock to make pies or lasagne, known as "mina", "méguena", "mayena" or . Communion wafers used by the Catholic Church as well as in some Protestant traditions
Jewish cuisine that is either baked, grilled, or deep fried. A popular dish among Ashkenazim, as amongst most Eastern-Europeans, is pierogi (which are related to but distinct from kreplach), often filled with minced beef. Kishka is a popular Ashkenazi dish traditionally made from beef intestine (casing) stuffed with flour or matzo meal, schmaltz and spices. The rendered fat of geese and chickens, known as schmaltz, is kept in readiness for cooking use when needed. Geribenes or "scraps," also called "griven," the cracklings left from the rendering process were one of the favorite foods in Eastern Europe. "Geribenes" is eaten spread on bread.