Siman 212

The sages taught in the Mishnah (44a): "This is the rule: Whenever there is a primary food and with it a secondary food—one recites the blessing over the primary food and exempts the secondary food." And there are two types of secondary status: the first is a mixed secondary food and the second is a secondary food that is not mixed. How so for a mixed secondary food: behold, if they cooked two things as one and they eat them as one, such as when they cook legumes with groats or groats with potatoes which they call "kartofles" or "bulbes." And behold, if there is in this something whose blessing is "mezonot," such as "lokshen," "farfel," and types of groats—oat, barley, or pearl groats—even if they are the minority, their blessing is "mezonot," for anything that contains from the five species, even if they are a small amount, they become the primary food due to their importance, and one recites over the entire cooked dish "borei minei mezonot," except if they were not put into the pot for the purpose of eating but merely for binding, or if one mixed the flour in water until it became soft and it is a drink and not a food, and its blessing is "shehakol." But regarding other types of two species—one follows the majority, as I wrote in siman 208, and there it was explained that rice, even though its blessing is "mezonot," nevertheless does not have the importance of the five species to be considered the primary food when it is the minority, and behold it is like other foods where one follows the majority.

And one should not ask according to this regarding our practice where we cook cooked foods with meat and we recite over the cooked food its specific blessing and over the meat "shehakol," that one of them should be the primary and the second the secondary. For this is not a question, as with a mixed secondary component, the concept of primary and secondary only applies when one eats them together, such as when one cooks groats with legumes or with potatoes where one takes both this and that in one spoon, and then even if only one species is taken in the spoon, it is also secondary. But the meat is eaten on its own, either before the cooked food or after it; this is not primary and secondary. And the same law applies if he picked the potatoes out of the cooked food and eats them on their own—he recites over them "borei peri ha'adamah" if the blessing of the cooked food is "mezonot" or "shehakol," and likewise conversely with meat, when he cut it into small pieces and eats them together with the cooked food—they become nullified and secondary to the cooked food, and similarly with all things. And it is simple that all this deals with when one eats cooked food and meat not during a meal, for if he eats them during a meal—they are all secondary to the bread, and the blessing of "hamotzi" exempts them according to the law of things that come during a meal which the bread exempts, as I wrote in siman 177, see there. And likewise, dough filled with fruits or with eggs or with cheese, such as our types of fried items—the dough is the primary and there is no need for a blessing over the filling, even if he eats a little of the filling on its own. However, if he takes the filling from them and eats them and does not eat the primary at all now—it is simple that he recites over the secondary the blessing appropriate to it, because at this moment it is not secondary but primary, and similarly in all cases of a mixed primary and secondary.

An accompaniment that is not mixed, how so? For example, one who eats salty fish and takes an onion for this to sweeten the saltiness, and eats the salty food and afterward the onion—he does not need a berakhah on the onion. But if he eats the onion first, even though his intention is to sweeten the salty food that he will eat afterward—nevertheless, he must recite 'ha-adamah' on the onion. For the general rule regarding a primary food and an accompaniment that is not mixed is: if he eats the accompaniment first—it is not called an accompaniment and requires a berakhah for itself; and similarly, it is necessary that at the time he eats the primary food, his mind should be on the accompaniment. But if his mind was not on the accompaniment at all, but rather after eating the primary food his heart felt weak and he takes the accompaniment—he must recite a berakhah on the accompaniment for itself. And it appears to me that in such a case, even if the accompaniment is the same berakhah as the primary food, for example, if he drank brandy and his heart felt weak and he takes cheese to strengthen the heart, where both of their berakhot are 'she-hakol', nevertheless, since at the time of the drinking his mind was not on eating the cheese—he must recite 'she-hakol' on the cheese for itself, and similarly in all such matters.

This is the wording of our teacher, the Rema, in section 1: "This matter of blessing on the primary food and exempting the secondary food applies when one eats them together or eats the primary food first. But if one eats the secondary food first, such as when one wishes to drink and wishes to eat first so as not to drink on an empty stomach, or when one eats cherry pits to sweeten the drink (that follows) — one blesses on the food first even though it is secondary to the drink. And one only blesses 'shehakol' upon it, since it is secondary to another thing." Thus far his words. And we have learned from his words that even though a blessing is required on the secondary food when one eats it first, nevertheless its blessing is only 'shehakol' if the blessing of the primary food is 'shehakol' (Magen Avraham, subsection 4), meaning that one blesses on the secondary food and consequently does not require a blessing on the primary food. And there is one who wishes to say that even if the blessing of the primary food is not 'shehakol', nevertheless one only blesses 'shehakol' on the secondary food even if it has another blessing, for since it is secondary, the primary blessing is removed from it, and afterwards one blesses the appropriate blessing on the primary food (Terumat HaDeshen), but this is not clear (Magen Avraham, ibid.). And know that there are those who wrote that if the secondary food is always more beloved to him — he blesses on the secondary food in any case (Taz, end of subsection 7 and Eliyah Rabbah). And this is two opposites in one subject, for if it is beloved to him it is not secondary, and if it is secondary it is not beloved to him (and the law is true, except that in such a case the status of 'secondary' is nullified from it, and in section 6 this will be further explained).

There are times when even bread, which is more important than everything, is nevertheless secondary. This is the wording of our teacher, the Beit Yosef, in section 1: "And even bread, which is more important than all, if it is secondary, such as when one eats salty fish and eats bread with it so that it will not harm his throat—he recites the blessing over the fish and exempts the bread since it is secondary." Thus far his words. That is to say, he does not desire the eating of bread at all, and since the essence of his eating is not for the sake of the bread—he does not recite a blessing over it (Magen Avraham, subsection 2, in the name of the students of our teacher, the Yonah). And according to this, when one desires to drink brandy and prepares for himself a bit of bread or a small roll to restore the heart, and his primary desire is not for their eating, he recites over the brandy 'shehakol' and exempts them. And know that it is certain that any secondary item is only a small eating to restore the heart or so that it will not harm his throat, and then the secondary item requires neither an initial blessing nor a final blessing. But when one eats a lot—it is not relevant to call it secondary, and therefore all who fear G-d prevent themselves from taking even any amount of bread or any amount of a roll as a secondary item after drinking a bit of brandy in the way of the world, for who can measure this.

Our teacher, the Rema, wrote: "And some say if the subordinate item is dear to him—he recites the blessing over it and afterwards recites the blessing over the primary item." Thus far his words. And we have already wondered in section 4 that if it is dear to him, it is surely not subordinate, and it must be said that this is according to the interpretation of the Rosh that we brought in siman 211, that "dear" is defined as what is always dear to him, see there, and according to this it can be said that now it is not dear to him and therefore it is subordinate. However, since it is always dear to him, it therefore requires a blessing of its own, and the primary item does not exempt it if its blessing is not like the blessing of the primary item (and so wrote the Graz in section 9; and what he wrote further on this, as well as several things he wrote in this siman, have not been clarified to me, see there and examine carefully).

It is simple that when one soaks bread in brandy, or a fine loaf, or lekach and tart, even though his intention is for the brandy absorbed within it—nevertheless, they are the primary and the brandy is secondary, and he blesses 'Hamotzi' and requires netilat yadayim, or he blesses 'Mezonot' and exempts the brandy absorbed within it; and so too when one soaks it in wine or in other liquids. And there is one who distinguishes between before the meal, when he then blesses over the bread, and after the meal (Magen Avraham end of subsection 3), but in my humble opinion there is no distinction in this, for if it is during the meal, behold he does not require a blessing, and if it is after Birkat HaMazon, for us 'Shehakol' is considered within the meal as I wrote in siman 177, and certainly even then the bread is primary and it requires further study, and we have never seen anyone who would do so after Birkat HaMazon and it is proper to avoid this. And if he desires the liquid after Birkat HaMazon, he should drink the liquid alone and bless over it.

Our teacher, the Beit Yosef, wrote in section 2: "A preserve that is placed upon thin wafers, those wafers are subordinate to the preserve, for it is a known matter that they do not intend to eat bread" Thus far his words, for they come only to hold the preserve upon them so that the hands do not become soiled with honey. Nevertheless, if one ate the preserve by itself and afterwards eats the wafers - he must recite 'mezonot' over them since he made them the primary element (Taz subsection 8). However, in our times this is not common, and they attach the preserve to the wafers in order to give flavor to the wafers (Magen Avraham subsection 5), and therefore the wafers are the primary element and the preserve is subordinate and one recites only 'borei minei mezonot', and such is the law regarding lekach. And know that there is a type of preserve in certain places called ingberlach, where they fry cinnamon with nuts and almonds, and it depends which of them is the primary element. And if they mix farferlach into them and their intention is only for binding alone - one recites 'ha'adamah', and if not, one recites 'mezonot'.