Eat this!
Not that.
The first and only thing you need to know about gefilte fish
is that it’s nothing like the water-logged fish balls that come out of a Manischewitz jar. Nothing. Not even close.
The gefilte fish my grandmother used to make was a taste of heaven (as in, Oy! G-d in heaven forbid that I shouldn’t make The Fish this year. )
I remember The Fish: tender little oval mounds, mild in flavor, with sweet overtones of carrot and onion, a Jewish holiday delicacy served on fine china with a beet-red blast of horseradish. The combination would seem an incongruous affront to the palate, but the full effect shot through the nose straight to the brain, inducing tears and awakening every nerve in the body.
Eat gefilte fish made in the tradition of Jewish grandmothers,
and you know you’re alive.
"So what can I bring for dinner?"
Last Sunday I get a call from my nephew in Chicago. He’s hosting 18 for a Passover Seder and wants the recipe for gefilte fish. . . . "just like his great grandmother used to make." I describe in excruciating detail how I make gefilte fish, "just like mama's." Ten minutes later I get a call from my son’s fiance, J, who’s coming to Seder at D’s. In good-guest mode, she asks D what to bring, and instead of the prerequisite
potato kugel or
sponge cake, he reasons it’s time to initiate her into the compulsion of our family-style cooking and suggests, “How ‘bout The Fish?”
Wow, how 'bout that Fish?
With half the kitchen tools she needs still in her Bridal Registry, J takes on The Fish with high heart. Jumping all too eagerly into the role of future mom-in-law, I “kvel” at her initiative. Thrilled to engage her in Talmudic-length discussions of All Things Fish, we cover the history and significance of the dish, the wisdom of using pike over pickerel, and the various idiosyncrasies of preparation.
“Avoid all recipes that begin with the biblical words, like On the First Day, I advise, “And don’t forget the paprika.” Yadda, yadda, Jerry-Seinfeld-style, what a fuss we make. When it’s all said and done, gefilte fish is a basic dumpling.
Here's what you do:
You go to a fish market.
You order white fish, whole.
You ask the fishmonger to gut, clean, grind, etc.
You take the heads and tails to make the stock or
You leave the mess of ‘em at the store and use chicken stock.
You take onions and carrots.
You chop ‘em fine for the fish mixture.
You slice ‘em nice for the stock.
You simmer the stock.
You mix eggs into the fish, don’t ask me how many.
You add matzoh meal, don’t ask me how much.
You salt and pepper to taste (who tastes raw fish??)
You add a little sugar (who measures?)
You put your hands into the bowl, pat and shape the mixture into ovals the size of your palms.
You plop them into the stock.
You cover and simmer until ...
You’re done.
That’s it. I didn’t learn this “recipe” at my grandmother’s knee. I know it by heart. Once a year, only on Passover, I call upon the spirit of Sarah Kaplan Tracht, of blessed memory. I make gefilte fish, by texture, taste and feel, by tradition and ritual, by mixing ingredients that evoke the delicious magic of her kitchen.
For those who insist on cooking with recipes, may I suggest a higher authority?
- Joan Nathan: Jewish Cooking in America Classic Gefilte Fish Recipe at Epicurious.com
- Mark Bittman: The Best Recipes in the World The Best Recipes In The World (page 36)
- Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food Salon Taste
Passover begins at sundown April 18th.
In households that keep a kitchen "kosher for Passover," this week is the time for reckoning with all things "chametz" (leavened food). Any form of wheat, oats, barley, rye or spelt, all bread, cereal and pasta, every grain of rice, all cookies and pastry, even beer must be consumed, donated or otherwise banished from the cupboards before the holiday. Passover baking calls for matzo meal or matzo flour. Lots of eggs and nuts go into the holiday meals as compensation for leavening and flour. Now there's a culinary challenge for you, not to mention a gastrointestinal complexity. There are some things I believe in deeply. Preparing the seder feast, yes! Cleaning cupboards? Not so much. That's one holiday tradition I
prefer to, uh... pass over.
Happy Passover. (And do try The Fish!)
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Art James
STATHI STATHI
Sarah Fister Gale
Shannon Kelley
Tiffany Brubeck
Diane Barth
Salon.com
Comments
Peeling... who measures, indeed!
♥R
I won't even try to cook this. Not because ti doesn't look appetizing, it really does, but because it's one of those things that you just need to know how to make.
I cannot even imagine Puerto Ricans giving up rice, not even for a day, they'll just go insane.
We did eat a lot of fish at my house, especially at what we call Holy Week, and come Thursday I'd make an obscene amount of pickled fish (?) that would last until Saturday. I just checked my translator, it says "pickling brine", so fish in pickling brine.
For all of Lent, fish every Friday. Though I am an islander I do not care much for fish. (or maybe I'm just turned off by cooking)
about gefilte, which I cannot possibly pronounce, what comes to mind are Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rPCGXZ60h8
(my sincere apologies)
I promise to try some, if I find a person to cook it.
And yes, a cover piece, Skc be damned.
Oh so good to hear from you. Will have to watch the video.
As for pronunciation: guh-fil-tah. I believe it translates from the German word gefulte meaning stuffed (the classic recipe calls for the mixture to be wrapped back into the fish skin... but no, that has little appeal to me, or anyone for that matter.)
Granted, gefilte fish is an acquired taste... you have to prepare it and serve it with love.
Happy Passover!
I still won't eat it.
Instead, why is this not on the cover with an EP?????
Thanks for dropping in... Southern food sensibilities definitely welcome.
By the way -- 0f subject, but anyway... seeing your icon/avatar makes me want to paint one myself. I have yet to take up brushes... but branching out, who knows?
Gefilte fish gefilte fish,
The more you eat the more you pish,
The more you pish,
The more you wish
You never ate gefilte fish.