Gefilte fish

Commercially sold gefilte fish slices served with carrot and horseradish

Gefilte fish: whole stuffed & garnished fish

Gefilte fish (/ɡəˈfɪltə fɪʃ/; from Yiddish: געפֿילטע פֿיש, "stuffed fish") is an Ashkenazi Jewish dish made from a poached mixture of ground boned fish, such as carp, whitefish or pike, which is typically eaten as an appetizer.

Although the dish historically consisted of a minced-fish forcemeat stuffed inside the fish skin, as its name implies, since the 19th century the skin has commonly been omitted and the seasoned fish is formed into patties similar to quenelles or fish balls. They are popular on Shabbat and Holidays such as Passover, although they may be consumed throughout the year.

Preparation and serving

Traditionally, carp, pike, mullet, or whitefish were used to make gefilte fish, but more recently other fish with white flesh such as Nile Perch have been used, and there is a pink variation using salmon. There are even vegetarian variations.^[1]

Ingredients require selecting a fish (preferably a fresh water fish such as carp or whitefish) that is preferably at least 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) in weight.^[2] Also required are 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of brown cooking onions, salt, pepper, and 3 to 5 eggs. Up to 200 millilitres (6.8 US fl oz) of vegetable oil (traditionally sunflower oil) may also be added if the fish is lean.

The fish is deboned and the flesh mixed with ingredients, including bread crumbs or matza meal, and fried onion. Cooking takes as much as 3 hours in traditional recipes, although in modern recipes the cooking time is often briefer.

The resultant log-shaped mixture is sliced, and usually served cold or at room temperature. Often, each slice is topped with a slice of carrot, with a horseradish mixture called khreyn on the side.

Due to the general poverty of the Jewish population in Europe, the 'economic' recipe for the above also may have included extra ground and soaked matza meal or bread crumbs creating many more "spare" fish balls. This form of preparation eliminated the need for picking out fish bones at the table, and "stretched" the fish further, so that even poor, but often large, families could enjoy fish on Shabbat. Not only is picking bones religiously prohibited on the Sabbath, but many of the commonly used fish such as carp are exceptionally bony and difficult to eat easily in whole form.

Variations

Gefilte fish may be slightly sweet or savory. Preparation of gefilte fish with sugar or black pepper is considered an indicator of whether a Jewish community was Galitzianer (with sugar) or Litvak (with pepper), hence the boundary separating northern from southern East Yiddish has been dubbed "the Gefilte Fish Line".^[3]

Ready-to-serve

Gefilte fish: fish balls

Jars of Gefilte fish

The post-WW2 method of making gefilte fish commercially takes the form of patties or balls, or utilizes a wax paper casing around a "log" of ground fish, which is then poached or baked. This product is sold in cans and glass jars, and packed in jelly made from fish broth. Sodium is a relatively high 220–290 mg/serving. Low-salt, low-carb, low-cholesterol, sugar-free, and kosher varieties are available. The U.S. Patent #3,108,882 "Method for Preparing an Edible Fish Product" for this jelly, which allowed mass-market distribution of gefilte fish, was granted on October 29, 1963 to Monroe Nash.^[4] Gefilte fish are also sold frozen in 'logs'.

Symbolism

Among religiously observant Jews, gefilte fish has become a traditional Shabbat food to avoid borer, which is one of the 39 activities prohibited on Shabbat outlined in the Shulchan Aruch. Borer, literally "selection/choosing," would occur when one picks the bones out of the fish, taking "the chaff from within the food."^[5]

A less common belief is that fish are not subject to "ayin hara" ("evil eye") because they are submerged while alive, so that a dish prepared from several fish varieties brings good luck.^[6]

Fish is parve, neither milk nor meat, and according to kosher law, it may be eaten at both meat and dairy meals, although according to halakha fish and meat should not be eaten together.

See also

Media related to Gefilte fish at Wikimedia Commons

• Israeli cuisine
• Jewish cuisine
• Kamaboko

References

External links

• Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett: “Food and Drink”. In: The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, Yale University Press, New Haven 2008, p. 534, ISBN 978-0-300-11903-9
• Tamara Mann: “Gefilte Fish in America. A history of the Jewish fish product”. MyJewishLearning
• Claudia Roden:Gefilte Fish and the Jews. Jewish Heritage Online Magazine
• Haym Soloveitchik: “Rupture and Reconstruction. The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy”. In: Tradition, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Summer 1994)