Since yesterday was a fast day, I thought it would be refreshing to dedicate this post to food, and not just food, but the much-touted (or in some cases, avoided) Jewish culinary classic: Gefilte fish. Gefilte is Yiddish for “stuffed” but I am not quite sure why this is called “stuffed” fish, since, for this, I have an image of a whole flounder stuffed with a fancy salmon mixture. In any case, gefilte fish was invented to avoid transgressing the prohibition of separating undesirable from desirable things on Shabbat (in this case, fish bones from fish meat). Therefore, someone had the brilliant idea of removing the bones from the fish before Shabbat, grinding the tiny bones and the meat finely, and combining the ground fish with eggs, matzo meal, salt and pepper (I am sorry I can’t provide a more specific recipe than this. I’m still searching) rolling the mixture into balls and boiling it in water. Gefilte fish is traditionally served with a carrot slice on top and a chraine or a combination of horseradish and beets to take the edge off the fishiness.
Prepared gefilte fish comes in many forms. Perhaps the most familiar is the type found at the supermarket. This gefilte fish is packed in a jar and is surrounded by a kind of jelly substance. Many people try this variety and think they don’t like gefilte fish, whereas others love it. For those who are unimpressed with this type of gefilte fish, may I introduce you to frozen gefilte fish logs.
For Shabbat, many people serve gefilte fish unthawed from “logs.” These “logs” are boiled in hot water and then the pieces are sliced off. The texture is firm and the taste is less fishy than the jarred variety. Some people bread and deep fry their gefilte fish patties (I’ve only see this once) or smother the slices with tomato or sweet and sour sauce.
The winner hands-down,I think, is homemade gefilte fish, and my mother-in-law makes the best. Next time I see her, I’ll get the recipe and publish it here! I tried making it but stopped because it made my food processor smell fishy. However, you can find pre-ground kosher fish for your gefilte fish.