Gefilte Fish
Pat Gold
make gefilte fiish today and how gefilte
fish was made before we had the food processor. The first recipe is the
way I remember my grandmother
made her gefilte fish. The second recipe, which is in 2 parts and takes
you by the hand through each step
was written in 1992 and uses the food processor. It is much the same,
ingredient wise as the older recipe
but excludes stuffing the fish into the fish skin.
The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook (1952)
Gefilte Fish
(Basic Recipe)
Yield: Serves 6
3 pounds fish (use pike and carp or pike and whitefish)
Salt, as required
2 large onions, sliced
2 eggs
1/4 cup matzo meal or breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
About 1/8 teaspoon pepper
About 2 tablespoons cold water
1 stalk celery, diced
1 large carrot, sliced
Cold water to cover
Chopped parsley
Sliced: Cut fish into 2-inch slices. Carefully remove flesh and bones
without breaking skins. (If desired,
bones may be left attached to each cut of skin.) Salt the skins and
bones and place in a covered bowl in
refrigerator while preparing filling. Put the flesh and 1 onion through
a food chopper, then place in a wooden
chopping bowl and chop until smooth. Add eggs, matzo meal or
breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper to
taste, and enough cold water to make a light soft mixture. Blend
thoroughly. Wet hands with cold water.
Form oval cakes of mixture and fit them into skins. Place head bones
and any other bones in the bottom of
a deep heavy kettle. Add remaining onion, celery, carrot, and cold
water to cover. Cover kettle and bring to
a quick boil. Remove cover. Reduce heat and cook at a very slow boil
1-1/2 to 2 hours. The liquid should
be reduced by half. Allow to cool slightly before removing fish to a
platter carefully so as to retain shape.
Serve warm or thoroughly chilled, garnished with sliced, cooked carrot
and chopped parsley. If served cold,
use the jellied sauce as a garnish. Serve with prepared horseradish.
Variations: Two slices of white bread may be substituted for matzo
meal, or breadcrumbs. Soak the bread
in cold water and squeeze out. If bread is used it may not be necessary
to moisten the chopped fish mixture
with cold water. If desired, one raw carrot may be grated and added to
fish miixture. (This cannot be used
for Passover.)
Balls: Shape the prepared fish mixture into balls. Place the skin and
bones in the bottom of kettle before
adding vegetables and fish balls. Cook as in basic recipe.
Whole: Do not section the fish. Fillet the fish, being careful not to
break skin and to leave head and tail
intact. Prepare filling as in basic recipe. Fill the whole skins with
this mixture shaping to look natural. Use a
deep, oval pot and place the fish on a trivet over the vegetables in the
pot. Cover with cold water and bring
slowly to boiling point. Cook at a slow boil for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Baked gefilte fish: Prepare as in basic recipe. If stuffed whole,
place in well-greased baking pan. Sprinkle
witih breadcrumbs. Dot with butter. Bake in hot overn (425 degrees)
until done, about 1 hour. If desired
shape into small patties, roll in fine crumbs and bake in moderate oven
(375 degrees) 12 to 15 minutes.
Fried gefilte fish: Form the prepared mixture into small patties. Roll
in fine crumbs and fry until done.
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The New Complete International Jewish Cookbook
Evelyn Rose (1992)
Gefilte Fish
Gefilte fisih was originally a fish 'forcemeat' made from a variety of
chopped or minced freshwater fish, which
was used to stuff the skin of a carp. The whole fish was then poached
in a flavoured fish stock, which jellied
when it was cold.
Today we make a similar mixture but (at least in the UK and the USA) use
mainly sea fish and put balls of
this mixture directly in the stock to poach instead of stuffing it into
the fish. These balls can also be fried in
the same way as fish fillets or steaks, or poached in a sweet and sour
tomato sauce in the Sephardi fashion.
Today many fish mongers will mince fish to order. Otherwise I would
strongly recommend using the food
processor instead.
I find that 2 lb. (900 g) is the minimum of fish worth processing, and 6
lb (2.75 kg) the maximum that can be
easily handled by one person at a time. Do not process the fish longer
than stated in the recipe, or you will
end up with pureed rather than chopped fish balls. To get the best
results, allow the matzah meal to swell in
the egg and onion puree before adding to the fish. If you are short of
time, the fish mix can be refrigerated
overnight and then shaped and cooked or frozen the next day. I do not
advise freezing the fish mix without
shaping it as it takes so long to defrost.
Equal quantities of haddock and cod make a tasty and relatively
economical mixture. However, when small
fillets of hake are available at a reasonable price, they can be used
instead ..... they do give the fish a
superior flavour and texture.
Gefilte Fish Mix
Keeps 3 days under refrigeration.
Freeze 3 months raw or cooked.
To make 36 to 40 patties or balls:
3 lb. (1.5 kg) hake fillet, skinned
3 lb. (1.5 kg) haddock fillet, skinned
or
3 lb. (1.5 kg) haddock fillet, skinned
3 lb. (1.5 kg) cod fillet, skinned
3 medium onions, peeled
6 eggs
6 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons white pepper
6 teaspoons sugar or granular sweetener
3 tablespoons oil
6 oz (175 g/1-1/2 cups) medium matzah meal
To make 12 to 14 patties or balls:
1 lb. (450 g) hake fillet, skinned
1 lb. (450 g) haddock fillet, skinned
or
1 lb (450 g) haddock fillet, skinned
1 lb. (450 g) cod fillet, skinned
1 medium onion, peeled
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
Pinch of white pepper
2 teaspoons sugar or granular sweetner
1 tablespoon oil
2 oz. (50 g/1/2 cup) medium matzah meal
Wash and salt the fish and leave to drain. Cut the onion in 1-inch (2.5
cm) chunks and put into the food
processor, together with the eggs, seasoning and oil, then process until
reduced to a smooth puree. (If you
wish to make the larger quantity using a processor of standard - 1-1/2
pints (850 ml/3-3/4 cups - liquid
capacity, you will need to do this in 2 batches, using 3 eggs and 1-1/2
onions each time - all the seasonings
can go into 1 batch to avoid complicated arithmetic!) Pour this puree
into a large bowl and stir in the matzah
meal, then leave to swell.
Cut the fish into 1-inch (2.5 cm) chunks and put in the processor,
half-filling the bowl each time. Process for
5 seconds, until the fish is finely chopped, then add to the egg and
onion puree and blend in using a large
fork. Repeat until all the fish has been processed, then mix thoroughly
- if preparing a large quantity, this is
most easily done with the widespread fingers of one hand. The mixture
should be firm enough to shape into
a soft patty or ball. If it feels too 'cloggy', rinse out the processor
bowl with 1 or 2 tablespoons of water and
stir that in. If it feels very soft, stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons of
meal. Leave for half an hour, or overnight (under
refrigeration) if preferred.
To shape, dip the hands into cold water and form the mixture into
patties about 2-1/2 inches (7 cm) long, 1-
1/2 inches (4 cm) wide and 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick, or into balls the size
of a small apple. The fish can now be
cooked or frozen raw.
To freeze raw: Arrange the patties or balls side by side on a tray
lined with greaseproof paper or foil. When
the tray is full, cover with a layer of paper or foil and make another
layer on top. Put the tray, uncovered, in
the freezer for 2 hours until the patties are firm to the touch. They
can now be packed, 12 in a plastic bag,
or they can be individually over-wrapped in plasticwrap to make it easy
to remove a few at a time.
To defrost: Lay the frozen patties side by side on a board. Leave
either overnight in the refrigerator, or from
1 to 3 hours at room temperature, until they are soft all the way
through.
Traditional Platter of Gefilte Fish
Makes 12 to 14 balls.
Serves 8 to 10.
Keeps 3 days under refrigeration.
Freeze 3 months (freeze fish balls and the stock in separate containers)
Gefilte fish can be poached in the microwave but the flavovur is
undoubtedly superior if it is simmered slowly
on top of the stove in the traditional way. If you freeze the dish, you
will need to restore the 'jell' to the stock
when you are ready to use it. To do this, pour the stock into a pan,
bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute,
then cool and pour it over the fish. I do think the fish has a better
texture if freshly poached, however, so I
usually freeze the uncooked balls, then defrost them in the refrigerator
overnight and poach them as though
they were newly prepared. It is as well to order the head, skin and
bones in advance.
2 lb. quantity Gefilte Fish mix (see above)
For the stock:
1 cleaned hake or haddock head, skin and bones from the fish
2 level teaspoons salt
water to cover the bones
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) thick
2 level teaspoons sugar
The dish looks more attractive if the fish is shaped into balls rather
than patties. To get the maximum
flavour, first simmer the head, skin and bones of the fish with the salt
and cold water to cover, for 30
minutes, then remove the skin and bones (leave in the head as this helps
the stock to jell). Add the onion,
carrots, sugar and balls of fish. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat
low, cover the pan and simmer for 1-1/2
hours. Uncover and simmer for a further 30 minutes to concentrate the
stock. Lift out the balls and arrange
them on a platter, topping each fish ball with a slice of carrot. Pour
the stock through a strainer over the
fish, then chill overnight before serving.