Gefilte fish

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Gefilte fish, (Hebrew/Yiddish: געפילטע פיש) is a ground de-boned fish recipe using a variety of kosher fish meat that is then made into fish balls, popular with people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

Formally, it is a type of quenelle, a delicately flavored patty made of lightly seasoned ground fish or white meat. Similar dishes exist in many cultures in local recipes bland or spicy, served plain or sauced, and cooked in simple broth or as part of an elaborate fish stew.

1 Preparation and serving
2 Variations
3 Influence of Judaism's traditions
4 References
5 External link

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Preparation and serving

In traditional recipes for gefilte fish, the fish is first deboned, often while still at the market. Next, the fish is ground into a fine paste and boiled with carrots and onions. It is then stuffed into a whole fish, giving it the name gefilte (filled or stuffed, compare the German gefüllte). When prepared this way, it may be served in slices of the whole fish with the "gefilte" stuffing in the center.

In much modern preparation, including commercial preparation, the whole fish stuffing step is (somewhat ironically) omitted. Common home preparation now is often in cooking parchment, removed after cooking, and the ground fish mixture served in balls or thick patties. They are usually chilled and served with a sweetened horseradish-vinegar sauce known as chrain (of which there are two varieties— "red" chrain and "white" chrain, that is, mixed with or without red beet) or with plain, ground horseradish.

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Variations

As a dish of homemade origin, gefilte fish preparation varies widely by locality, ethnicity, and from cook to cook, even among commercial varieties. The paste may be so finely ground as to form a dense patty of almost cheeselike texture, or may be as coarse as a traditional poultry stuffing.

Gefilte fish can be either sweet (generally among Jews of German, Austro-Hungarian and Polish descent) or seasoned with salt and pepper (common among Jews of Russian and Ukrainian descent). Traditionally, locally cheap fish such as carp, pike, or whitefish were used to make gefilte fish, but more recently other fish with white flesh have been used, and there is even a pink variation using salmon.

Especially in commercial varieties, traditionalists may prefer gefilte fish with a high content of the more richly (and "fishy") flavored carp, an inexpensive and prolific fresh-water fish closely related to the Japanese koi and common goldfish. However, those who prefer a milder taste, even to the point of blandness, look for preparations high in pike and whitefish, with little or no carp.

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Influence of Judaism's traditions

According to the traditions of Judaism, one reason that has been given for the eating of gefilte fish on Shabbat is to avoid the picking of bones when eating the fully prepared fish balls, thus avoiding borer ("selection/choosing"), one of the 39 categories of activity prohibited on Shabbat derived from the Torah as outlined in the Mishnah. Were fishbones to be present they would pose the problem of doing Borer.<ref>Marks, Gil. Something's fishy in the State of Israel, Orthodox Union website. Accessed March 30, 2006.</ref> <ref> Blech, Rabbi Zushe. The Fortunes of a Fish, Kashrut.com website. Accessed March 30, 2006.</ref> <ref>Shulman, Adi and Israel, Shoshana. The gefilte story, SomethingJewish website, June 25, 2004. Accessed March 30, 2006</ref> <ref>Blech, Rabbi Zushe. Fishing for Answers, Kashrus Magazine, February 2001. Accessed March 30, 2006.</ref>

Another reason for using a variety of gefilte fish is that fish are viewed as not being subject to the ayin hara ("evil eye") and it is therefore meritorious to eat as many varieties of fish to symbolically connect with the spiritual qualities represented by fish. In Genesis 48:15-16 Jacob blesses Joseph and his sons by saying: "[Jacob] gave Joseph a blessing. He said, 'The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, is the God who has been my Shepherd from as far back as I can remember until this day, [sending] an angel to deliver me from all evil. May He bless the lads, and let them carry my name, along with the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. May they increase in the land like fish.' " [1] Thus fish are esteemed as the symbol of fertility and fruitfulness.

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