Gefilte fish: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Gefilta Fish1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Gefilte fish slices served with carrot.]] |
[[Image:Gefilta Fish1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Gefilte fish slices served with carrot.]] |
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'''Gefilte fish''' ({{lang-yi|געפֿילטע פֿיש}}) are [[Poaching (cooking)|poached]] fish patties or balls made from a mixture of ground deboned fish, |
'''Gefilte fish''' ({{lang-yi|געפֿילטע פֿיש}}) are [[Poaching (cooking)|poached]] fish patties or balls made from a mixture of ground deboned fish, mostly [[carp]] ([[common carp]]). They are popular in the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] [[Jew]]ish community. |
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==Preparation and serving== |
==Preparation and serving== |
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Revision as of 07:59, 6 January 2008
Gefilte fish (Yiddish: געפֿילטע פֿיש) are poached fish patties or balls made from a mixture of ground deboned fish, mostly carp (common carp). They are popular in the Ashkenazi Jewish community.
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 paste along with eggs, onions and flour meal or matzoh meal and then stuffed back into the skin of the deboned fish, giving it the name gefilte (filled or stuffed, compare the German gefüllte). The whole stuffed fish is then poached with carrots and onions. When prepared this way, it is usually served in slices. In this way, not only could the work of picking fish bones at the table be avoided, but the quantity of fish could be extended by the added ingredients, so that each member of a family could receive a portion even if the family could not afford a large quantity of fish.
In much modern preparation, including commercial preparation, gefilte is not stuffed inside of a fish skin. Nowadays, the ground fish mixture is shaped into balls or thick patties and poached in a fish stock made from the head and bones of the deboned fish. The poached balls are usually chilled and often served with a 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.
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 slightly sweet or savory. Preparation of gefilte with either sugar or black pepper is considered by scholars as an indicator of whether a Jewish community was culturally Galitzianer or Litvak respectively. [1] Traditionally, locally available fish such as carp, pike, 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 even a pink variation using salmon. Since much of Eastern Europe is located far from the sea, the traditional fish were all fresh water varieties.
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.
Commercial gefilte fish varieties often come packaged in either cans or glass jars, and are packed in jelly made from fish broth. The US Patent "Method for Preparing an Edible Fish Product" for this jelly, which allowed mass-market distribution of gefilte fish, was granted in October, 1963 to Monroe Nash. [2]
There is even a vegetarian type of gefilte fish. [3]
Symbolism
Some people believe that gefilte fish has become a traditional food to avoid 'borer ("selection/choosing"), which is one of the 39 categories of activity prohibited on Shabbat outlined in the Shulchan Aruch. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Others say that fish are not subject to ayin hara ("evil eye"), so that a dish prepared from several fish varieties brings good luck. In the Bible, fish are symbolic of fertility: 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.' " [4]
Fish is parve, neither milk nor meat, and may be eaten at both meat and dairy meals (although some Orthodox Jews avoid eating fish and meat on the same plate).
See also
References
- ^ Marks, Gil. Something's fishy in the State of Israel, Orthodox Union website. Accessed March 30, 2006.
- ^ Blech, Rabbi Zushe. The Fortunes of a Fish, Kashrut.com website. Accessed March 30, 2006.
- ^ Shulman, Adi and Israel, Shoshana. The gefilte story, SomethingJewish website, June 25, 2004. Accessed March 30, 2006
- ^ Blech, Rabbi Zushe. Fishing for Answers, Kashrus Magazine, February 2001. Accessed March 30, 2006.