Homemade gefilte fish

Gefilte fish slices served with carrot

Gefilte fish (Yiddish: געפֿילטע פֿיש) (English: filled fish) 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1750x1500, 1151 KB) A plate of gefilte fish. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1750x1500, 1151 KB) A plate of gefilte fish. ... Yiddish ( yidish or idish, literally: Jewish) is a non-territorial Germanic language, spoken throughout the world and written with the Hebrew alphabet. ... Diego Velázquez: Old woman poaching eggs, c. ... {{Otheruses Carp: Committee supporting Petanacs reconstruction in Huehuetenago, Guatemala} see http://carp. ... Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) The Common carp or European carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a widespread freshwater fish distantly related to the common goldfish (Carassius auratus), with which it is capable of interbreeding[1]. It gives its name to the carp family Cyprinidae. ... Language(s) Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, English Religion(s) Judaism Related ethnic groups Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Standard Hebrew: sing. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ...

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 together with eggs, onions and flour, matzoh meal or challah, and then stuffed 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. This form of preparation eliminated the need for picking fish bones at the table and stretched the fish further, so that even poor families could enjoy fish on the Sabbath. Matza (also Matzoh, Matzah, Matzo, Hebrew מַצָּה maṣṣā), an unleavened bread, is the official food of Passover. ... Challah on a tray, sprinkled with sesame seeds [[Image:Strucla sweet bread0 .jpg|thumb|245px|Strucla, a sweet bread from Central Europe similar to the challah]] Challah, hallah (חלה), also known in different parts of the Jewish world as barches (German and western Yiddish), Berches (Swabian), barkis (Gothenburg), bergis (Stockholm), khale...

In the present, gefilte fish are more commonly found in patty form. The ground fish mixture is shaped into balls or oval patties and poached in a fish stock made from the head and bones of the fish. The poached balls are usually chilled and served with or without the jelled broth, accompanied by a horseradish-vinegar sauce known as chrain (either the red variety, flavored with beets, or plain white chrain, which has a sharper taste). Binomial name P.G. Gaertn. ... Vinegar is sometimes infused with spices or herbs—as here, with oregano. ...

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 or Litvak. [1] Traditionally, 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 a pink variation using salmon. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Lithuanian Jews (known in Yiddish and Haredi English as Litvish (adjective) or Litvaks (noun)) are Ashkenazi Jews with roots in Lita, a region including not only present-day Lithuania but also Latvia, much of Belarus and the northeastern Suwałki region of Poland. ... {{Otheruses Carp: Committee supporting Petanacs reconstruction in Huehuetenago, Guatemala} see http://carp. ... Pickerel redirects here. ... Species See text. ... For other uses, see Salmon (disambiguation). ...

Commercial gefilte fish is sold in cans and glass jars, and packed in jelly made from fish broth. The US 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. [2]

There is even a vegetarian variation. [3]

Symbolism

Some people believe that gefilte fish has become a traditional food to avoid 'borer ("selection/choosing"), which is one of the 39 activities prohibited on Shabbat outlined in the Shulchan Aruch. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} The Shulkhan Arukh (Hebrew: Prepared Table), by Rabbi Yosef Karo is considered the most authoritative compilation of Jewish law since the Talmud. ...

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] John Phillip The Evil Eye (1859), a self-portrait depicting the artist sketching a Spanish gypsy who thinks she is being given the evil eye The evil eye is a widely distributed element of folklore or superstition: a belief that some people, often women seen as witches, can bestow a... John Phillip, The Evil Eye (1859), a self-portrait depicting the artist sketching a Spanish gypsy who thinks she is being given the evil eye The evil eye is a folklore belief that the envy elicited by the good luck of fortunate people may result in their misfortune, whether it... For other uses, see Genesis (disambiguation). ... This article is about Jacob in the Hebrew Bible. ... Joseph interprets the dream of the Pharaoh. ...

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). Kosher foods are those that meet certain criteria of Jewish law. ...

See also

• Jewish cuisine
• Quenelle
• Kamaboko

Different types of fish are used, to represent the bringing together of all of the oceans and thus the people, of all lands! Jewish cuisine is a collection of international cookery traditions linked by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) and Jewish holiday traditions. ... A quenelle is a type of forcemeat, or ground meat patty, made with a delicate white meat or fish and very lightly spiced, so that it is much more delicately flavored than sausage, for instance. ... Bold textMason Struthers (Japanese Kanji: ?) is a variety of Japanese processed seafood products, called surimi, in which various white fish are pureed, formed into distinctive loaves, and then steamed until fully cooked and firm in texture. ...

References

1. ^ Marks, Gil. Something's fishy in the State of Israel, Orthodox Union website. Accessed March 30, 2006.
2. ^ Blech, Rabbi Zushe. The Fortunes of a Fish, Kashrut.com website. Accessed March 30, 2006.
3. ^ Shulman, Adi and Israel, Shoshana. The gefilte story, SomethingJewish website, June 25, 2004. Accessed March 30, 2006
4. ^ Blech, Rabbi Zushe. Fishing for Answers, Kashrus Magazine, February 2001. Accessed March 30, 2006.

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External links

• Triple Layer Gefilte Fish Recipe
• Recipes for Gefilte fish
• Recipe for Gefilte "Fish," Vegetarian (P, KLP)
• What is gefilte fish? from chabad.org
• Dora's Gefilte Fish Recipe from Molly Goldberg Cookbook