GOOD Gefilte Fish
No, this is not an oxymoron.
But there is a secret: wild salmon.
Ok, two secrets: poaching, not boiling for 3 hours.
At the risk of outraging Bad Cohen, I'm going to let you in on his amazing discoveries so that your family, too, can reclaim this dish for the 21st century.
What does this mean?
You fish should be 2 parts wild salmon (fairly good quality, fatty fish) and 1 part true cod. This makes for a more expensive dish, but believe me, it's worth it. In the quantities we usually make (enough for 2 seders and lunches all week), we spend about $60 on fish. $50 of that is the salmon.
HOWEVER, this is only a good investment if you don't boil the hell out of the fish.
Make small balls (about the size of golf balls), and cook them in small batches. Drop them into simmering fish broth, and cook them for about 8 minutes AFTER they start floating.
OK, if you've read this far, you deserve one more tip:
Homemade fish broth? Phhbbbt.
Dashi takes 10 minutes if you can find a reliable source of dried bonito flakes (smoked and dried pieces of skipjack tuna) that you know doesn't contain any non-kosher fish. Obviously, this option is a freak-out if you're Orthodox, so skip it.
(Disclaimer: although these tips make for a better dish and shorter cooking time, Bad Cohen did walk into the house Sunday afternoon and quote Han Solo after landing in the garbage chute - "My, what a wonderful SMELL you've discovered.") ;-}
But there is a secret: wild salmon.
Ok, two secrets: poaching, not boiling for 3 hours.
At the risk of outraging Bad Cohen, I'm going to let you in on his amazing discoveries so that your family, too, can reclaim this dish for the 21st century.
What does this mean?
You fish should be 2 parts wild salmon (fairly good quality, fatty fish) and 1 part true cod. This makes for a more expensive dish, but believe me, it's worth it. In the quantities we usually make (enough for 2 seders and lunches all week), we spend about $60 on fish. $50 of that is the salmon.
HOWEVER, this is only a good investment if you don't boil the hell out of the fish.
Make small balls (about the size of golf balls), and cook them in small batches. Drop them into simmering fish broth, and cook them for about 8 minutes AFTER they start floating.
OK, if you've read this far, you deserve one more tip:
Homemade fish broth? Phhbbbt.
Dashi takes 10 minutes if you can find a reliable source of dried bonito flakes (smoked and dried pieces of skipjack tuna) that you know doesn't contain any non-kosher fish. Obviously, this option is a freak-out if you're Orthodox, so skip it.
(Disclaimer: although these tips make for a better dish and shorter cooking time, Bad Cohen did walk into the house Sunday afternoon and quote Han Solo after landing in the garbage chute - "My, what a wonderful SMELL you've discovered.") ;-}
posted by Tzipporah at 12:09 PM
3 Comments:
some of us love traditional gifelta fish loaves.
(however that rediculous manachevits stuff can just go.)
but it has to have sugar. No sugar in the giffelte fish is repulsive.
When it comes to gefilte fish, I'm a complete heathen. I often buy the bottled balls in jellied broth to make a fish-ball curry with. Just add chilies, coconut milk, coriander, galangal, ginger, lemongrass, and turmeric.
Back of the hill...
that rocks. We'll have to try that next pesach. Or sooner. But not with our lovely super expensive fish balls.
Actually, our recipe is exactly the same recipe out of my mom's old Love and Knishes, with Salmon as the fat fish and cod as the lean. So it's got sugar and everything. The only places we go off-recipe is in cooking time and in using dashi in stead of boiling fish heads for jellied broth. Who cares if it is jellied anyway? when they're this good they don't last long enough to store. So, halfnutcase, you won't find these repulsive.
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