[Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Gefillte Fish

[Devra at aol.com]

You need to include the fish skins and bones and head in the cooking, or the
broth won't jell.  We tried to omit them one year, because scraping the skin
to remove all the scales is such a nasty job (and believe me, you DON'T want
scales on your gefillte fish!) and the broth simply would not jell.

We (being of vaguely Russian area provenance) always added sugar to the fish
mixture.

However, BE WARNED!  When you want to taste the fish, please fry up a little
or quic-boil it!  Don't do what ma daddy usta do and just taste it raw.
There's a nasty little parasite that lives in fresh-water fish, and eating
the raw 'dough' can give it to you.  That's why they call it the 'gefillete
fish worm'.

Anyway, the fish mixture should have a sort of springy texture.

And what about the roe, huh huh?  That's the best part, the roe that turns
red when you cook it.  You put it on top of the fish, at the top of the pot.
And it's yummy.  You don't get that in those little bottles--*sigh*.  Haven't
made this stuff since my mom died in 1964--it was a family project and we
didn't have the heart to do it after that.  And I never made it by myself...
Devra the Baker
Devra Langsam
www.poisonpenpress.com
devra at aol.com