[Sca-cooks] GIFILLTE FISH ::WAS::: TURKEY GRAVY

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Fri, 16 Nov 2001, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> Stefan li Rous wrote:
>
> >>I've just never met any non-Jewish adults who liked the stuff!
> >>Phillipa
> >>
> >>
> >>>Don't know that I want to but am interested in knowing
> >>>how to make it...you never know I might.
> >>>
> >
> > Does this mean there is some Jewish gene which makes the gifilte
> > fish more appetizing to Jews? Or the Jews feel that they should like
> > it so they do?
>
>
> Perhaps there _is_ a Jewish gene. That may be an oversimplification, but Eastern European Jews (a not-especially-geographical term I use because I can't spell Eshk...Asken...Eastern European) do tend to come from parts of the world where certain fish, such as pike and carp are common. Gefilte fish is also an excellent idea for holiday dining: it's good cold and can be prepared a couple of days in advance. It's skinless [generally] and boneless, so portion control and service are comparatively easy, making it, all in all, an excellent choice for the major Jewish holidays which frequently begin at sundown on the Sabbath, a time when work is supposed to be minimal. There may be some sense of obligation as well; I couldn't say, but it seems to have evolved in tandem with a fairly complete set of traditions, and it's eminently logical. And tasty, with horseradish.
>
>
> Adamantius

Dunno. I like properly made gefilte fish. The stuff in the jars is
nasty. I think the only person in the family-in-law who actually likes the
stuff in the jars is my MIL, and her tastes are suspect anyway.

I think some of it is tradition, and what you grow up eating. Me, I grew
up with very tradtionally Germanic grandparents, and a whole host of scary
foodstuffs. Gefilte fish, in contrast to zulse (or however you spell
it), headcheese, or my grandfather's favorite scrambled eggs and brains,
is really pretty unthreatening.

IIRC, one of the articles I have read about the stuff says it probably
evolved from an Eastern European stuffed fish dish ("gefilte" is, IIRC,
Low German for "filled" or "stuffed") where the fish skin was stuffed with
the minced fish mixture. My fuzzy memory says this was in order to comply
with a law that said you could not pick at the fish between the bones at a
Sabbath meal, or something like that. If the fish inside the skin is
minced, there are no bones and thus no waste.

Margaret, who is also not Jewish and likes gefilte fish