Gefilte fish, C or D?

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Bane of Jewish grandchildren's existence or eagerly-awaited Passover delicacy? If the latter: do you prefer it boiled or chilled? With carrots? Onions? Store-bought (with that gelatin glop or in water?) or homemade? With horseradish? Mild or extra hot?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 02:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

New answers are urgent and key as I have three loaves of gefilte sitting in my fridge.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 02:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Carrots, yes. Chilled, yes. Homemade, yes. Horseradish, yes.

I love gefilte fish, but it also makes me a little queasy, especially when it's too watery. Creeps me out.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

the very name makes me queasy and i've never even had it...it's just an ugly word, like haberdasher or horseradish for that matter

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's often the colour of plastique explosive, isn't it? Just gimme a bowl of that horseradish.

― Bryan (Bryan), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Gefilte" is derived from the Yiddish "gefüllte," meaning "stuffed."

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

My mother likes it (with horseradish).

I'll just have the matzo ball soup, please.

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Having just had a little think about gefilte fish--I can't really say that I like the stuff in the way I enjoy any other food. It's hard to imagine ever ordering it in a restaurant, or eating it anywhere other than a family gathering. It's like a Jewish madeleine.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

yuk.

― luna (luna.c), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's like a Jewish madeleine.

B-b-but who is the Jewish Proust then?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Philip Roth

― Skottie, Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

But abbreviated...

― Skottie, Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

This guy?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0609610686.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

"For a long time I would go to bed early, but ach, who can sleep, with my bad back, and the blood pressure pills give me nightmares..."

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

"...presently my aunt would dip a little gefilte fish in the horseradish, whose taste of dead flesh or soured blossom she so relished, and hand me a piece when it was sufficiently putrid."

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Gefilte fish is more disgusting than Vienna Sausages to me. Smooshed up fish parts should in theory be less disgusting than smooshed up chicken, beef and pork parts, but it stinks and tastes nasty when burped back up.

― Scaredy Cat, Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

My family is sephardic, so I never had it growing up, but theres this sort of fish cake in a tomato-based sauce that I guess is the sephardic equivalent. My grandmother used to make it, but I could never develop a taste for it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

― Elliot (Elliot), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 04:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

Classic, especially heated up.

― Daniel (dancity), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 06:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

most disgusting thing ever, second in vileness only to chopped liver.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 09:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

I thought this was titled Genitalia Fish. Mmm, now thats a meal-o.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 10:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

That's the stuff that comes packed in that gelatinous clear goo. yuk!!

― brg30 (brg30), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 17:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

The kosher section of the JC Shop Rite is so paltry, hello, WHERE ARE THE MACAROONS?? ? My parents' SR sells industrial sized tins of gefilte fish and has a fantastic kosher for Passover aisle.

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

yuck. dud. i can't sit at a shabbat or passover table without being offered gefilte fish. i always politely decline, but i'm actually thinking "NOOOOO!"

does it make me a bad jew if i can't stand most traditional jewish food?

― mike a (mike a), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

that makes you a normal jew

― bnw (bnw), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

i like challah.

― mike a (mike a), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

gefilte fish washed down with some maneschewitz!

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

dud!

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

(exceptions include homentashn, matzah brie, apples n honey, potato pancakes, etc)

― bnw (bnw), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

Macaroons are so bad for you! Tsk, tsk.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

So I guess that's a "no" for the stuffed derma, then.

Pass the kugel, though.

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

(Yeah, but I like kishke. Go figure.)

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

Macaroons are--macaroons are bad for you? I have to sit down.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 19:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

Manischewitz = CLASSIC.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 21:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Proust is the Jewish Proust.

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 05:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

i like fish, and while in school i practically lived on sardines and kippers. but gefilte fish always looked really really gross!

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 05:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Reading everyone's posts I realize that gefilte fish really is gross pretty much any way you look at it. But I still love it. Though if I'd never eaten it before, there's no way I'd touch the stuff.

― slutsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 13:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jewish food is pretty awful across the board. Some types of food are a guilty pleasure; Jewish cuisine is all about straight-up guilt. It serves the same purpose as the Yom Kippur fast (suffering, atonement), except on Yom Kippur you're actually spared from eating that gunk for a day, so you win!

― Philip Beth Roth (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 13:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

Mary, sssssh!!

JBR in badforthejews shocka! (Besides, she's wrong. Kishke is the greatest thing ever. Actually so is kreplach.)

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 14:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

jarred, no jello, cold, with carrots...actually carrot, and purple horseyradish

booyakasha

― Ben Silver (Ben Silver), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 14:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

Mmmmmmm kreplach.

― rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 14:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Noodle kugel rep.

― slutsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 2 April 2003 19:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

Judaikitsch has a recipe for "Jewshi" which is sushie made with gefilte fish! I am sooooo making this.

― rosemary (rosemary), Saturday, 5 April 2003 23:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oohhhhhh. Oh, geez. I can't even really think about that.

― slutsky (slutsky), Sunday, 6 April 2003 08:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

poles eat kishke, too (and lots of other "jewish" food, like latkes, but i digress). my grandmother used to make it in cow intestines -- are intestines kosher, or do Jewish people use something else for the kishke skin?

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 6 April 2003 08:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

during one of the high holidays, the NYU cafeterias have big punch bowls full of gefilte fish - but i don't think anyone eats it.

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 7 April 2003 06:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

for mark s: gefilte fish fingers! made with matzo meal!

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 14 April 2003 23:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Is there such a thing? Really?

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 00:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

There may be if someone (ahem) goes a bit silly in the kitchen.

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 01:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

When fusion cooking goes to far.

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 01:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

oops, "too"

― rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 01:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

Skipping 6 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

The gelatin stuff I'll admit makes me nauseous. And I can never eat pickled herring again, after a picnic a couple of years ago that went terribly, terribly wrong. Or terribly right, I suppose.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 05:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm sorry Slutsky, I wanted it to work out ... but you and I both know it wasn't meant to be.

― Herring (amateurist), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 05:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's not your fault, herring. It was the vodka and the pickles. You just got caught in the crossfire.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 05:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

mmm rollmop

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 10:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw a jar of gefilte fish the other day and it reminded me of pickled Weetabix.

― Alfie (Alfie), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 10:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

I made a batch of macaroons today. They turned out so good! Well, except for the stuck to wax paper bit.

― rosemary (rosemary), Thursday, 17 April 2003 22:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

They totally didn't have gefilte fish at my seder tonight.

― mr slutsky, Friday, 18 April 2003 02:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.northernsun.com/nsm/images/thumb/2220GefilteFish.jpg

― rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 18 April 2003 04:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

The new Joy of Cooking suggests adding curry powder and fresh ginger to matzo balls. This doesn't seem right. I made some tonight (following a different recipe) and they taste quite yummy.

― rosemary (rosemary), Friday, 2 May 2003 03:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

indian/jewish fusion? the new trend for NYC restaurants maybe?

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 2 May 2003 09:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

This does sound good. Hmm, the chef at Tabla is Floyd Cardoz - a not un-Jewish-sounding last name.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 May 2003 12:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

"the new trend for NYC restaurants maybe"

We actually have a glatt Kosher Indian restaurant in Seattle. It's straight Indian food, though - no matzoh-ball curry or anything.

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've been to one of the glatt Kosher Chinese places on the UW Side. It was good.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

seven months pass...

where can i get gefitle fish and other jewish food in paris? in the marais?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 20 December 2003 10:34 (twenty years ago) link

that's probably the most likely! hell you can get kosher pizza there!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 20 December 2003 16:33 (twenty years ago) link

is there a good kosher deli here that might have kishke? i want to take my friends and horrify them by eating kishke with gravy.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 20 December 2003 18:38 (twenty years ago) link

I like (read "LOVE") Chez Marianne, but most middle-aged jews swear by Jo Goldenberg's (which is oft frequented by Emir Kusturuca!!!!).

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 20 December 2003 18:47 (twenty years ago) link

Both are off the main drag in the Marais, whatever it is called.

Amateurist, the buffet/deli meal at Chez Marinne is urgent and key, IMHO.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 20 December 2003 18:49 (twenty years ago) link

where is chez marianne? i mean this particular one, because there are like 1,000 chez's marianne in paris, and probably several in the marais. and is it pricey?

if i run into emir kusturica i will ask him why his movies stink now and he will punch me out like he punched out that serbian politican a decade or so ago.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 20 December 2003 18:53 (twenty years ago) link

is he jewish btw?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 20 December 2003 18:53 (twenty years ago) link

I don't believe he is.

Chez Marianne is at the junction of rue des Hospitalières-St-Gervais and rue des rosiers. I do not recall it being particularly expensive - you can choose a "sampler" platter of 3-6 items and then they just cram it all onto a plate for you. It is more Middle Eastern than Jewish, so you might want to look for gefilte fish elsewhere (Jo Goldenberg's, just around the corner on the rue des rosiers). When I eat at Marianne, I usually get a kefta, some feta or halloumi, Tzaziki, and a salad of some kind. The food is very, very rich but incredibly tasty. They have a good wine selection too, if you like that sort of thing.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 20 December 2003 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

Proust is the Jewish Proust.

-- Mary (maj23...) (webmail), April 2nd, 2003. (Mary)

Proust was Jewish? You learn something every day.

Big vote for gefilte fish over here. I know it's disgusting to many, but what I like is what I like, how can I change? The place for Jewish food in Sydney is Bondi. Unfortunately it's too far away from where I live now. Damn I miss it.

Jewish woman to my sister one day in Bondi: "I love matzot - but I find it binds me up."

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Saturday, 20 December 2003 20:59 (twenty years ago) link

jo goldenberg's is pricy no? but it's nice

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 20 December 2003 22:22 (twenty years ago) link

Try the Pitchi Poi restaurant - Place du Marché Sainte Catherine (http://www.pitchipoi.com for details!). Otherwise Goldenberg's or Chez Marianne. RIP Psaume Café, which was just opposite Goldenberg's.
For deli try Finkelstein's on the rue des Rosiers.

― jadrenos (jadrenos), Sunday, 21 December 2003 01:11 (twenty years ago) link

Finkelstein's has kishke and the like. Also good knishes.

― jadrenos (jadrenos), Sunday, 21 December 2003 01:13 (twenty years ago) link

"Among the specialties that we offer there is of course, the Jewish Carp the "Gefilte Fish". All Ashkenazic Jews love it : Russians, Poles, Rumanians, Hungarians, Alsatians etc...The recipe is not always the same but everybody loves it. It is the dish of the weddings, the brith*, and the bar-mitsvah*."

I think they need to see this thread...clearly not all Ashkenazic Jews love gefilte fish.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 21 December 2003 13:09 (twenty years ago) link

You know what makes a good gefilte fish? White pepper, my friend. White pepper.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Sunday, 21 December 2003 14:55 (twenty years ago) link

Pitchi Poi also does a 'yiddishe brunch'. Let me know if you go there.

When googling gefilte fish it is remarkable how many pages are entitled 'carpe diem'. It's the universal gefilte fish pun.

― jadrenos (jadrenos), Sunday, 21 December 2003 21:31 (twenty years ago) link

yeah but dont carp

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 22 December 2003 10:43 (twenty years ago) link

Hay guyz...just dropped by to say Manischewitz, like most Kosher food, fockin' 0\/\/N0RZ.

And as much as I like gross pickled stuff, preserved fish, and other assorted nasties, gefilte in gelatin is a big no-no. Thanks, but no thanks. Bleargh.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Monday, 22 December 2003 14:12 (twenty years ago) link

three months pass...

im still trying to find out where I can buy a large jar, or any jar of gifista fish with the goooooo in it. just plain juice. please tsell me.

― shirley, Wednesday, 31 March 2004 21:31 (twenty years ago) link

the supermarket

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 21:32 (twenty years ago) link

gifista?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 21:33 (twenty years ago) link

im still trying to find out where I can buy a large jar, or any jar of gifista fish with the goooooo in it. just plain juice. please tsell me. how do I get into data base?????

― shirley, Wednesday, 31 March 2004 21:34 (twenty years ago) link

You're a bit scary.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 21:35 (twenty years ago) link

I am not down with fish that attempt to burrow up your ass.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 22:21 (twenty years ago) link

goooooooooooooooooo

― Sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 23:32 (twenty years ago) link

is that the technical term?

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 31 March 2004 23:32 (twenty years ago) link

This is totally not pesadik.

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Thursday, 1 April 2004 00:42 (twenty years ago) link

Mmmmm free gooooo

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 1 April 2004 00:46 (twenty years ago) link

's about that time to find the afikoman....

― bnw (bnw), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:56 (twenty years ago) link

i made matzo ball soup tonight!

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 00:15 (twenty years ago) link

There's a bunch in the fridge. But hte best thing about passover is that the regular supermarket stocks Dr. Brown's and Fox's U-Bet.

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 00:31 (twenty years ago) link

i avoided this. my family eats with chilled from jars with the goo. also chopped liver. i have tried and liked chopped liver, but sometimes the appearance just creeps me out.

♥ matzoh ball soup, though.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 01:22 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.thecatgallery.com/images/cat-passover.jpg

― Dada, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 02:58 (twenty years ago) link

i was lovin' the chopped liver tonight

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 07:23 (twenty years ago) link

Just had gefilte fish for lunch. It is greatness itself, especially when it's the right consistency, with the right amount of onion, and, most importantly, when it doesn't taste too much like fish.

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:26 (twenty years ago) link

I didn't eat any last night. But I did have the kasha varnishkes and noodle kugel. And the choclate covered marshmallows, which are a bit gross.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:17 (twenty years ago) link

Best gefilte fish I've ever had was at the Milk and Honey restaurant
at the Tel Aviv Hilton. They serve it sliced, quite dry with a disc of carrot on top. Excellent!! Their pickled cucumbers are pretty good too. I haven't eaten Jewish food for years, but I still remember the stuffed chicken neck my mother used to make. Sounds terrible, but tasted great!

― Philip Windsor, Wednesday, 14 April 2004 13:21 (twenty years ago) link

my mom, of sephardic origin, has taken to making gefilte fish. they're not gross exactly, but i couldn't ever see myself ordering the stuff in a restaurant. it's best cold, with carrot, lots of white pepper, and tons of the strongest horseradish available.

what i like about the jarred in jelly fish balls is that most of the time they dont taste like fish at all.

but i still couldnt eat those if i wasnt around other jews being jewish.

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 14 April 2004 19:22 (twenty years ago) link

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