Photo: from open sources
The most common option is gefilte fish from carp; it is prepared this way almost everywhere.
There are dishes that not everyone dares to cook, but no one will refuse to try, therefore, putting aside any fears, we recommend preparing gefilte fish.
This incredibly tasty and very beautifully presented dish, just like mincemeat, belongs to traditional Jewish cuisine and is nothing more than stuffed fish.
What kind of fish should I get?
It depends on your taste and the selection on the shelves and in supermarket aquariums. The most common option is gefilte fish from carp; it is prepared this way almost everywhere. German Jews prefer pike, British Jews, of course, islanders use sea fish – haddock or cod. Recently, trout, mullet, sea bass, and salmon have begun to be stuffed. The main condition is that the carcass must be large enough and preferably not very bony.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 carp weighing 1.2-1.5 kg
- 3 onions
- 2 carrots
- 1 beet
- 1-2 eggs
- 1-2 slices of white bread
- 2 bay leaves
- 7-8 black peppercorns
- 4-5 peas of allspice
- water
- vegetable oil
- ground black pepper
- sugar
- salt
Preparation:
- Clean the carp from scales, cut off the fins, remove the gills, make a transverse incision along the abdomen near the head, carefully so as not to damage the gall bladder, gut and rinse the carcass with cold water, then remove the skin with a stocking.
- Cut off the meat from the inner surface of the skin, as well as from the ridge, and free it from the bones.
- Fry the onion, cut into half rings, in vegetable oil until lightly browned.
- Turn the fish pulp, fried onions and pre-soaked bread in water and squeezed out twice through a meat grinder with a fine grid, beat in the eggs, add a little water, salt, pepper, slightly sweeten and beat well to make a fluffy and airy mass.
- Stuff the cleaned skin with the prepared filling, filling the head as well. Roll the remaining minced meat into balls or form cutlets.
- Place beets and carrots cut into slices on the bottom of the pan, place carp on a vegetable bed, and place fish cutlets next to it. Then carefully, trying not to get on the fish balls, pour in enough water to completely cover everything, add salt, add a little sugar, bring to a boil, remove the foam and cook over low heat for 1.5-2 hours
- 15 minutes before readiness, add bay leaf, black and allspice peas and, if necessary, even out the taste of the broth.
- Place the hot fish on a plate, garnish with carrot slices and pour in the strained broth.
On a note
- To serve gefilte fish, you can decorate it with a mayonnaise mesh, sprigs of herbs, cranberries, and lemon slices.
- Stuffed fish garnished with diced jelly looks very original. To do this, pour the broth in which the carp was cooked in a thin layer into a dish, and when it hardens, cut into small cubes.
- Gefilte fish is convenient to cook in duck or goose pans that have an oblong shape.
- To ensure that the finished broth freezes well, place the fins, ridge, or scales wrapped in a piece of fabric under the vegetable bed.
- To give the broth and fish a golden hue, place a handful of onion peels on the bottom of the pan.
- To make the minced meat juicier, add a couple of tablespoons of butter to it.
