Gefilte Fish: ge·fil·te fish (g-flt) n. Finely chopped fish, usually whitefish, pike, or carp, mixed with crumbs, eggs, and seasonings, cooked in a broth in the form of balls or oval-shaped cakes, and usually served chilled.

A Jewish legendary food. Somehow it hasn't crept into this blog until now – I guess better late then never? Also, I should point out that this blog has been in operation for a year already! Yay!

So. Gefilte Fish. Kind of like meatloaf, but with fish. Let me paint you a picture. Think of a slightly whitish-greyish oval shaped fish-sponge with a boiled sliced carrot on the top for decoration. It makes no apologies for being one of the most ugliest foods. Commonly consumed with a dollop of chrein (horseradish – blog article link), it is enjoyed by Ashkenazi Jews all over the world on a weekly basis, although as a child I was always terrified of it. One of my friends accidently served gefilte fish in her chicken soup, thinking it was matzo balls – needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience.

A little bit of history…                                                                                                          

The translation of the Yiddish word gefilte is “stuffed”. Back in the Talmudic period,  our sagely Rabbis encouraged eating fish at the Sabbath meal because of its aphrodisiac effect. They believed the tantalizing aroma of the fish at the Sabbath table would support couples in fulfilling the command to be “fruitful and multiply”, specifically promoted on Friday night. On a completely different note, the Hebrew word for fish, dag, numerically corresponds to the value of seven. This reflects the commandment of working for 6 days during the week, and resting on the 7^th. We picked up this custom, and Jews in Eastern Europe used to make a mixture of chopped fish, stuff it back into the skin of a fish and boil it. Hence the name for stuffed fish. They weren’t too creative with the names of their dishes back then.

As was common with dishes in the old times, anything that stretched the limited resources that were available was a plus. Gefilte fish was a cheap form of fish, and at the same time, it prevented the transgression of removing bones on the Sabbath (which falls under the category of “Borer”, separating the bad from the good). With time, Jewish families stopped stuffing fish altogether, and simply formed the fish mixture into balls for boiling or steaming. Less work, I guess. Onions were added to help with preservation, since refrigerators weren’t too popular at the time. Different European countries adopted the different flavours for the fish. While Poland enjoyed a sweet variety of gefilte fish, Lithuanians preferred horseradish and pepper.

Now you can buy prepared frozen logs of gefilte fish, cans of gefilte fish, or just pop into your local deli for a slice.

Fun Fact: New Jersey-based Manischewitz packs 2 million pounds of fish annually for its several varieties of gefilte fish!

A Spot of Nutrition…

The basic ingredients in gefilte fish include ground fish (usually whitefish, carp, mullet or pike), onions, carrot, salt, sugar, oil, eggs, matzo meal and spices. For quite some time now, fish has been put up on a pedestal as one of the most healthy foods out there – mainly because of its high omega-3 content. Omega-3 is an essential (i.e. our body can’t make it on its own but needs to get it from food) fatty acid, found in fish and plant oils. With it, comes a plethora of health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, hypertension and alleviating symptoms of joint pain, depression and ADHD.

Unfortunately, it is mainly the oily fish like tuna, salmon, mackerel and herring (a positive for the popular smoked herring at a Kiddush) that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, absent in the traditional gefilte fish (although there is a variation that contains salmon).

Do not fret, white fish is not too shabby either.

Fish build a significant amount of muscle due to their active swimming life, making them low in fat. White fish are also rich in Vitamin B3 and B6, awesome for promoting healthy skin and eliminating toxins. They have a fair amount of iron, phosphorus, selenium and iodine (good for the immune system and function of the thyroid).

Finally, white fish contain less toxins than oily fish. Because our rivers are polluted with chemicals and toxins from industrial plants and factories, fish end up feeding on polluted plants. A lot of the chemicals are fat/oil-soluble, which means oily fish have higher traces of toxins compared to white 

fish (which only contain oil in their livers).

On the down side, canned gefilte fish is high in salt. Maybe the carrot on the top makes up for it?