Story submitted by Michael and Marci Moses
The Story Behind the Recipe:
This recipe was published in the Plain Dealer on April 11, 1990 with the following story:
"To of often treasured family recipes, passed on through observation and experience, die out because the new generation of cooks, schooled in precisions, doesn't understand 'a handful of this and a spoonful of that.'
Gefilte fish, the classic Jewish food best described as cold fish mousse, is a perfect example. No other dish is as intimidating to modern Jewish cooks yet as likely to call up reveries of gefilte fishes past. Such memories are most poignant- and frustrating- when one is forced to fork into cloddish fish ball that comes from a jar. Janet and Mel Moses of Mayfield Heights decided that would not be their destiny. For years Janet Moses watched her Aunt Sally makes gefilte fish and was convinced she could never make it taste the same. But her husband was so crazy about the recipe, Moses told The Plain Dealer, that he invited Aunt Sally toCleveland to teach them how to make it. That was 15 years ago (1975), and eventually the couple got it down to an exact science, Moses said. Sally Kaplan, now 89, lives in Highland, Indiana. She no long single-handedly prepares a Seder for 40 out of a tiny kitchen. She doesn't have to worry about collecting enough jelly glasses to set the table. Her children have taken over the task, and these days Seders are potluck affairs. When Aunt Sally visits Cleveland each year during the High Holy Days, Moses, a sales associate for Sears, makes the fish. "It's very good" Aunt Sally always tells her niece. "But next year, put in a little more pepper.'"
Recipe:
Ingredients:
8 pounds assorted whitefish, pike and buffalo fish to yield 4 pounds ground fish, plus fish framers (have fishmonger grind fish)
9 medium carrots, scrubbed
6 large onions
2 parsnips scrubbed
¼ cup sugar
½ cup matzo meal
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ to2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
5 eggs
+Lettuce leaves
+Prepared horseradish
Instructions:
Wash well the fish heads and bones and place in a 10-12-quart stockpot. Slice 3 carrots, 2 onions and 1 parsnip and add to pot. Add ¼ cup sugar and enough water to cover bones. Bring to boil and simmer 45 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, grate 3 carrots and 2 onions. Place in large bowl with ground fish, matzo meal, water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt and pepper. Mix well with hands. Turn mixture out onto large wood chopping board.
With single-blade chopper, go over mass of fish in several directions, occasionally lifting and turning the mixture over on itself. Add eggs one at a time, chopping well after each in the same fashion. This should talk about half an hour.
Fish stock should be ready now (do not strain). Take a small test ball of the fish mixture and place it in the boiling stock.
After 10 minutes, it should hold together (if not, add a little more matzo meal to fish mixture). Remove it and taste for seasoning, remembering that the fish, one chilled, will be blander.
Set a bowl of ice-cold water near stove. Dip hands in water (to prevent sticking), scoop up a mound of fish (about a generous 1/3 cup) and form it into a rounded oval about the size of a small tomato. Drop it into the stock. Repeat with remaining fish
Slice 2 remaining onions and 1 parsnip and place on top of fish in pot. Peel remaining 3 carrots (these are for garnish and look better peeled) and slice about ¼ inch think on diagonal. Place in pot. Cover pot and keep at a simmer for 1 ½ hours.
Remove cover and let fish cool slightly. Carefully remove fish pieces to storage container, reserving diagonal carrot slices for garnish Cover and chill. Strain stock and reserve for another use.
To serve, place a piece of fish on a lettuce leaf and a carrot slice on top. Pass the horseradish.
8 pounds assorted whitefish, pike and buffalo fish to yield 4 pounds ground fish, plus fish framers (have fishmonger grind fish)
9 medium carrots, scrubbed
6 large onions
2 parsnips scrubbed
¼ cup sugar
½ cup matzo meal
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ to2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
5 eggs
+Lettuce leaves
+Prepared horseradish
Instructions:
Wash well the fish heads and bones and place in a 10-12-quart stockpot. Slice 3 carrots, 2 onions and 1 parsnip and add to pot. Add ¼ cup sugar and enough water to cover bones. Bring to boil and simmer 45 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, grate 3 carrots and 2 onions. Place in large bowl with ground fish, matzo meal, water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt and pepper. Mix well with hands. Turn mixture out onto large wood chopping board.
With single-blade chopper, go over mass of fish in several directions, occasionally lifting and turning the mixture over on itself. Add eggs one at a time, chopping well after each in the same fashion. This should talk about half an hour.
Fish stock should be ready now (do not strain). Take a small test ball of the fish mixture and place it in the boiling stock.
After 10 minutes, it should hold together (if not, add a little more matzo meal to fish mixture). Remove it and taste for seasoning, remembering that the fish, one chilled, will be blander.
Set a bowl of ice-cold water near stove. Dip hands in water (to prevent sticking), scoop up a mound of fish (about a generous 1/3 cup) and form it into a rounded oval about the size of a small tomato. Drop it into the stock. Repeat with remaining fish
Slice 2 remaining onions and 1 parsnip and place on top of fish in pot. Peel remaining 3 carrots (these are for garnish and look better peeled) and slice about ¼ inch think on diagonal. Place in pot. Cover pot and keep at a simmer for 1 ½ hours.
Remove cover and let fish cool slightly. Carefully remove fish pieces to storage container, reserving diagonal carrot slices for garnish Cover and chill. Strain stock and reserve for another use.
To serve, place a piece of fish on a lettuce leaf and a carrot slice on top. Pass the horseradish.