32875357
When I was a girl, I would watch my grandmother and mother make gefilte fish from scratch during the run-up to Passover. My grandmother pulled out the meat grinder, attached it to her kitchen counter and grounded the fresh carp by hand. My mother always bought the fish already grounded and then proceeded to prepare this delicacy.
I always doctored up canned gefilte fish. Now that I’m a grown-up of sorts, I decided this Passover — beginning at sundown Monday evening — would be different from all others. I want to lose my making-gefilte-fish-from-scratch virginity.
viewNode("8bdb7c332647b", {"width":480,"height":383});
This is a tall order and I needed to find a chef who is an expert in forming this delicious appetizer, which is the Jewish version of the French “quenelle.” Gefilte fish has its roots in medieval Alsace where Jewish-French women would simmer the fish balls in simmering stock and then stuff them back into the skin of the whole fish. “Gefilte” is Yiddish for “stuffed.”
Mitch Prensky, who owns Supper on South Street with his wife Jennifer, is the chef who guided me back to my childhood culinary roots. New York’s loss is Philadelphia’s gain. When he and Philadelphia-born Jennifer got married, she persuaded him to move to her hometown.
Prensky arrived at our home with his “Mise en place.” Inside the box was a container of ground carp and whitefish, fish stock, made from the fish heads and bones, a few eggs, a bowl of grated onion and carrots, as well as a container of matzo meal. For the next two hours, Prensky and I talked about our grandmother’s version while photographer Dashiell Davis took great delight in shooting Prensky with his cameras.
“What are you doing?” I asked Prensky as he added the grated carrot to the fish mixture.
“My grandmother never used carrots in the fish. She topped each fish ball with a slice of carrot after they finished simmering,” I said.
“My grandmother always added carrots,” Prensky said. “She also added a dash of sugar.”
My grandmother never used sugar. The biggest difference between Prensky’s grandmother and mine is she used a mixture of carp and whitefish while my grandmother used carp exclusively.
As Davis clicked away, I watched Prensky work his magic. He whipped the eggs with a wire whisk and added one beaten egg white. I wondered whether he would do this strange thing that my grandmother and mother used to do. They would taste the raw fish mousse before forming them into ovals. Prensky did just that. He tasted the mousse and told me to grind in more black pepper.
I think this must be an old Jewish wives’ tale. It must have something to do with Jewish folklore. As Jews traveled from place to place, they brought their foods, recipes and “how-tos” with them. My grandmother came from Vienna. Prensky’s family is Hungarian/Romanian.
“Never bring the stock to a boil,” Prensky said. “Just keep it at a rolling simmer. You don’t want to over work the stock.”
Prensky wet his hands and formed the gefilte fish into 3-inch ovals. He gently set them in the stock, placed the lid askew and simmered the fish for about 45 minutes.
“Always let the fish cool in the stock. It will become solid like a jelly. Gently remove the fish with a slotted spoon,” the chef said.
Prensky made eight pieces. We allowed them to cool and placed them in the fridge. Unfortunately for him, he had to leave to go to Supper. But Davis and I had a special treat. We sampled Prensky’s creation. All the fish required was a grinding of salt and pepper. Alas, poor us. I forgot to buy horseradish.
■
Gefilte Fish
■
Ingredients:
Fish bones and heads from 6 pounds of carp
5 large onions, cut into chunks
4 large carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
4 ribs of celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 pounds of ground carp
2 small onions, finely grated
4 large eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons of matzo meal
1 cup of water
Directions:
Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil. Place the first six ingredients into the pot and simmer for one hour.
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the remaining ingredients. Add the water. Blend well.
Like making matzo balls, gefilte fish is made “by feel.” If it feels too wet, simply add more matzo meal. Taste the mousse for seasoning. Cover and place in the refrigerator while the stock simmers.
Wet your hands and form 3-inch ovals. Gently slip them into the stock. Simmer with the lid askew for about 90 minutes.
Cool to room temperature. Store the fish in its liquid in a covered container in the refrigerator.
Serve with horseradish.
Serves 16.
Note from Phyllis: I will use carp only when I make gefilte fish for Passover. I won’t add the grated carrot because I did not care for the texture it lent to the fish. It also made it sweet to my taste. I always use white horseradish because, heaven forbid, beet juice from the red variety could stain my grandmother’s beautiful hand-embroidered Irish linen tablecloth.
32875352
32875352
