RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Kay Hartman Gefilte Fish, Aunt Irene's & My - pareve
These notes reflect the gefilte fish I made with my great Aunt Irene and the fish I then made a couple weeks later on my own. Using the amount of fish we did when we worked together, we wound up with almost 90 fish balls. You may want to take that into account and figure your ingredient proportions accordingly. I'm sorry that this will be approximate, but we did not approach this scientifically. I made about half this amount when I made the fish on my own. The fish I made with Aunt Irene came out a bit heavy. The fish I made on my own was much lighter. The fish I made on my own was too sweet and did not have enough pepper. 6 1/2 yellow onions (We used the 1/2 onion because Aunt Irene had a started onion in the refrigerator.) Keep the onion skins but not the root. 9 ribs celery and a celery heart, many but not all leaves removed (When I made the fish on my own I did not exclude the leaves.) 3 pounds carrots, peeled 1 pound salmon fillet 10 pounds whole pike, scaled, skinned, and filleted, trimmings reserved 9 pounds white fish, scaled, skinned, and filleted, trimmings reserved 4 handsful plus 1/2 cup Kosher salt 2+ peppermills full of white pepper (My peppermill holds approximately 2 tablespoons of peppercorns so it looks like we're talking about 1/4 cup peppercorns.) 3/4 cup sugar (I would cut this down to no more than 1/2 cup sugar.) Water 2 1/2 cups matzo meal (The fish was too heavy. When I made 10 pounds of fish on my own, I used about 1/2 cup or so of matzo meal. For a recipe of this size, I would probably start at 1 to 1 1/2 cups and see how it seemed. I didn't measure it when I was on my own so I can't say how much I used for sure, but it looked like about 1/2 cup or a little more. I emptied an open box and stopped at that.) 3 cups ice water (When I used less matzo meal, I also needed less water. I don't know how much I used. It was the amount that made the texture seem right.) 12 eggs In the food processor, coarsely chop 3 1/2 onions and the celery. (Aunt Irene had me peel the celery but I didn't do this when I made the fish on my own since the celery is all thrown away and not eaten.) Reserve 5 small carrots. Slice the remaining carrots 3/4- to 1-inch thick. Put the onion, celery, carrots, and onion skins into a large pot. (When I made the fish on my own, I did not add the carrots until after I made the fish balls.) Clean the fish heads and bones of all of the bloody stuff and add them and the fish skin to the pot. Add 4 handsful of Kosher salt, 2 peppermills full of freshly ground white pepper, and 1/4 cup sugar. Add water to cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and let broth simmer while you make the fish. Coarsely grind the fish fillets. Grind the 5 small reserved carrots. Grind the remaining 3 onions. To the ground fish, carrots, and onions, add matzo meal, ice water, eggs, 1/2 cup Kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and a very generous grinding of white pepper. (Now, I don't remember seeing Aunt Irene put this sugar into the fish but she assures me that she did. When I used this sugar in making the fish on my own, I thought the fish came out way too sweet. I will cut this at least by half next time.) With the ground fish mixture in a wooden bowl, chop and mix the ingredients with a hock-messer. Chop until the mixture becomes difficult to chop anymore and the ingredients are well mixed. Fill a bowl with water. Wet your hands. Take 1/4 cup of the fish mixture and form the gefilte fish into a ball or a log or whatever shape you desire. The fish is much easier to work with if you keep your hands wet so make frequent trips to the bowl of water. As you make the balls, store them on a platter. When all of the fish balls are formed, gently place the balls into the simmering broth. (I added the carrots at this point. By adding them later in the process, they have better texture when eaten.) At Aunt Irene's house we cooked the fish for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. At my house I cooked the fish for about an hour. Remove the fish and the carrot slices from the pot. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Cool the fish and the broth. Place the fish into the broth and chill.
