Putting the Gefilte Back in Gefilte Fish

Walking down the 'international' foods aisle at the grocery store, you'll come upon the Jewish section sandwiched between Indian and Chinese. While kosher foods abound throughout, this section is for the particular, iconic dishes Jewish shoppers might need.

Iconic is a funny word to apply to the section's most notorious fare--an oblong off-white orb suspended in semi-transparent goop. Ah, gefilte fish. Enjoyed by some year-round; endured by others only during Passover. This dish never fails to rouse a strong opinion either way.

But if you're wondering how the highly processed, jarred goop became such a central part of a Jewish plate--wonder no more. Because it wasn't. What we know now is a creation thought up in the mid-20th century along side TV dinners and salad filled Jello molds.

Gefilte means 'stuffed' in Yiddish. Gefuelten hechden (stuffed pike) was originally mentioned in a 700 year old German cookbook. So it didn't start as a Jewish food. It was actually quite popular with German Catholics during lent.

Original recipes called for a whole fish which was carefully opened, de-boned, and the meat removed. The meat was then mashed and mixed with herbs and vegetables and bread, then stuffed back into the fish skin to be roasted. So the presentation was an elaborate, complete fish.

German Jews adopted this recipe. Not only was fish more easily acquired than other meat, the preparation and cooking could all be done ahead of time--ensuring no rules were broken regarding lighting fires on Shabbat or most holidays. It also stretched a small amount of meat.

But the traditional method of re-stuffing and roasting a whole fish was very laborious and delicate work. While the presentation was beautiful, it was largely just for looks. So over time, the recipe was adapted--the meat mixture rolled into balls and poached instead.

Everything changed post-WWII in America. It was just the right time too. People in the Lower East Side found keeping fresh carp in a walk-up too difficult and the dish was out of favor. Enter food manufacturing and preserving! Manischewitz starting mass producing it in jars.

Gefilte fish though is undergoing a new renaissance. Younger generations are revisiting old recipes and cooking gefilte fish that more closely resembles a 'stuffed' fish. I'm one of them:

Gefilte fish has been done a disservice by modernity. It's time that it reclaimed its reputation as a delicious delicacy.