Help! my gefilte fish exploded!

Posted: Thu, Nov 22 2007, 10:44 am Post subject: help! my gefilte fish exploded!

I cooked the gefilte fish roll as per the wrappers instructions : bring water to a boil, add the loaf in its wrapper, bring to a boil again, lower flame and cook for an hour. I just went to check on it after the hour was up and the wrapper is opened with the fish coming out of it ! its still in one peice but very expanded and distorted. what did I do wrong and what can I do to fix it?

Platinum Member Joined: May 06 2007 Posts: 8518

I don't think that I would serve it. Nothing is worse than waterlogged gefilte fish. Maybe the paper was ripped?How long did you boil the fish for? How high was the fish when you were cooking it for an hour - it should be really low.
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Just Plain Frum!

I don't like boiled gfilta fish.

I take the roll, put it in a glass loaf pan with some water, cover and cook for 60-90 minutes, depending on whether it was frozen or not.

Don't put in a lot of water, just an inch or two.

Not that that helps you right now...

I wish I knew what would fix the fish now. Make sure to unwrap it and let it drain. That should help some.
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Liba, mommy to Zlata Tova 5/6/98, Tziporah Faiga 1/12/01, Esther Rivka 7/13/04 and Avraham Chaim 7/2/2006

actually that's when I like it best. When the water boiled out, and it steams a little more, gets a little sauteed on the bottom, it's delicious! The flavor is all there. The shape just looks distorted now, but after it cools off, it will shrink quite a bit. I put it out sliced, so no one knows the diffference how the loaf turned out.
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Zogt Toras Emes, Toras Chaim, Horaah BaChaim: KER A VELT HEINT!

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

we don't mind water-logged gefilte fish either. Wink

once it cools and you cut it, it's just fine.
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The Chanukah licht transcends all.

Platinum Member Joined: Mar 20 2005 Posts: 5270

Well do not throw it out!!! What a waste. like the other posters said no one will know, just slice it put it on a bed of lettuce and cut up veggies to go around it no one will know the difference. if you want to get rid of the watery taste put it in a pan with or without spices and bake for a bit.

Executive Member Joined: Dec 17 2006 Posts: 255

Could be your flame was too high. It should boil on a very low flame.
Just let it drip dry (on a plate) and no one will taste a difference.
I also had it before thats why these days I just make small balls Wink

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48156

you could pop it into the oven for half an hour to dry it out.

Silver Member Joined: Oct 12 2004 Posts: 722

I've had the same problem a couple of times recently and I think it was because the gas was too high, but I put it in the oven for a while and it dried out.

As suggested, cut it (perhaps on the diagonal) and serve with veggies, some of the carrot and onion - no-one will notice.

Shabbat Shalom

Platinum Member Joined: May 16 2005 Posts: 6262

I also bake it liba but I dont put any water and its fine

Silver Member Joined: Oct 12 2004 Posts: 722

I made g. fish and it came out a little crumbly it still taste like the roll but it was fluffy what am I doing wrong.does anyone have a recipe that I can use?I use bakala ground fish. I have one (already made into a loaf)still in the freezer that I made what should I do to make it fluffier?
also I had a sauce once that was yum,I remember it contained mayo,curry and I dont remember what else,anyone knows this recipe and can share it??

Posted: Thu, Feb 14 2008, 2:01 pm Post subject:

Sometimes if the seam of the paper is face up in the water, it can "explode". Definitely don't through it away. Serve yourself or kids or even DH the messed up pieces & give the guests the nice round ones.

Platinum Member Joined: Mar 07 2007 Posts: 10429

you may not have done anything wrong at all. my gefilte loaf always looks like that. When cooking time is up, I put it in a colander and remove the paper so the loaf can drain, shrink and solidify as it cools. It's always fine to serve the next day. Skip the colandering and it remains waterlogged.

you didn't by any chance thaw the fish before cooking? If you thawed it first the cooking time would be less.

Platinum Member Joined: May 06 2007 Posts: 8518

Yikes, this happened to me last week. I turned off the fish and went out, forgetting that I had to take it out. Well, I came back and it was all waterlogged! We tried it and it was totally gross. I had to throw it out and start again. What a waste or money! Sad

Louche, I'll try your idea if that ever happens again, but I did let it sit and it was terrible!

You can always tell when it's water logged, don't kid yourself (or your guests!)

Posted: Thu, Feb 14 2008, 3:59 pm Post subject:

I almost always let it sit in the pot to kool ...
just last week I put in on a low flame and left the house ... I came home no water left in pot and dd didn't think to turn it off ... oh well - I think it's still in the fridge ... What

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don't wonder why people go crazy ... rather wonder why we don't
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NUTso but cute ~ things balance out Nervous

A main reason for gefilte fish exploding could be that your pot is too small! It sounds so silly but when you put the fish in frozen and uncooked it's much smaller than when it's fully cooked. It happened to me and I couldn't either figure out why my fish exploded, then I realized that when I put it into the pot it fit perfectly, but when it started cooking it expanded till no more room and Pop! Smile

Executive Member Joined: Jul 16 2009 Posts: 413

Help!

My fish was boiling and I was in the other room when I heard a bang! the pot cover came of and water sprayed everywhere and my fish is in pieces... Its all crumbly now... I quickly drained all the water out and really would like to save the fish if I can - Any ideas??