Jarred gefilte fish

AZmom09 ↓

Thu, Sep 06 2012, 12:22 pm

I bought a jar on sale and I heard of taking the fish and mixing it with other ingredients to make it taste good. Anyone have a good recipe? Ive only seen one before and it was too many steps (needed to fry it..) I just want to mix it with other things and bake.
Any ideas?

lizard8

Thu, Sep 06 2012, 12:38 pm

Ok. Maybe its just me. I like gefilte fish and I'm not so picky over the brand- but I still don't understand jarred gefilte fish. I can't stand the gel that its in and the though that its been sitting on the shelf for months.

It would be convenient to be able to buy jarred fish. Do recipes make it taste better or does it just try to cover it up? I don't mean to bash here, I am really curious.

Thu, Sep 06 2012, 1:18 pm

Interesting - I never encountered non-jarred gefilte fish until I was an adult, and found it to be an acquired taste. Actually, jarred fish itself was an acquired taste, but I'm a little picky.

Someone once mentioned simply heating it up in the broth before serving warm, instead of right out of the fridge.

There are recipes that call for baking the fish in a sauce.

I would say that jarred and loaf gefilte fish are two totally different foods. No recipe will make jarred fish taste like frozen or fresh fish (or vice versa). It isn't necessarily bad (depending on what you like), just different. The recipes don't just cover up the taste any more than cooking chicken in sauce just covers up the taste of chicken. The fish and sauce are ingredients used to make another dish.

They're not all alike. All-whitefish or whitefish-and-pike will have a smoother consistency; anything with carp will be grainier. Some brands have lots of matza meal in them (my husband says "you need to say hamotzi!" lol), which I prefer because it gives a blander, smoother taste. Other people prefer the kind with less filler and more fish. Once again, it bears no resemblance to loaf gefilte fish, regardless of what it's made from.

As for the broth - opening a jar with liquid broth without spilling it is a challenge; the jelled broth is more convenient and easier to handle (all I do with it is remove the fish and throw away the broth - the rare person that actually eats/drinks it could tell you which kinds are better).

Hope this helps!

CatLady

Thu, Sep 06 2012, 3:09 pm

My mom's trick was to dump the jelled liquid into a saucepan and simmer it with sliced carrots, celery and onions, as well as a squirt of lemon juice. One this had simmered for a bit, she added the fish for a few more minutes of infusing, then chilled everything down. TBH, I used to eat the jelly scooped up with a piece of matzah (such yummy memories!) and decline taking the fish.

willow

Fri, Sep 07 2012, 8:05 am

One of my friends mom used to make a hot and sour sauce pour it over bring to boil and simmer. It was nice and spicy with a good kick. This is from someone who does not eat gefilta fish at all because I don't think it is "real" fish!!: Smile

)
The sauce is amazing hot to scoop up with challah.

↑ AZmom09

Sun, Sep 09 2012, 1:53 am

I ended up finding a recipe on about.com
My can of fish had about 6 pieces, so im not sure it was considered a large jar. Anyone know how many pieces come in a large one?
Anyway I made the recipe below minus the celery (none at the store)
I didnt add pepper or sugar since the fish was sweet and spicy as is and also I chopped the veggies. Next time I would use more fish (it didnt really taste like fish b.c it had so much filler) and id blend the veggies in the food processor so its fine and there arent any pieces. BUT all in all it ended up coming out pretty good. If I find the jarred fish on sale again, I would definitely try this recipe out- plus it made 6 pieces of fish into a full 9x13 pan, so I got many more pieces!

Ingredients:

1 large jar gefilte fish in broth
2 large onions
2 large carrots
2 large ribs celery
1/4 cup fresh parsley
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup matzo meal
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 - 1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. sugar
paprika to sprinkle
Preparation:

1. Remove gefilte fish from broth. Save 1/2 cup of the broth and discard the rest of the broth.
2. In a food processor, finely chop the onions, carrots, celery, and parsley.
3. Mash fish in a large bowl. Add broth and chopped vegetables.
4. Add eggs, then matzo meal, mayonnaise, pepper and sugar. Blend well.
5. Place in a greased 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle top with paprika.
6. Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.