Gefilte Fish Recipes

I’m known for having ‘‘caviar taste on a gefilte fish budget’ — Hubby, the ying to my yang simply has gefilte fish taste. Truth be told both fish eggs and gefilte fish are acquired tastes, but way over on opposite sides of the palette.

If, like Hubby, you have gefilte fish dreams then these recipes are for you. Homemade and handmade, classic and unconventional, fast and fusion we have every version of this Jewish Ashkenazi appetizer right here, right now, for you.

More on the history of gefilte fish below. 

At most events I do, inevitably a woman comes up to me with a story.

She speaks of inheriting her grandmother’s gefilte fish recipe or some other such occurrence that leads her to following the directions of an old time version with the first instruction being:

“Take the fish out of the bathtub…”

So now you, like me, are wondering — what was her frozen loaf doing in the tub? If you are not like me and know that there once was a time, way back when, in a land far far away, people who actually made their own gefilte fish from scratch (ahhhh!). My grandmother did in fact make hers from scratch. But it wasn’t in fact authentic gefilte fish. We called it Falsha Fish meaning “fake fish” in Yiddish because hers was actually fleish (meat!). She made a sweet white croquette from ground chicken breast with a jellied broth and sliced carrots. Looked like gefilte, tasted like gefilte but thankfully didn’t begin with a chicken in the tub.

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Gefilte is one of those things you are into or you’re not. Even though its technically pareve (unless of course you are making falsha fish) it’s kinda hard to be pareve on the subject. We are pretty die-hard in our house. Hubby likes, no let me clarify, loves the jarred version. Can you believe it? Any others like him out there? Speak now or forever hold it! It’s because, of course, he grew up eating it, even though his step-mom was a crazy good cook, that’s what she served. I’ll eat the jellied broth from the jar because it reminds me of my Ma (my Grandmother) but that’s about it. I, on the other hand, really do love the frozen loaf. Don’t you just love this. Finally hubby and I agree on food. “Yes” gefilte fish. But “No”! G-d forbid we like the same kind.

So at least he keeps it easy for me and I go creative all twisty and turny on what to do with the frozen loaf. 

Gefilte fish, “the” Jewish food for Shabbos and holiday festivities, was invented by some ingenious Jewish women many generations ago to help diners avoid tangling with bones while they ate. The word itself means “filled” in Yiddish, referring to the original practice of filling the fish’s skin with ground fish. From the fish in your bathtub of course.