And this week, he writes: "The first American product that I missed was, believe it or not, gefilte fish. The Israeli stuff more resembles kishke."
Co inky dink!
While we lived in Europe, my father would sometimes wistfully mention the American foods that he longed for.
One of those things was gefilte fish. Which, my mother being an uninspired cook, it was a blessing that we did not serve. And at that time I had not become the food-slut that I am now, and so had no interest in making gefilte fish or reading about it either.
In the mid-seventies my father and I went to Brussels and Paris several times - Brussels because of the fine restaurants and wonderful drinking establishments (Belgians have no religion except eating and drinking), and Paris for a variety of reasons. Including restaurants in Le Marais, such as Goldenbergs (on the Rue Vielle Du Temple), which had chocolate cake to commit mayhem for, and a number of dishes on the menu that were, to me, unidentifiable, such as 'poisson farci'.
Which my father joyfully recognized as gefilte fish.
For him, a taste of 'home'. For me, a taste of America.
When I came to Berkeley in 1978, the gefilte fish situation was as bad as it had been in the Netherlands. So I wrote a friend, and got a recipe. Which, with almost no modifications whatsoever, I post below.
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GEFILTE FISH
Benodigd, voor de visballen:
Required, for the fishballs:
Twee pond lichte vis, zowel zee als zoetwater vis.
Two pounds of white fish, both fresh and saltwater.
2 Kleine uien, versnipperd.
2 Small onions, minced very fine.
6 - 7 Eetlepels matzemeel.
6 to 7 Tbs. Matzameal.
4 Eieren.
4 Eggs.
1 Eetlepel suiker.
One Tbs. Sugar.
2 Theelepel zout.
2 Tsp. Salt.
2 Theelepel peper.
Two Tsp. pepper.
Voor de soep:
For the soup:
Vier pond vissenkoppen, graten, en vel.
4 Pounds fishheads, scraps, bones, skin.
1 grote peen, geschraapt en gehakt.
A large carrot, cleaned and chopped.
4 stengels selderij, gehakt.
Four stalks of celery, chopped.
2 Kleine uien, gepeld.
Two onions, peeled.
Bereidingswijze:
Preparation:
Hak de vis erg fijn. Meng er doorheen: ui, matzemeel, eieren, suiker, zout en peper.
Chop the fish finely. Mix with the minced onion, matzameal, eggs, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Plaats de vismengsel in een kom en laat in de koelkast 1 uur rusten.
Place the fishmixture in a bowl, and let it rest one hour in the fridge.
Doe alle visresten, met peen, selderij, en ui in een kastrol, giet er genoeg water bij dat alles ruwweg 5 cm onder staat. Breng aan de kook en laat 15 minuten zachtjes (niet borrelend) koken.
Place all fishscrap materials, carrot, celery and the two peeled onions in a cauldron, add enough liguid that it stand under by roughly two inches. Raise to boil and simmer (do not allow to roil) for fifteen minutes.
Met vochtige handen ovalen ballen van het vismengsel vormen.
With damp hands form oval balls of the fishmixture.
Plaats de visballen voorzichtig in de hete vloeistof, bedeksel de pan, en laat de visballen 1 uur of ietwat langer sudderen. Lang garen heeft voordelen voor zowel de smaak als de structuur van de visballen. Let op dat de visbalen helemaal bedekt blijven met vloeistof, daar ze veel vocht opnemen. Voeg indien nodig wat (heet) water toe.
Place the fishballs carefully in the hot liquid, cover with the lid, and simmer for an hour or more. Long poaching improves both the taste and the structure of the fishballs. Check to make sure the balls remain inundated - they take up rather much moisture. If necessary add some (hot) water.
Neem de visballen met een spaan uit de pan en leg ze in een soep schaal.
Remove the fishballs with a slotted spoon from the pan, and place in a tureen.
Zeef het kookvocht, en schenk het over de visballen.
Strain the kooking liquid, and pour over the fishballs.
De gefilte fish is, mits bewaard in het kookvocht, ten minste 3 dagen in de koelkast houdbaar.
Gefilte fish, submerged in cooking liquid, can be kept for at least three days in the refrigerator.
Geef er mierikswortel (chrein) bij.
Serve with horseradish.
Het gerecht mag met de gekookte peen (gesneden of gesnipperd) gegarneerd worden.
The dish may be garnished with the cooked carrot (sliced or minced).
Alzook peterselie.
As well as parsley.
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Note 1.: I first posted this recipe January 25th. on http://shabboscooking.blogspot.com/ .
Note 2.: I confess to a major perversion (and now would be the right time to run outside screaming "La la la la la la la la la la la la la la I can't HEAR you!") when it comes to this dish. Specifically, I like adding coconut milk, lemon grass, galangal, and curry paste to the soup, plus rice-stick noodles (also called river noodles).
This approach treats it like a complex Indonesian soup -- think of saoto manok (soto ayam - a chicken soup with potatoes, vegetables, herbs, flavoured with turmeric and ground coriander), sop buntot ("arse" soup - oxtail stew with tomatoes, soy sauce, and star anise - served with crusty bread), saoto kambing (soto kambing - lamb or goat bone soup with tons of parsley and coriander, with fried potato nuggets). In any case, rather than chrein, a nice hot sambal is a good idea.
And chopped cucumber to cool a blistered palate.
Note 3.: Kishke is not my cup of tea. Is it yours? Feel free to wax poetic about kishke in the comments - no really, I insist.
Salamat makan and baruch Hashem.
9 comments:
The poisson farci reminds me of a gefilte fish recipe by Bocuse. I think he called it Carpe à la juive. (I hope that's not grammatically parallel to the better known Carpe à la bière.) If you're interested in that, I might write it down the next time I'me at my in-laws.
And I'm still waiting for the ultimate rich man's bar mitzve dish: Gefilte Koi.
Salamat po, Sarat!
1. Do you actually keep the liquid and use it for something, i.e. consumption?
2. Is the liquid actually liquid at the end of this process, or does it gel up into slime like the gefilta fish that comes in jars?
3. For the Indonesian-esque variant, any idea where i would get hekhshered (or otherwise verifiably kosher) galangal? And is curry paste just like curry spice with liquid added? And what are the amounts for it?
I «heart» kishka, and all cholent accessories — kishka, guevos haminados, jahhnun... preferable all together in one huge cholent.
I made chiliconcarnecholent for this past shabbos, with kishka.
I dislike ISraeli gefile fish becuuse they grind bones into it... naturally!
Ah,the kishke. an indispensable staple of the ashkenazi chulent. Well, there is real kishke and then there is what people today call kishke.
What people today call kishke is a type of well spiced dough which is inserted into the chulent and slow cooked until it absorbs all the flavors of the other foods in the cholent - quite delicious though it does not compare to the real variety. Most people do not make this dough at home but rather buy it at a store. If you email me, I will provide you with a pretty delicious home recipe.
The real stuff is unfortunately not legal in most US states. I know for sure it is not legal in CA. You see, you must get your hands on cow intestines. Clean them well. Then you take the same dough mentioned above and stuff it into the intestines and tie them on both ends. You then slow cook it with the cholent.
The result is nothing short of culinary heaven.
LaBriyut!
(actualy, kishke has very little to do with briyut )
And btw, I find that adding some karp to the whitefish adds an extra punch.
Steg,
Galangal is red dwarf ginger (a close relative of the dwarf ginger which the folks in the hinterlands if Kwangsi use for dog-stew - I believe the Montagnards do the same). It is available in both powder form from Thai companies, and as dried slices from Maly, Indonesian, and Thai companies. If you're woried about shrotzim, buy the slices and run them past a rabbi.
Curry paste is a pounded mixture (rempah or bumbu) of the flavouring ingredients for certain curries, in proper proportion. For a very basic yellow curry paste, pound together the following ingredients: half a dozen shallots, half a dozen cloves garlic, half a dozen hot green chilies, a generous thumblength fresh ginger, some kosher anchovies in oil (as a substitute for shrinp-paste), one tablespoon each of sugar and cround coriander seed, half a tablespoon each of turmeric and cayenne, and generous pinches of cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, and mace. It is too stiff, add moisture. If it is too wet, increase the dry spices proportionately. If you can find kemiri nuts, add three or four - if not, substitute half a dozen cashews or omit nuts entirely.
Once pounded smooth, fry it thick - sticky - dark - and fragrant in a skillet, let it cool, and roll it sausage-wise into wax paper, and keep it in the freezer. Break off an amount as needed.
Experiment with proportions of the ingredients (for instance, adding cumin or increasing cayenne, etc.), and experiment with proportions of the paste added to dishes.
Or find a manufacturer of kosher curry pastes..... one that does not use shrimp-paste. Surely there must be one somewhere?
Regarding the liquid - yes, I do use it, and yes, it should gell nicely when cold. Slime is good for you.
Hwevos Haminados are delish.
Frumgirl,
They grind the bones INTO it?
Yech!!!
That's such a waste of good fish remains for soup.
Lipman,
If the next time that you are at your mechutenim you copy down the recipe, please post it on your blog.
Chardal,
Carp is one of the traditional inclusions. But hard to find in Chinatown, and I distrust most fish vendors outside of Chinatown.
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