Best Gefilte Fish Recipes

Steps:

• In a large, wide pot, bring fish stock to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer.
• In a large bowl combine whitefish, yellow pike, and carp. Add onions, eggs, matzo meal, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup cold water. Stir with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a paste.
• Moisten hands with cold water. Shape about 1/3 cup of mixture into an oval slightly larger than an egg (3 to 4 inches long). Place gently in simmering stock. Repeat with remaining mixture. Add carrots. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover and simmer, until firm and opaque, about 1 hour. Cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container. Chill until stock gels, at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve cold, or at room temperature, garnished with fresh horseradish and a sprig of dill. May be made up to 2 days ahead.

Steps:

• Grind the fish, 2 1/2 onions and 4 carrots together. Place fish mixture in a wooden bowl. Using a hand chopper, add eggs one at a time. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons salt and white pepper and continue to chop until very well blended. Stir in the ice water a little at a time throughout this process. Add matzo meal and chop again. Check to see if mixture is thick enough to bind together to make an oval gefilte fish ball and if not add in more matzo meal.
• Meanwhile, fill two large heavy stock pots half full of water . Into each pot slice one raw onion and one sliced carrot. Add fish skins, if desired. Sprinkle in paprika, salt, black pepper and two tablespoons of sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let boil for 10 minutes.
• With wet hands shape the fish balls and carefully drop into boiling stock. Cover slightly and cook over medium-low heat for 2 hours. When done, let fish sit in the pot for 10 minutes, then remove pieces carefully to containers and strain remaining stock over fish balls, just barely covering them. Chill and serve. They will now keep in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.

Steps:

• Fill a large, wide pot with 10 cups of water and place over high heat. While bringing to a boil, coarsely chop and add to the pot 1 onion, 1 celery stalk, 1 carrot and the fennel bulb. Add the peppercorns and 1 teaspoon salt. Once water is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, while preparing the fish.
• Coarsely chop the remaining onion, celery stalk and 1 carrot, then pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. Add fish, chives and 2 tablespoons parsley, tarragon and/or dill, and keep pulsing until fish is chopped but not mushy.
• Move the fish mixture to a medium bowl and add eggs, oil, matzo meal, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste) and the ground black pepper, and mix well with your hands.
• Put your hands in a bowl of cold water. Using your hands, mold the fish mixture into a 3- by 2-inch oval patty (about 2 ounces) and gently place on a platter. Repeat with the remaining fish mixture, dipping your hands in water as needed.
• Pop the third carrot into the simmering broth and gently add the patties to the pot. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until patties are firm.
• Use a slotted spoon to remove the fish and carrot from the poaching liquid to cool on a plate. Slice the carrot diagonally into thin rounds.
• Place each patty on a leaf of radicchio or endive or both. Set the sliced carrot rounds on top of each patty. Garnish with the remaining tablespoon of fresh herbs and serve warm or at room temperature with horseradish, preferably homemade. If making a day ahead, refrigerate, covered, then return the patties to room temperature before serving.

Steps:

• Place very little olive oil in a pot over medium heat.
• Add the onion and just slightly brown.
• Add the pieces of fish and the fish geletin, carrots, celery and pepper to taste.
• Raise heat to high and bring to a boil and then reduce the heat back to medium or medium-low and simmer 8 to 10 minutes… Remove from heat.
• Take the pieces of fish out of the pot very gently and cool on a platter.
• Reserve the vegetables.
• Slightly oil a cookie sheet.
• Lay the pieces of fish onto the slightly oiled cookie sheet and turn the fish over, so that both sides of the fish are oiled. Place the fish into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.
• Turn the fish over and bake another 10 minutes, or until the fish is slightly browned. Remove from oven and refrigerate. Serve with the reserved vegetables and horseradish.

Steps:

• Grind snapper meat and trout meat in a meat grinder set to the smallest grind. Process fish meat through the grinder again.
• Place reserved fish heads, skin, and bones in a large pot. Add water, onion, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, and 1 pinch white sugar; bring mixture to a boil and cook until flavors combine, at least 30 minutes. Strain and discard fish heads, skin, bones, and onion. Return broth to the pot.
• Beat ground fish, eggs, onion, water, matzo meal, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon white pepper in a large bowl with an electric mixture until mixture is soft and holds together. Using wet hands, form fish mixture into oblong 1-inch balls.
• Gently drop fish balls into broth, adding more water as necessary to completely cover all of the fish. Cover the pot and bring to a boil; reduce heat, uncover the pot, and simmer until stock has reduced by half, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add carrot rounds, cover, and steam until tender but firm to the bite, 6 to 10 minutes.
• Carefully remove fish to a serving dish. Place 1 carrot slice on top of each fish ball. Pour broth over the fish balls and set aside to cool to room temperature.
• Cover dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate until broth gels, at least 2 hours.

Steps:

• 1) Combine all ingredients, except the fish skin in a large (8 to 10 quart) braising pot. The skin will be added after the Gefilte fish is cooking. 2) Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Mix the Gefilte fish while the stock is simmering. The dumplings will be cooked in the stock after it has simmered 20 to 30 minutes and the stock will not be strained until after the Gefilte fish is removed.;
• Grind the fish fillets (which will have the fine pin bones in the meat) through the small plate of a meat grinder. Mix well and grind again. Place the fish in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, onions, carrots, matzo meal, salt, pepper and sugar. Mix very well. Add the oil and cold water and blend into a smooth paste. Make a small ball and cook in the stock for a couple of minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Have a bowl of water handy. Keeping both hands wet, shape 3-ounces of the mixture into oval balls and drop into the stock. Continue until all are made and added to the stock. After they have cooked 10 minutes, add the skin (it was reserved) to the stock. Cover the pot and simmer slowly for 2 hours, turning and basting the dumplings every 15 or 20 minutes. Remove the Gefilte fish with a slotted spoon and place in a large container. Strain the remaining stock over the Gefilte fish. Pick the carrots slices out of the remains and add to the strained stock as well. Allow the Gefilte fish and carrots to cool in the stock, which should gel when completely chilled. Serve with the jellied stock, carrots and beet-horseradish. Slice the Gefilte fish for a nice presentation.;

Steps:

• Grind the fish, but not too finely. In a food processor it should be done in two batches, about 24 pulses each. Mix the fish with the onion, garlic, parsley, matzoh meal, lemon juice, wine or water and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Do not underseason. The best way to check the seasonings is to poach a small amount of the mixture in simmering water and taste.
• For the stock, place the fish bones and heads in a stockpot. Cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil about 5 minutes, skimming constantly. Lower heat to a simmer.
• Add the remaining stock ingredients except the salt, and simmer gently about 1 1/2 hours, adding additional water as needed to keep the ingredients covered. Strain through a very fine strainer. Season with salt.
• Pour the stock into a large shallow saucepan. Add the carrots, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the carrots, slice them and refrigerate. Add enough water to the stock so the liquid is about 3 inches deep. Bring to a simmer.
• Keeping your hands wet with cold water, form the fish mixture into oval patties about 3 inches long. Slip as many as will fit comfortably into the pan, and poach for 30 minutes. Remove and drain them, and continue poaching the rest. When all the fish is cooked, transfer it to a bowl or serving dish, scatter the carrot slices over it and refrigerate.
• Boil down the cooking liquid until it is reduced to about 3 cups. Strain through a fine strainer. Spoon some over the cooled fish. Refrigerate the rest. It should jell. Skim the surface.
• Serve the fish cold with horseradish and jellied broth on the side.

Steps:

• Mix together fish, onions, eggs, salt, sugar, pepper until very thoroughly blended.
• If you are my mother, or not as squeemish as her daughter, you taste it at this point (yes, raw) and adjust seasonings to taste. If you are me, you just pray that it is well-seasoned and move on.
• Add matzo meal slowly, mixing very very well, until it is almost thick enough to shape into balls, but just a bit softer. (How's that for imprecise?).
• Cover the bowl, and refrigerate for at least one hour, or even overnight.
• At this point, you can shape the mixture into balls or loaves and freeze for future use, but no one ever does because deferring this gratification for that long is just impossible.
• Make the broth: In a large soup pot, mix the broth ingredients.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 30 minutes or so. It should be sort of golden in color. Taste to adjust seasoning. The broth should be sweet and a little salty.
• Form the fish mixture into balls, cylinders, loaves -- whatever.
• Add to broth, bring to a boil again, and then lower to a very slow boil for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Cool. Eat. Enjoy.

Steps:

• To make the dumplings, cut the fish into 1 1/2-inch chunks and place in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes to freeze partially. Transfer to a food processor and process to as fine a puree as possible. Add the onion, egg, matzo meal, salt, and pepper and continue processing to a paste. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator until quite firm, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
• To make the beet horseradish, cook the beet in water to cover until it can barely be pierced, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size. Drain and let cool until it can be handled, then peel it while still warm. Grate on the medium-fine holes of a box grater. In a small bowl, combine the grated beet, horseradish, vinegar, sugar, and salt and stir to mix. Set aside at room temperature until ready to use or refrigerate for up to 2 days.
• To make the broth, combine the fish bones and heads, carrot, celery, shallot, salt, and water in a medium saucepan, adding more water if needed to cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat and skim off any foam that forms on the surface. Decrease the heat to maintain a brisk simmer, cover partially, and cook until slightly reduced, about 30 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
• To cook the dumplings, with wet hands, form the fish mixture into ovals the size of a very large egg, using about 1/3 cup for each dumpling. Drop them into the broth and bring just to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer, adding more water if necessary to keep the dumplings afloat, until cooked through, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer the dumplings and broth to a serving bowl, let cool until no longer steaming, and refrigerate until the broth sets into a loose gelée, 3 hours or so.
• Serve the gefilte fish and gelée cold with the beet horseradish on the side.