Here’s a show-stopping recipe for all those who want to elevate their Passover gefilte fish. If you are intent on purchasing the jarred stuff, however, you may want to read on for some fun gefilte fish history to add to your seder. I was so impressed with a gefilte fish article in the SF Chronicle in 2018, that I’ve saved it all these years.
From a SF Chronicle 2018 (I didn’t write it, but it’s so well written, I wish I had.)
“Gefilte fish is the love-it-or-hate-it ground fish dish that Jews have traditionally served as a first course on Friday night’s Sabbath meal, but also on Passover and at other holidays. “Gefilte” means “stuffed” in Yiddish, and originally the forcemeat was stuffed into whole fish such as pike or carp.
Today, the fish usually is deboned, chopped and/or ground and mixed with matzo meal, onion, eggs and seasonings, then shaped into oval balls that are poached in fish stock before being eaten at room temperature or cold from the fridge. Wags have dubbed it “the pescatarian’s meatloaf” and “the hot dog of the sea.”
And like meatloaf, gefilte fish picked up flavors and versions as Jews wandered the world. In Poland, gefilte fish is sweet; in Lithuania, it is peppery. And in modern Brooklyn, gefilte fish can be found made with sustainably raised fish, quinoa and micro arugula and served with a global array of flavors: Asian (soy or teriyaki sauce); Moroccan (turmeric and chickpeas), Mexican (con jalapeños) and even Indian (mangoes and tamarind).
But the vast majority of Jews eat it straight from a vacuum-sealed jar sold in supermarkets.
How did become the weird-looking jarred version?
That, like so much that is kitschy today, is a mid-20th-century invention. In 1935, the Heinz Co. became the first mass market food company to commit to making kosher products, quickly followed by Coca-Cola. After World War II, the influx of Jewish immigrants, many of them kosher-keeping, brought wider distribution of kosher products. With the introduction of new food technologies in the 1950s, the kosher food industry exploded, and the Jewish food that was among the most suitable for preservation was gefilte fish. Put it in a jar with broth or a jellylike goo derived from boiled fish bones and it can last on the shelves for a year.
But that innovation came at a cost.
“Bland, intractably beige, and (most unforgivably of all) suspended in jelly, the bottled version seemed to have been fashioned, golemlike, from a combination of packing material and crushed hope,” food writer Rebecca Flint Marx wrote of the Manischewitz jarred gefilte fish of her Midwestern childhood. “It refused assimilation or window-dressing; it was straight out of the shtetl.”
Today, while Manischewitz has 16 versions of jarred gefilte fish (“fishlets” in jelled broth, anyone?) a younger generation of Jews and foodies is reclaiming gefilte fish and giving it a makeover. Chief among them are the three millennials behind The Gefilteria, a Brooklyn (of course!) Jewish food producer that published “The Gefilte Manifesto” cookbook in 2016.
“Gefilte is not just about your bubbe,” The Gefilteria’s owners write, using the Yiddish word for grandma. “Gefilte is about reclaiming our time-honored foods and caring how they taste. … It’s about reclaiming the glory of Ashkenazi food — what it has been and what it can be.”
And now onto my version
There is nothing ordinary or traditional about my recipe. Although I don’t fall into the ‘younger’ chef’s category, I have always enjoyed taking traditional recipes and updating them. This terrine has the traditional taste of gefilte fish, but it is in such a new guise that until you taste it, there is no similarity. It’s quite similar to traditional gefilte fish with its white fish base and some horseradish, minus the gloppy gel.
The elegance of this terrine defies its ease. It’s not for first graders, but if you bake at all, you’ll find it very straightforward. First you need to make a soufflé-like fish base and bake it in a jelly roll pan that measures 10 1/2” x 15 1/2” x 1”. If your pan is too big, the fish cake will be too thin. A slightly smaller pan will work, but if you only have a full sheet pan, you will need to double the recipe. You need only make one sauce: it becomes both the terrine's base and its filling.
I think It's really fun decorating the terrine to look like your own Chagall. Or keep it simple and just put a small cut-out garnish or two on each slice before serving.
Happy Passover everyone. May your holiday be filled with love, good food and great memories. Hag Sameach.
Apologies for not having more how-to photos. These were taken during a life class and it wasn’t possible to stop and take pics. Bake the fish until it is lightly golden and feels firm to the touch. Remove from pan to a cutting board and when cool, cut lengthwise into 3 equal portions.
Slice the baked fish into 3 long layers and divide the filling over two of them. Top with third layer and refrigerate as long as overnight. The terrine can be garnished several hours ahead.
GEFILTE FISH TERRINE WITH HORSERADISH, CARROTS AND BEETS
Terrine
2 tablespoons unsalted non-dairy margarine
1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, divided
4 tablespoons potato starch
1 3/4 cups homemade chicken soup or 1 can (10 1/4 ounces) condensed chicken broth and 3/4 cup water
1 pound white fish fillets, (1 pound cod or a mixture of whitefish and halibut preferred)
5 egg yolks
6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Filling
1 can (8 1/4 ounces) sliced carrots
1 can (8 1/4 ounces) sliced beets
4 tablespoons jarred red horseradish
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish, optional
Lettuce leaves
Carrot curls or sliced beets and carrots, cut into flowers
1. To make terrine: Line a 10 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 1-inch rimmed baking sheet (jelly roll pan) with parchment or foil,
letting 1-inch extend over each short end. Grease or spray the paper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt margarine in a medium saucepan. Stir in 1/2 cup onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in potato starch. Whisk in broth and water if using, and stir over moderate heat until mixture just comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat.
3. Cut fish into 2-inch pieces and process with remaining 1/4 cup onion in food processor with the metal blade until ground. Add egg yolks, 1 cup of the sauce, salt and pepper; pulse until well blended.
4. In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Fold fish mixture into whites. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until top springs back when pressed and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. The top will be very lightly browned. Cool in pan.
5. To make filling: Drain carrots, chop into 1/4-inch dice and stir into sauce in pan. Stir in 2 tablespoons beet juice. Drain remaining beet juice, chop beets into 1/4-inch dice and stir into sauce. Stir in horseradish, salt and pepper to taste.
6. To assemble: Lift paper with terrine on it out of the pan and place on a work surface. Cut it lengthwise into 3 equal strips. Using 2 spatulas, place one strip on platter. Spread with half the filling. Top with second strip. Spread with remaining filling. Top with third strip. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.
7. Optional garnish: To make carrot and beet flowers, using small canapé cutters, cut flower shapes from sliced cooked carrots and beets. For roses, thinly slice cooked beets and carrots. Wrap one slice tightly for the center and then loosely wrap the other slices around it. Secure with toothpicks.
8. To serve: Line salad plates with lettuce. Slice terrine into 3/4 to 1-inch servings, place on lettuce leaves and garnish with carrots and beets flowers.
Makes 15 (1-inch) servings.
