Stuffed Fish (Gefilte Fish)
An Ashkenazi Jewish classic — whole fish is cut into steaks, the flesh is ground with onion and bread to make a tender stuffing, then the pieces are gently simmered in aromatic broth until the cooking liquid sets into a golden jelly. Best served cold with horseradish.
Ingredients
- 1750 glarge fresh fish
- 3 piecelarge onions
- 1 piecelarge carrot
- 110 gwhite bread soaked in water
- 3 pieceeggs
- 2 tbspvegetable oil
- 1 tspsugar
- 2 piecebay leaves
- 1 horseradish for serving
Method
- Scale the fish. Cut off head, tail and fins. Carefully remove innards without puncturing the gallbladder. Cut crosswise into 3-4 cm steaks. Using a small knife, carefully cut out the flesh from each steak, keeping the skin and backbone intact to form rings.
- Pass the fish flesh, 1 onion and squeezed bread through a meat grinder twice. Combine with eggs, sugar, salt and pepper. Finely chop and fry the remaining onion in oil until golden; mix into the filling. Knead well to make the mixture fluffy. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
- With wet hands, shape filling into oval patties and gently press into the fish skin rings. Do not over-pack — the filling expands during cooking.
- Line the bottom of a wide pot with fish head, spine, bones, onion skins, sliced onion rings and half the carrot rounds. Arrange stuffed pieces on top. Add remaining carrot, allspice and bay leaves.
- Cover with cold water to 2-3 cm above the fish. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to very low, season with salt and simmer uncovered for 1.5-2 hours.
- Allow to cool in the cooking liquid, then refrigerate. Serve cold when the broth has set into jelly, with sharp horseradish.
FAQ
Dryness usually comes from too little soaked bread or over-mixing the filling. The bread (soaked and squeezed) should make up about 20% of the fish mince — it binds moisture and creates a soft texture. Mix the filling gently with your hands just until combined; overworking develops protein strands that tighten during cooking. Also make sure the broth is barely simmering, not boiling hard — aggressive heat squeezes moisture out of the patties. Adding a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the filling helps too.
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Comments (1)
Don't move the fish once it's in the pan for stuffed fish. If it sticks, it's not ready to flip — the proteins haven't released yet. When it's ready, it slides freely. Patience prevents broken fillets.