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03/30/2001 Archived Entry: "High-Tech Gefilte Fish with Fresh Horseradish"

My grandmother’s gefilte fish was the envy and despair of our neighbors. Nobody made it better, and Elsie Binder Sonkin, who was never one to lie about her age or to hold back cooking advice, freely shared her recipe knowing that it isn’t the formula but the cook who makes the difference.

So no one was ever really able to duplicate her gefilte fish. Even Elsie had trouble keeping it consistent from holiday to holiday, gefilte fish being one of those dishes that require so much effort -- not to mention cash -- that most people make it only for special occasions, such as Passover in the spring and Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year that begins in the fall.

Indeed, the physical effort required to make gefilte fish began to be too much for Elise as age and illness crept up. In her last years, she gave into modern technology and started grinding her fish in the food processor instead of in the meat grinder, which always got clogged and made a messy job messier.

However, the final chopping still had to be done by hand, she insisted. This was always done in a large wooden bowl (still in my possession) with a crescent-shaped, hand-held chopper (still in my gadget drawer). The chopping was essential, she always said, not so much to get the fish fine enough but to incorporate air and to develop the proteins that eventually bind the fish. As you might imagine, my grandmother, although a very modern and well-read woman, did not know that it was proteins that stuck her fish together, although she did know precisely when to stop chopping: “when the fish grabs the chopper and you have trouble lifting it.”

For the last couple of years of her life, mine was the hand that chopped and I suppose I got “the feel,” which is why I dared, after her death, to take her fish totally into the late 20th century. I discovered you could develop the right tightness using an electric mixer. Then I discovered, only because I suddenly (and temporarily) became squeamish about tasting raw fish, that the microwave made great gefilte fish.

Most gefilte fish recipes suggest one to two hours of cooking. Microwaved fish takes 10 to 12 minutes.

I always thought the traditional cooking times were too long anyway. Grandma may have used them, but then grandmas used to cook stringbeans forever, too. So I experimented. I cooked some fish the traditional way, but started pulling the fish out after 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, then 45, etc. The fish cooked about 30 minutes had the optimum flavor and texture.

You may not like the taste of microwaved gefilte fish -- it’s naturally sweeter and much fresher than traditionally cooked fish. It won’t have the familiar taam, as it is said in Yiddish or, for that matter, the less desirable but familiar fishy smell. And you still have to cook the fish bones and heads with vegetables on top of the stove in order to get a broth that will gel.

On the other hand, now that people make outrageous recipes like curried gefilte fish, or gefilte fish with truffle oil (Feh!), my microwaved fish is fairly traditional.

In any case, the following recipe will serve both traditionalists and moderns. As Elsie always said, “it’s in your hands.”

High-Tech Gefilte Fish
Serves 8

Our Russian family tradition is for fish seasoned only with pepper, but many German, Austrian and Polish-Jewish families prefer a sugar sweetened fish. To achieve that end, reduce the amount of pepper and add sugar to taste.

For the broth:
1 pound combination fish head, fish skeleton, fish skin
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
3 cups cold water

For the fish cakes:
2 pounds fish fillets (combination of 2 or more of following - white fish, carp, perch, yellow pike)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup seltzer

Make broth first: Place fish head, skeleton and skin in a large kettle or skillet. Add sliced onion, salt, pepper, sliced carrot and cold water. Heat to boiling, lower heat to simmer, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, examine filleted fish carefully for bones, removing any present with knife or tweezers.

Cut fish into 1-inch chunks and place half in food processor bowl. With steel blade and an on and off motion, process until finely ground in appearance. Remove to electric mixer bowl. Repeat with remaining fish.

Without washing food processor, place chopped onion, carrot and celery in bowl. Process until very, very finely chopped. Add to fish. Add egg yolks, salt and pepper.

With an electric mixer set on low speed, mix well, scraping the bowl frequently and gradually blending in the seltzer.

Check seasoning. Taste raw fish. Or, form a small ball, place it on a small plate with a spoonful or two of broth and cover loosely with plastic. Microwave on high until cooked. If mixture is not to your taste, adjust salt and pepper accordingly.

To cook fish: Measure about 1/2 cup of the clear broth from the simmered fish bones into a 9-inch pie plate or shallow dish.

Shape fish mixture into balls or oval cakes using a large cooking spoon or a half cup measure and a rubber spatula. The spatula will enable you to ease the mixture into the broth in the pie plate. Four large balls fit nicely in a 9-inch pie plate. Cover loosely with microwave-safe plastic wrap and place in microwave oven. Cook at 50% power for 10 to 11 minutes or longer, turning the dish one-third, twice during that time, if there is no turntable.

Test for doneness by cutting one fish ball in half. Fish will become firm and lose its translucency in the cooking. (Since every microwave oven is slightly different your first batch may have to be somewhat experimental.)

Remove and refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Serve with a carrot round, fresh sliced onion and/or horseradish.


Grated Horseradish
In Jewish homes on Passover, horseradish is the standard “bitter herb” (moror), a food symbol of the Jews bitter days as slaves to the Egyptians and a requirement on the Seder plate that displays such food symbols.

Besides being a ceremonial part of the Seder, grated horseradish is always offered as a condiment with gefilte fish, one of the opening courses of the festive meal in families of Eastern European decent. In some of those families, it goes with pot roast, too.

You should be seeing the roots in your produce market or supermarket by now (some markets these days carry it all winter long), although the ones we are often offered are, unfortunately, old, tough, woody roots that are difficult to grate and sometimes have less punch -- less nasal clearing pungency -- than you’d expect from this member of the mustard family.

Here’s a trick to bring up its flavor and to make the grating slightly easier. If you can’t find perfect young, slim, supple horseradish roots -- they look like parsnips, but with a knobbier top -- soak the root, still unpeeled, in water for two or three days. The water will rehydrate and refreshen it. Keep it in a bowl in the refrigerator.

When ready to grate the horseradish, peel off the skin with a paring knife or vegetable peeler, then grate, either on a four sided grater, in a blender, or with the fine grating blade of a food processor. I haven’t tried it yet, but I understand those so-called microplanes used for cheese and citrus zests, do a very good job and produce a feathery light horseradish. I’m not convinced “feathery light horseradish” is desirable, but there it is.

Because horseradish oxidizes and loses its potency quickly, if grating the horseradish more than a few hours ahead, it needs to be stored in vinegar. Pour a mixture of 1 cup distilled white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt over the grated horseradish and keep refrigerated in a jar or other sealed container, until ready to use.