Simply Seafood®

Gefilte Fish & Beyond

On an enormous silver platter
a great fish reposed in a bed of parsley: it was complete and perfect from head to tail,
with eyes of carrots and capers,
and gleaming scales of gelatin.

Surely no holiday food is more Jewish than gefilte fish. It has been eaten by the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe since the late Middle Ages. Perhaps because of its guttural-sounding name in English, it will probably never, like lutefisk within the Norwegian community, become a showstopper outside the Jewish community. But for the majority of American Jews it signifies holiday food in their home. And, homemade, it is delicious.

When the Jews migrated to Eastern Europe, fresh fish was hard to come by. Even so, they wanted just a little bit for their Friday evening meal—to welcome the delights of the Sabbath. Since nearly all the Jews were extremely poor, they learned to invent dishes for people of limited means. During the week their diet consisted of potatoes, salt herring, onions, and dark bread. Fresh fish was reserved for the Sabbath. Living near the North Sea, they could use pike, carp, buffel, or other inexpensive freshwater fish. But these fish spoil quickly. A fish stretcher—gefilte fish—was therefore concocted so that the 41 members of the family could have at least a small taste for the Friday meal. The women learned to carefully scrape the flesh away from the skin and bone, to add chopped onions, seasoning, bread or matzah crumbs and egg. The fish was then put back into the skin and poached in much the same way another Eastern European Jewish dish, matzah balls, are. Thus, the appellation “gefilte fish.” The fish patties came later. In America, where all manner of cooking was quickened, it was easier to make patties than to take the stuffing and carefully put it back into the skin.

Let’s talk about the symbolism of fish

Before we get into the particulars about gefilte fish, however, let’s talk about the symbolism of fish for the Jews, a relationship they have had since earliest times.

While trekking through the Sinai to the Promised Land, the Israelites longed for the fish first tasted in Egypt. “We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for naught.” (Numbers 11:5) Later, so much fish from the Sea of Galilee was sold in Jerusalem that the gate nearby was called “the Fish Gate.” And even later, during the Roman period, fresh fish for the Sabbath was in such demand that the Romans imposed a high tax for the right to fish in the lake.

Eating fish has always symbolized the hope of redemption and is a reminder of the mercies of God. In Genesis, God blesses man and fish several times, creating a mystical triad. He urges them to “be fruitful and multiply.” From this, fish came to symbolize fertility and immortality. The defeat of the Leviathan, the great monstrous fish mentioned in Job, is used as the symbol of glory to come in the Messianic Age, when good will triumph over evil. At that time the Leviathan will be caught and the flesh given to the faithful. Folk traditions abound with the symbol of fish. A virgin should be married on the fourth day of the week and have intercourse on the fifth day, when the blessing of the fish is pronounced. For Moroccan Jews the seventh day of the wedding feast is “fish day” when the groom sends the bride a plate of fish which her mother throws at the groom’s feet. After he takes a bit of the fish, the bride steps over a fishnet and symbolically becomes pregnant. Although the Talmud, the authoritative body of Jewish tradition, does not command the eating of fish on Friday night, it is nevertheless strongly suggested.

“Wherewith does one show his delight therein?” states the Talmud. “With a dish of beets, a large fish and cloves of garlic.” The Code of Jewish Law also tells us that a man is supposed to make love to his wife on Friday night—when foods that arouse rather than quell the senses are used—fish and garlic rather than salt. In our hectic lives that is not a bad law. It is most likely that the Christians took over the Jewish significance of fish in their religion. In Greek, for example, Christ means Ichthus, or “fish.” The triad becomes the trinity. Christians, too, eat fish for holidays and on Friday, probably coming from this early tradition around the Mediterranean in Jerusalem and Greece.

Folk traditions abound with the symbol of fish

They also have taken over some of the dishes. On a trip to Lithuania for American cookbook writers and chefs, for example, I visited the state cooking school. One of the main dishes showcased was a classic gefilte fish stuffed back into the skin which the cooking teachers said the Jews of Vilnius taught to them before World War II.

In Cracow, Poland, at the Wierzynek restaurant, the most famous in Poland, and known for its wild boar dishes, carp Jewish style is featured on the menu. The dish, common in Poland, features carp that is cut in steaks and often filled with fish, bread crumbs (or matzah meal) onions and eggs. It is always simmered in a typical Galicianer sweet and sour sauce of vinegar, raisins, almonds and sometimes prunes and then served cold in the resulting gel. Carp Jewish style is one of the seven symbolic fish dishes served at a typical Polish Christmas Eve dinner. In Polish folklore carp symbolizes strength and as in other Central European Christian countries is the symbol of Christmas.

Although I have never attended a Polish Christmas Eve dinner, I have been to an Italian one where I tasted seven fish dishes. It began with pasta wrapped in a superlative tomato sauce with stuffed squid. As soon as we had finished what I though was enough for an entire evening, six other kinds of fish and shellfish appeared on the table. Capitone—roasted eel with oil, wine, garlic, and bay leaves—was the most important, eaten by fewer and fewer people because most second and third generation Americans are squeamish about the slippery fish.

So why not try some fish dishes this holiday season

Baccala (codfish cakes), scallops, whiting, fried shrimp, fried fillet of sole, and smelt salad were all served family-style. Why seven fish? The lucky number seven appears at Christmas because of the winter solstice: The ancients knew that the moon has four phases, each phase lasting seven days. At this coldest period of the year, they hoped that at the end of the cycle of seven, the sun would come out once again. With ichthus (“fish” in Greek) an acrostic of Jesus’ name and titles, it is no wonder that fish is eaten on Christmas Eve.

So why not try some fish dishes this holiday season, including this cross-cultural dish of gefilte fish pâté, a showstopper at any holiday buffet. Just fill the center with bright red horseradish and some greens around the side. Watch them ask for seconds.

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