Gefilte Fish

When Sylvia ( my mother -in- law) was still living in Cedarbrook Apartments  in the early 1970’s,  I went over to watch her and Bubby ( my grandmother -in- law) make gefilte fish. 

Bubby & Sylvia April 9, 1960 David’s Bar Mitzvah!

Sylvia’s kitchen was small and U shaped. I sat on a stool to quietly watch what was going on.  I knew nothing about making gefilte fish.  Bubby was also sitting on a chair observing to make sure it was done correctly. Sylvia was at the counter chatting away about the process with this big pot of boiled fish carcasses.   So, she took out the carcasses: the head, the tail and the bones in between, and she started scraping the fish off the bones.  Sylvia was scraping and scraping and scraping and she said, “That's enough, I've done enough of that.” She pushed the carcasses aside and left the room to go do something else.  As soon as she left., Bubby got off her chair and walked over to the carcasses and started scraping more.  Obviously, as far as she was concerned Sylvia hadn’t scraped off enough fish.  Sylvia and Bubby always had a bit of a strained relationship and it was interesting to watch it play out in the kitchen over the fish.  

Carp

As soon as Bubby heard Sylvia coming back into the kitchen, she quickly walked back and sat on her chair as though she had never left it. Sylvia came back into the kitchen, looked at the carcasses with this puzzled look and said, “I know I just did this.”  And then she too found more fish to scrape off the carcasses before pushing it to the side. 

And from there they mixed the ground up fish with eggs and onions, and whatever else you put into gefilte fish.  It wreaked,  it smelled so bad in there.  

When I came home I told David, “Well, I have to tell you,  making gefilte fish is a dying art and It’s  dying with your mother and your grandmother.  There’s no way I'm ever going to  make it.”  And to this day I have kept my word!!!

How do you feel about gefilte fish? Do you like it? Do you miss it? Should it stay in the old country? Drop a comment below!

And for those of you who are thinking about rolling up your sleeves, stinking up your homes, and delving deep into your roots, here’s a recipe David has been thinking about making:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/you-can-actually-make-your-own-delicious-gefilte-fish/

Let me know if you try it because I’m still not making it!