Kutsher's Tribeca

[Lippy]

What does it taste like that it's so disgusting (I've never had it)? Is it just the jelly that people don't like?

It has a strong "fishy" taste due primarily to the carp and (to me) an unpleasant, sandy texture. The jelly is unspeakable.

 

If you are curious, though, I agree with others that Citarella's is the best. You may like it. Lots of people do. You can buy just one piece,

[Sneakeater]

I can see how you wouldn't want to eat anything with a sandy texture.

[g.johnson]

Strong gritty fish in fish jelly doesn't sound very appealing. Perhaps I'll get some for Yvonne.

[oakapple]

And I'll emphasize again, it's often made with a cheap fish that most restaurants don't serve on its own. It's not as if you're starting with a great product, and then ruining it. You're starting with a product that is not great to begin with.

[tsquare]

I can see how you wouldn't want to eat anything with a sandy texture.

 

Mmm, pasta with squid ink has a bit of a gritty texture - or at least the fabulous plate of it in Sicily did.

 

As for gefilte fish - I've only had jarred. I loved it as a kid. I eye those jars in the stores and can't make myself buy even the small one. It's seems remarkably expensive. I guess it wouldn't break the bank to throw it out if we hate it.

[Lippy]

I can see how you wouldn't want to eat anything with a sandy texture.

 

Auto-cannibalism aside, I do like halvah.

[Suzanne F]

My mother used to make her own gefilte fish until she discovered the jarred stuff was okay to her taste. Which was a relief, as it what a huge process that made the apartment stink.

 

I don't remember which fish she used of whitefish, pike, and carp. Might have depended on what was available. But she would have the fish guy fillet whole fish, unlike her mother, who would buy them live and keep them in the bathtub until she was ready to do the deed. She (mine) would make broth from the trimmings, plus carrots and onions and probably other stuff. What with all the bones, it was a pretty strong stock that jelled naturally. She ground the fish together with onions using a cast-iron hand-grinder that clamped to the shelf (which might be what Jason was referring to?), a disgusting task in that the fish smelled and the onions were tear-inducing. Mixed the ground stuff with matzo meal, egg, and ???, shaped into quenelles (not that she would have called them that before she got a copy of MTAOFC), and poached them in the stock. A big megillah every Passover. I don't remember if she made it any other time of year.

 

I have never attempted to make it. And I doubt I ever will, since I like the jarred stuff. Even the jell, which (like Jell-O) is fun to squish back and forth through my teeth.

[FoodDabbler]

It has a strong "fishy" taste due primarily to the carp and (to me) an unpleasant, sandy texture. ,

I can see how you wouldn't want to eat anything with a sandy texture.

Auto-cannibalism aside, I do like halvah.

I've never had jarred gefilte fish that had a texture anything like halvah, or that

I'd describe as sandy in any way. It would appear that I've been buying the

wrong jars.

 

Even the jell, which (like Jell-O) is fun to squish back and forth through my teeth.

After you squish do you swallow or do you spit?

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

Has anybody had both the Citarella version and the Russ and Daughters one?

How do they compare?

[Sneakeater]

unlike her mother, who would buy them live and keep them in the bathtub until she was ready to do the deed.

 

As I'm sure you know, that very practice led to some of the greatest architecture of the late 20th/early 21st centuries.

[Stone]

Do tell, do tell.

[Sneakeater]

This is well known. Frank Gehry derived his basic forms from the carp his grandmother used to keep in the bathtub to make Gefilte fish.

[tsquare]

oh, can I tweet that?

[Sneakeater]

Hey sure.

[Marty L.]

One shouldn't generalize about gefilte fish. There's galitsyaner gefilte fish, which is sweet, and litvak gefilte fish, which is not, or, as my late great uncle Schmerl would have explained the distinction---Galitzyaner gefilte fish is delicious.... so delicious, in fact, that the Litvaks were bitter about it, which is why they decided to make their own gefilte fish bitter.

[Sneakeater]

Indeed, one cultural historian called the border separating the Galitzianers from the Litvaks the "Gefilte Fish Line".