S/o adding sugar to gefilte fish

amother

Bisque

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 12:55 am

Whether you add sugar to your gefilte fish depends on your family's origins.

The "gefilte fish line" was a diagonal north-south line through Europe. Jews who lived west of the line had access to the sugar refineries of Poland starting in the 19th century and generally ate sweeter food. Jews to the east of the line went for more savory foods.

The line was invented in Marvin Herzog's doctoral dissertation in the 1960s as a device to localize different dialects of Yiddish. Herzog noticed that different pronunciation correlated with different tastes in food. You can tell by someone's Yiddish, and by his gefilte fish preference, whether he's east or west of the gefilte fish line.

Reality

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 1:01 am

amother Bisque wrote:

Very true.

I knew people liked their fish sweet but I never realized they put in enough to bake a small cake!

gold2

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 1:48 am

I find that some of the heimishe recipe books call for way too much sugar in savory recipes. Eg for fish and sweet and sour meatballs, they call for 3/4 cup. That is way too much for me and I am so not a health freak. I love sugar but in foods that are meant to be sweet

I just add a nice sprinkle or 1/4 cup if I think it needs more sweetness, depending on what I think. I use the recipes as a guide, I don't know how someone can eat that much sugar, I guess it depends on what you are used to

Iymnok

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 1:58 am

To get a good sauce, put the fish bones in. They give flavor and make it jellied.
I buy the regular Israeli gefilte fish, Hungarian style. I boil it with an onion and carrot.
When I used to make it from scratch, I made balls. It took a while to figure out the sugar ratio.

The flavor is also different based on the fish that was available in that region.

amother

Orange

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 5:04 am

I'm almost all Litvish with one Galitzianer grandmother (Her recipe is lost, but I cannot imagine that my grandfather would have been able to eat gefilte fish with sugar). I make the frozen kind and add onions and carrots to the cooking water. I serve it with white and red chrain (which is the only sweetness). Occasionally, I make the salmon kind and serve with a dill sauce with the tiniest amount of sugar (maybe a half teaspoon). It's so interesting how these traditions evolved. Cannot fathom 2 cups of sugar or even 3/4 of a cup, but I recognize that for some people it would taste awful my way. Loved the comment about the line dividing cuisines based on geographic location.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 6:02 am

amother Brass wrote:

Adding sugar is for those who like the fish sauce. If you dump the sauce then it doesn't make a big difference.

nope. We keep the liquid and we dont add sugar. It tastes great.

amother

Antiquewhite

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 6:13 am

I use my mother’s recipe- her parents are from Galicia and there is sugar in it. Not exactly sure how much, because it is to taste. However, a number of years ago, I converted the sugar to however much Splenda tasted right. So that’s what I do now.

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 9:52 am

amother Bisque wrote:

This is fascinating! I'm saving this on m y future rabbit hole list.

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 9:53 am

amother Antiquewhite wrote:

But her to taste might be someone else's sugar shock. And I'm not being judgy, really.

Reality

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 10:19 am

PinkFridge wrote:

But her to taste might be someone else's sugar shock. And I'm not being judgy, really.

Very true. I have definitely had sugar shock! The white fish and salmon is also shockingly sweet. I guess the same amount of sugar is added to that as well?

fullyinbalance

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 10:48 am

if you need the sugar replace it with healthier alternatives like monk fruit or coconut sugar!
Your body doesnt need that extra sugar

nylon

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 12:25 pm

My mother's family is Polish and they add sugar, but not so much, a few tablespoons to the fish and none for the water.

My father's family is from what's now Belarus and they never add sugar to anything but dessert. For 50 years he's complained about sweet fish and sweet kugel.

chanchy123

Wed, Jan 04 2023, 12:29 pm

I don’t make gefilte fish that often but when I do I never add sugar to the frozen loaves, just onion celery and carrot maybe salt and pepper.
The loaves generally have sugar in them.
My MIL makes gefilte fish from scratch, I’m pretty sure she uses sugar but not too much.
DH says that his grandfather (born in Poland) would make gefilte fish that was sweet as candy.