I grew up in the days when there were no blenders or food processors and we didn't even have an electric beater.
For chopping we used hand-held blades with wooden handles and cooking and preparation was a lot more time consuming. We made the same mix of fish for both types of gefilte fish: chopped and fried.
The only difference is that one is fried and the other poached in water.
In the old days we used a mixture of carp bream and any white fish, which we deboned and took turns chopping on the large wooden board until it was fine enough to form into patties.
Here is the Polish Litvak version, which I grew up with, and is savoury rather than sweet. You can increase the amount depending on how many guests or family members you have.
Ingredients:
Directions:
For Poached Gefilte Fish:
For Chopped and Fried Gefilte Fish:
Serving suggestions:
Serve the gefilte fish with 'chrane' in Yiddish and 'chazeret' in Hebrew (a red horseradish / beetroot sauce). The fried version is also great with HP Daddies sauce or tomato Ketchup, although some
like it with chrane too!
Enjoy!!