My bubbe usually saved kreplach for Purim. Kneidlach were for shabbos and Pesach. (I was stunned when I learned that many ultra-Orthodox Jews shun matzo balls during Passover, because they consider
matzo shruyo -- matzo which has been soaked in water, aka
gebrokts -- unacceptable Passover fare.
See this discussion for various viewpoints.) For Rosh Hashanah, we often had borscht, because of the tradition to eat sweet foods in hopes of a sweet new year.
Sometimes we had kreplach for erev Yom Kippur. (Tradition has it that you eat kreplach during the Days of Awe because it symbolizes God's stern judgment -- the meat -- wrapped in the softness of His mercy and justice -- the dough. I'm not sure how this applies to kreplach with nonmeat fillings.) However, we all liked the Purim version much better because the Yom Kippur eve variety always had to be underseasoned in order not to evoke thirst during the next day's fasting.
When it came to gefilte fish, Bubbe ultimately gave up making her own from scratch and instead saved labor by buying a high-quality commercial brand which she would then "doctor up" by re-cooking the quenelles in their broth with added vegetables and seasonings and then chilling them overnight in the enhanced broth.
When I was first married, I went to the effort of making gefilte fish from scratch a few times -- but the results always tasted exactly like Bubbe's "doctored up" version, so I came around to her way of thinking. It just didn't seem worth the work.
However, a friend gave me the recipe below for baked gefilte fish (from "Our Man in the Kitchen," a 1964 cookbook by Hyman Goldberg -- who wrote a cooking column for the
New York Post under the nom de plume "Penny Prudence"). It's
very different. The fish mixture is much the same but baking gives the fish a much different texture.
BAKED GEFILTE FISH
2-1/2 pounds whole whitefish
2-1/2 pounds whole pike
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup oil
2 pounds onions, chopped
1 head garlic, peeled and minced
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 eggs
1/4 cup water (approximately)
1/4 cup matzo meal
2 carrots
4 bay leaves
8 cloves
Have the fishmonger skin, fillet and grind the fish fine (discard the heads, bones and skins or save for another use). Mix the salt into the ground fish; refrigerate overnight. Saute the onion in 1/4 cup of the oil over low heat until brown; refrigerate overnight.
The next day, combine the garlic, fried onions, ground fish, pepper, paprika in a large wooden chopping bowl and chop together. Add the eggs, one at a time, alternating with spoonfuls of water, and using the hackmesser to mix and combine. Add the matzo meal, continuing to chop and mix. Grate one of the carrots and chop it in.
Put the remaining 1/2 cup oil in a large, 2-inch-deep baking pan. Place it in a 350-degree oven for 5 minutes. With wet hands, form the fish into patties and place in the hot oil. Slice the remaining carrot into coin shapes, putting a couple of slices on each fish cake, and scatter the remainder in between. Divide the bay leaves and cloves among the corners of the pan. Bake until browned, 45 to 60 minutes, basting at least three times with the oil in the pan.
Remove the fish to drain on paper towels. Chill thoroughly, and serve with horseradish. 10 servings.
PS-Sugar in gefilte fish is one of the fundamental differences between Galitzianers and Litvaks; the
Gefilte Fish Line was once as significant as the Mason-Dixon Line.
May you all be inscribed for a delicious new year!