What are gefilte fish and stuffed derma?
In traditional recipes for gefilte fish, the fish is first deboned, often while still at the market. Next, the fish is ground into a paste along with eggs, onions and bread or matzoh meal and then stuffed back into the skin of the deboned fish, giving it the name gefilte (filled or stuffed, compare the German gefüllte). The whole stuffed fish is then poached with carrots and onions. When prepared this way, it is usually served in slices. In this way, not only could the work of picking fish bones at the table be avoided, but the quantity of fish could be extended by the added ingredients, so that each member of a family could receive a portion even if the family could not afford a large quantity of fish. In much modern preparation, including commercial preparation, gefilte is not stuffed inside of a fish skin. Nowadays, the ground fish mixture is shaped into balls or thick patties and poached in a fish stock made from the head and bones of the deboned fish. The poached balls are usually
