Review: Mediterranean Gefilte Fish

Shortly after I did my I Try It article on Gefilte Fish I got contacted by a firm doing work for Manischewitz. They offered me a sample of their new Mediterranean style Gefilte Fish. Who was I to refuse. The jar looked pretty much like the traditional product in jelled broth. The jelling was readily apparent through the bottle. As were the pieces of rosemary and oregano suspended in the broth.

I opened the jar and scooped out a fish ball and a big blob of broth for added fun. I took a moment to give it the smell test and was hit by a very strong rosemary scent, almost no fish smell at all. It feels surprisingly light for something that looks so dense.

The broth was surprisingly stable, I decided I would do an additional layer of testing to see how long it would take for it to melt at room temperature. I tasted the broth separately and it was quite good, nice herby flavor, stronger with rosemary than anything else but still surprisingly devoid of fish flavor. The outside of the cake (is that the right term?) was covered with herbs and upon cutting it apart you could see that the herbs were intact all the way through.

Time for a taste of the fish itself. It is very delicate and cuts cleanly and easily with a fork. The flavor was pretty much exactly as I expected, not strong with fish at all, rosemary on the other hand was the prominent. The texture is still not my favorite thing on it’s own but the the crunch of a cracker eliminates that issue. Overall the flavor is very mild but it is a great base for other things. As recommended, horseradish really plays well with Mediterranean style just like it does with it’s traditional cousin. All in all the flavor punch from the herbs was a nice addition to standard Gefilte fish and I’m trying to figure out another application beyond smearing it on a cracker. Even more than the last time around I’m thinking that it could be good crumbled on a salad with some other ingredients to take advantage of its flavor.

It also makes a fun glorping sound when you shake the jar.