Does gefilte fish destroy the pot?

[DanM]

I am considering making my own gefilte fish for Passover. My in-laws insist that I need a dedicated pot as the fish will turn it black and unusable for any other purpose. I searched the web, but could not find any truth to this. Is there anything to this, or is it just an old wives tale?

 

Thanks!

[NancyH]

I've never had a problem cooking gefilte fish in a stainless steel pot. Sounds like a bubbe-meintze.

[scubadoo97]

Can't imagine what would turn a pot black except maybe acid in an aluminum pot

[Shel_B]

Grandmas Bessie and Dora made gefilte fish, often at the home of others, and therefore used a variety of pots.  While they may have had a dedicated pot at home (doubtful) they certainly didn't use a dedicated pot in other homes.  This is probably an old bubba's tale except for the possibility of using aluminum pots or pans.  FWIW, I don't know if my grandmas even had stainless steel or other non-reactive pots.

Edited March 29, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[dcarch]

Perhaps it was a cast iron pot.

 

After a while a cast iron pot will turn totally black (seasoning) from cooking other stuff.

 

dcarch

[Alex]

I have no idea one way or the other about the pot because I've always made mine from this recipe, originally in Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking In America, in which the mixture is baked in a bundt pan. I've usually used 100% whitefish. It often met up with some initial skepticism, but virtually everyone who's eaten it has said it's the best-tasting "gefilte" fish they'd ever had. It's denser than the traditional simmered version. I've often served it with a lime-horseradish concoction.

[scubadoo97]

I have no idea one way or the other about the pot because I've always made mine from this recipe, originally in Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking In America, in which the mixture is baked in a bundt pan. I've usually used 100% whitefish. It often met up with some initial skepticism, but virtually everyone who's eaten it has said it's the best-tasting "gefilte" fish they'd ever had. It's denser than the traditional simmered version. I've often served it with a lime-horseradish concoction.

I've been making baked gefilte fish in a loaf pan for the last 4 yrs. it sure bets out anything from a jar and slices well too

I don't have access to traditional carp, whitefish and pike so use cod and other white flesh fish indigenous to our waters like snapper. I've done it with a blend of salmon too which was also good. Any good fish will do (I know many traditional Jewish grandmothers will disagree) but it taste really good made fresh and anything beats out the stuff from the jars

[Alex]

I've been making baked gefilte fish in a loaf pan for the last 4 yrs. it sure bets out anything from a jar and slices well too

I don't have access to traditional carp, whitefish and pike so use cod and other white flesh fish indigenous to our waters like snapper. I've done it with a blend of salmon too which was also good. Any good fish will do (I know many traditional Jewish grandmothers will disagree) but it taste really good made fresh and anything beats out the stuff from the jars

 

And some folks this year won't have a choice of using Great Lakes whitefish, as there's a shortage that's due, in part, to the severe winter in the U.S.

 

“Everybody’s pulling their hair out,” said Kevin Dean, co-owner of Superior Fish Co., a wholesaler near Detroit whose latest shipment provided just 75 pounds of whitefish although he requested 500 pounds. “I’ve never seen it this bad this time of year.”