Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Finely chopped fish, usually whitefish, pike, or carp, mixed with crumbs, eggs, and seasonings, cooked in a broth in the form of balls or oval-shaped cakes, and usually served chilled.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A dish of stuffed fish, or of fish cakes in broth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun well-seasoned balls of ground fish and eggs and crushed crumbs simmered in fish stock

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Yiddish : gefilt, past participle of filn, to fill, stuff (from Middle High German vüllen, from Old High German fullen; see pelə in Indo-European roots) + fish, fish (from Middle High German visch, from Old High German fisc).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Yiddish געפֿילטע־פֿיש (gefilte fish, "stuffed fish"), from געפֿילט (gefilt, "stuffed"), from German gefüllter ("stuffed") + Fisch ("fish").

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  • Gefilte fish (Yiddish: געפֿילטע פֿיש) are poached fish patties or balls made from a mixture of ground deboned fish, mostly carp (common carp). They are popular in the Ashkenazi Jewish community.

    In traditional recipes for gefilte fish, the fish is first deboned, often while still at the market. Next, the fish is ground together with eggs, onions and flour, matzoh meal or challah, and then stuffed 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. This form of preparation eliminated the need for picking fish bones at the table and stretched the fish further, so that even poor families could enjoy fish on the Sabbath.

    _Wikipedia

    February 3, 2008