Kosher Bites
A fishy tale of a Passover taste test.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
G
For all your Passover needs:
Seder Plates, Haggadas, "Shmura Matzoh", Kidush Cups
& Much More.
efilte fish is a lot like beer.
OK, stay with me on this
one.
With beer, people like it
dark or not dark, canned or bot-
tled, but not both. They may ven-
ture out into that vast unknown
of microbrewery offerings but
they always seem to gravitate
back to the tried and true.
And when they entertain, they
will stick with what works, not
try something out on the guests
lest this become known as "the
soiree where we tried the new
brand and it tainted the whole
party."
Are you with me?
With gefilte fish, people like it
canned or bottled (homemade is
rarely an option), sweet or pep-
pery but not both. Out of curios-
ity, they may be swayed by
another brand or a promise of a
new and improved flavor but they
always seem to drift back to old
faithful.
And when it comes to Passover
seders, they will stick with the
same brand lest this feast become
known as the year when "we
tried a different brand and it
tainted the whole meal."
For this Passover, we decided
to make seder preparers' lives
easier by taste testing all of the
gefilte fish on the market to come
up with one brand we could rec-
ommend. After all, life is hard
enough around Passover without
having to worry about upgrading
the annual gefilte fish offering.
But after perusing about 50
different kinds of gefilte fish of-
fered at area supermarkets and
specialty food stores, I knew I had
to narrow the field down before
we even got to the testing stage.
For one, my colleagues would
never have forgiven me for
putting them through 50 kinds
of fish. Would you? I was actu-
ally warned by one co-worker
that gefilte fish paybacks could
be brutal.
For another, the place smelled
KOSHER BITES page 96
The Ratings:
(810) 932-3377
SUGAR TREE • Orchard Lk. Rd. • W. Bloomfield
e`
&
Bath .
,$)
SPECIALTIES
SHOWROOM
CD
cs p/eased to emes> s 9 ; 17 1
Profile
FR AN KE
Monogram
BOSCH
Thermudor
DELTA
n
2800 W. Eleven Mile Road Berkley 810-548-5656
PTE 4
0 0
0 0 0 m
Before I attended my first
seder at my (then future)
mother-in-law's house, my
date (now my husband) Joel
warned me that there would
be five questions during the
meal. The first four would be
the standard ones asked at all
seders, of course.
But the last would be, "Why
is all of this food brown?"
I have to admit, I was a lit-
tle frightened of the brown
ball offish that appeared cold
on my plate. Who wouldn't be?
But I ate it and loved it. I
now actually look forward to
the gefilte fish offering at the
meal. It is my favorite part.
My favorite brand was the
Rokeach in the natural broth;
it was peppery and smooth,
delicious. The worst for me
was the Haddar: I took one
bite and spit it out; it didn't
taste like fish at all.
The staff had its own opin-
ions:
Ungar's Gefilte Fish
This brand is frozen and must
be boiled and cooled before eat-
ing
Excellent selection: han(l)ags,
— Sy Manello
"A little too sweet but tastes
the most like homemade."
ilaggil
— Lynne Konstantin
TWenty ,ears experience, personalized service and competitive prices.
NORTHWESTERN HIGHWAY, BETWEEN 12 & 13 MILE ROADS
"Tasty but with a metallic af-
tertaste."
— Julie Wiener
•
‘,\
\**,,
Rokeach Natural Broth
Gefilte Fish
Rokeach Old Vienna
Gefilte Fish
"Yuck. Tastes like the can it-
self"
—Lynne Cohn
■
••••,::WAN A A N S: W '.',4,•••W •\ •
Haddar Traditional Gefilte
Fish
"Too fishy."
— Dharlene Norris
"Awful taste. Are you sure it
is fish?"
— Karin Indig
"Not enough fish taste."
—Alan Hitsky
Mother's Gefilte Fish in
Liquid Broth
'Delicious. Mellow and not at
all fishy."
— Julie Edgar
"No! Not good at all! Yuck!"
Manischewitz Gefilte Fish
Loaf
"Surprisingly good although
the loaf is visually unappeal-
ing:,
"Yuck. Bland, too soft."
— Lynne Konstantin
Manischewitz Premium
Gold Gefilte Fish with
Green Olives
"Olive taste makes it taste like
it came from a can."
—Alan Hitsky
krielcases,
travel accessories and jeWelly.
— Julie Edgar
— Julie Wiener
"Very good. I liked the sweet
taste. Nice blend of spices."
Featuring
"Just like grandma used to
buy."
"This is my first and last taste
of gefilte fish."
— Heather Bondy
— Sandy Gantz
❑
e Kosher Bites is a nonsci-
entific, consumer oriented
taste test. Since consumers
generally do not engage in
market research prior to
picking products to pur-
chase, we don't either. We
test what grabs us and what
is readily available on gro-
cery market shelves. We of-
fer our honest, maven-driven
opinions, as best we can.
Please let us know if you
have any suggestions for
this column. We are willing
to try almost any kosher
product for the sake of our
readers.
To make any sugges-
tions, call Jill Davidson
Sklar at (810) 354-6060,
Ext. 263.