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.