I will say right away: my mother-in-law and I, despite our leadership characters, have come to a consensus and practically do not conflict. How do we do it? It’s very simple: I don’t criticize her eternally undersalted concoction, and she doesn’t get hysterical because of the imperfect cleaning of the house. Divided, scattered - and the house is quiet.
But there is one question ...
What's a meal without stuffed fish?
It is rather difficult to cope with the preparation of this dish alone, it requires jewelry precision when removing the skin from each a piece of raw fish, vigilant pulling out of the fish pulp with tweezers, the strictest observance of kashrut when choosing the filling and much other. Therefore, we, firstly, dare to such a feat three times a year: the Jewish New Year, Passover and the birthday of her son, that is, my husband.
Since each housewife has her own secrets, her own branded know-how when preparing this dish, the two women agreed to do it once according to her recipe, and another time according to mine.
The main set of components of the dish is, in general, standard: fish fillet (better - with the addition of a little fish pulp of another type), large onion, white bun or shredded matzo, one chicken egg, vegetable oil, carrots and potatoes, chopped into slices, black ground pepper, salt and a little Sahara.
But each has its own additional ingredients: I have beets and saffron (left), my mother-in-law has ginger and turmeric (right). The order is strictly followed.
But this was not always the case!
Now we are smart - and after each cooking we note in the notebook whose recipe we used: FR is me, BR is mother-in-law. But the first experience of joint cooking took place with an intensity of emotions almost according to Shakespeare.
Now everything was ground, salted, mixed, ground ginger and turmeric were added - there was simply no money for saffron then. The fish head formed the basis of the broth for the pour. We start laying in the pan.
As I learned from childhood, I put beetroot circles on the bottom of the pan. The mother-in-law cries out: "What are you doing?" I answer: "I always put beets, for color and aroma!" “Fan-no, I've been cooking stuffed fish for forty years! And never, never even put a beet tail in it! Don't experiment! "
No, guys, I honestly kept quiet when ginger was poured into the most tender fish, when my mother-in-law shifted turmeric, which is why the minced meat acquired the color of a sick Chinese, but there is a limit to everything: the fish should still look aesthetically pleasing!
Everyone's phone rang
We postponed the final stage of cooking, thought and decided: we need to conduct a sociological survey. My sister and her sisters were immediately expelled from the contingent. I called the eminent culinary authority Evka Schatz, my friends Zina and Dina. Mother-in-law - to experienced housewives Tamara, Hana and Rachel.
The result turned out to be, to our bewilderment, fifty-fifty. The decisive call was made to the chef Peter. Here is just Peter and clarified:
- What community are you from? Well, I mean, where were your mother and grandmother born?
- Mom is a Muscovite, and grandmother is from Poltava ...
- So-ak. Where was your mother-in-law born?
- What does this have to do with it? Well, in Iasi, now it's Romania, then the family moved to Focsani, to Bessarabia.
- Now everything is clear. So, the Jews of Russia and Eastern Ukraine necessarily slightly fry the chunks of fish and added a couple of chopped beetroots to the broth. And in Western Ukraine and in Bessarabia, in Romania, most likely, too, they did without beets, and sometimes without potatoes. So each of you is right in your own way.
After this "verdict" of Peter, we established the order: once with beets and saffron, the second with ginger and turmeric.
This was the only way to continue to coexist without scandal. Actually, this is how we alternate to this day.
Story author: Faina Rosner
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