gefilte fish

American  

[guh-fil-tuh] / gəˈfɪl tə /

Or gefillte fish,

noun

Jewish Cooking.

1. a forcemeat of boned fish, especially such freshwater fish as carp, pike, or whitefish, blended with eggs, matzo meal, and seasoning, shaped into balls or sticks and simmered in a vegetable broth, and often served chilled.

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gefilte fish British  

/ ɡəˈfɪltə /

noun

1. Jewish cookery a dish consisting of fish and matzo meal rolled into balls and poached, formerly served stuffed into the skin of a fish

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Etymology

Origin of gefilte fish

1890–95; < Yiddish: literally, stuffed fish

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gefilte fish

Interestingly, early editions of “The Settlement Cook Book” didn’t identify recipes such as gefilte fish, a Passover delicacy, as Jewish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

And sometimes I’m just like, you know, gefilte fish is this Jewish food.

From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2023

The “message from our sponsors” advertising “delectably light, always right, gefilte fish in jars”?

From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2022

Jewish families observing Passover have struggled to pay for eggs, gefilte fish and the unleavened bread known as matzo, which represents their ancestors’ exodus from slavery in Egypt.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 21, 2022

Transitioning seamlessly into Yiddish, she added savagely, “Do you have gefilte fish for brains?”

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros