Gefilte Fish - Our Family's Recipe

This is our family's traditional Gefilte Fish (stuffed fish) recipe. It has been handed down from my grandma to my dad and now it's up to me to pass it on.

The finished product

Source: family recipe
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 90 minutes
Yields: about 36 servings

Ingredients:

• 4.5 lbs ground carp filet or white fish. Optional: save the bones, heads and tails
• 6 medium onions
• 6 carrots, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 cup matzo meal
• 6 eggs
• 1+ cup sugar
• 1+ tbsp paprika 
• 3+ tbsp salt
• Black pepper

Instructions:

1. Make stock using about 9 cups of water, sliced carrots, tomatoes and 2 sliced onions, 3 tbsp salt, 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp paprika, black pepper to taste and the fish heads/tail/bones if you got them. Bring to boil and cook on low for 30 minutes.
2. While stock is cooking, grind the ground carp a second time using the fine disc of a meat grinder together with 4 onions.
3. Mix in the eggs, matzo meal, and a bit more salt, pepper and sugar. You can taste but spit and don't swallow.
   
4. With wet hands, make patties from the mix and slide into the stock. If you have fish heads/tails/bones then get them out of the stock first.
5. Cook on low for 2 hours. Stock should cover the patties. Add boiling water if liquid level gets low. Cover with lid but leave a crack.
6. Once cool, take patties of the the stock with your hands and place on a pan. Put a slice of carrot on top of each patty. Cool in the fridge for 24 hours.
7. For sauce, strain stock liquid into a jar and let cool in the fridge for 24 hours.
8. Serve over a leaf of lettuce, with "ground red horseradish" on the side:
   
   • Boil beets for 30 minutes
   • Peel them
   • Grate them
   • Add grated horseradish root (beets:horseradish ratio about 3:1)
   • Add lemon, salt, sugar

The stock

The ground mix

Patties boiling