Another thing that I was hesitant to mention about Carp is that it is also an “ethnic” fish on the Lake Erie Basin where I am from. Carp, catfish, bullhead, and other “junk” fish were considered fish that black people ate. It also stemmed from the fact that these fish inhabit the rivers and bays around Lake Erie and were more accessible for poorer people and shorefisherman who didn’t have a boat to get to the highly prized Perch and Walleye that inhabit the farther reaches and open water of the lake. But it is certain that there is a soulfood tradition for smoked carp, catfish, and bullhead on certain parts of Lake Erie.
Not necessarily. You can keep kosher without eating any fish at all. My father-in-law very rarely eats fish, and he keeps kosher. You could also keep kosher and stick to low-mercury fish like salmon. You could, of course, keep kosher by eating tuna steaks every day, and in that case you might get high mercury levels.
Two of the fish noted for being high in mercury, swordfish and shark, are not kosher.
Scavenging fish and bottom feeders are generally unkosher. I don’t believe there is any breed of catfish considered kosher – a kosher fish not only must have scales; the scales must be of a particular nature. I believe all predatory fish are also unkosher.
My father had a notion to make his own gefilte fish a couple passovers ago. When he asked for a carp the fishmonger almost laughed him out of the store. He ended up using red snapper and whitefish; the result was shockingly delicious.
That tradition of smoking these fish just might also hearken to the 1800’s and early 1900’s when sturgeon were abundant in Lake Erie and smoked for process and export. They were consequently overfished to the point of near extinction, and the lake was contanimated to near death from manufacture and its waste. The sturgeon haven’t recovered, but they are seeing more and more of them in Lake Erie, which I suppose is a good sign.
Lest I forget, that Lake Erie sturgeon was also overfished for fine caviar… Fishing there now, it is often hard for me to believe that worldclass caviar came from this lake, and it was teeming with sea monsters.
Some people say sturgeons are kosher, some say not. What say you, Anne Neville and Hello Again?
Caviar might, or might not, be Kosher?
Fish eggs from Kosher fish are Kosher.
I’ve seen sturgeopn in delis?!
You can get jarred whitefish and pike gefilte fish almost anywhere you can get gefilte fish these days. That’s usually what I get when I want gefilte fish.
Mr. Neville and I don’t consider sturgeon kosher, so we don’t eat caviar. I believe the Conservative movement officially does consider sturgeon kosher, but we don’t go along with that.
I’m sorry this just nagged at me, because it’s not entirely true… what about Barracuda?
Barracuda is kosher.
Oh I know that. I’m trying to communicate how this homemade gefilte fish was, like, from an entirely different universe of deliciousness than the jarred stuff. Which I would not call “delicious” more like “edible (sort of)… if I drown it in horseradish.”
My father is an excellent cook - that explains the difference moreso than the absence of carp - but I don’t think leaving out the carp hurt.