Fish pie
TypeSavoury pie
Place of originBritain
Main ingredientsWhite fish, cheddar sauce, prawns, hard-boiled eggs

Fish pie, also known as fisherman's pie, is a traditional British dish.

Origins

According to Cook's Illustrated, the dish likely was created as a dish for Lent that made use of fish scraps.[1] John Murrell's 1615 A New Booke of Cookerie contained recipes for eel and carp pies that called for scraps.[1] Jessup Whitehead's 1889 The Steward’s Handbook and Guide to Party Catering instructs the cook to poach the fish, then drain it and cover it in cream before baking.[1]

Ingredients

The pie is usually made with fresh and smoked fish (for example cod, haddock, salmon or halibut) or seafood in a white sauce[1] or cheddar cheese sauce made using the milk the fish was poached in. Hard boiled eggs are a common additional ingredient. Parsley or chives are sometimes added to the sauce. It is oven-baked in a deep dish but is not usually made with the shortcrust or puff pastry casing that is associated with most savoury pies (e.g. steak and kidney pie).[1]

In place of a pastry casing enclosing the pie, a topping of mashed potatoes[1] (sometimes with cheese or vegetables such as onions and leeks added) is used to cover the fish during baking. The dish is sometimes referred to as "fisherman's pie" because the mashed potato topping is similar to that used for shepherd's pie.[1]

Royal fish pie

Gifts of fish pie to the king were a common tradition for various occasions. In a Lenten tradition, the town of Yarmouth was required to bake 100 herrings into two dozen pies and send them to the king.[2][3] The prior of Llanthony, Gloucester, baked eels and carp into a pie as a gift to Henry VIII in 1530.[3] In 1752 one was sent to the Prince of Wales. The tradition was also recorded during the reign of Queen Victoria.[3]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dunn, Steve (30 November 2021). "Britain's Coziest Pie". Cook's Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  2. ↑ Chambers Book of Days - February 24th, FISH AND FISH PIES IN LENT
  3. 1 2 3 Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2004). Encyclopedia of Kitchen History. Routledge. p. 381. ISBN 978-1-135-45572-9.

References

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