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

Fish pie

Type	Savoury pie
Place of origin	Britain
Main ingredients	White fish, cheddar sauce, prawns, hard-boiled eggs

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.^{[citation needed]} Hard boiled eggs are a common additional ingredient.^{[citation needed]} 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)^{[citation needed]} 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]

Gallery

• 
  The stargazy pie is a traditional Cornish pie made with the heads of pilchards protruding through the crust.
• 
  Fish pies are also popular in parts of Russia.
• 
  Fish pie with sweet potato topping

See also

• Stargazy pie
• Shepherd's pie, an unrelated meat-based dish which also uses potato instead of pastry
• List of pies, tarts and flans

Notes

References

• Murdoch (2004) Essential Seafood Cookbook Pies, casseroles and bakes, pp. 254–295. Murdoch Books. ISBN 9781740454124.

External links

• How to cook perfect fish pie The Guardian, 27 January 2011.
• Recipes for luxury fish pie and fisherman's pie from the BBC Food website.