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

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

dish.

Origins

According to '' Cook's Illustrated'', the dish was likely created to make use of fish scraps during

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

. 1615 '' A New Booke of Cookerie'' contained recipes for eel and carp pies that called for scraps. 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.

Ingredients

The pie is usually made with fresh and smoked fish (for example,

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...

, salmon or halibut) or seafood in a white sauce or cheddar cheese sauce made using the milk the fish was poached in. Hard-boiled eggs are a common additional ingredient.

Parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...

chives Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. A perennial plant, ''A. schoenoprasum'' is widespread in nature across much of Eurasia and North America. It is the only spe ...

are sometimes added to the sauce. It is

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...

-baked in a deep dish but is not usually made with the shortcrust or

puff pastry Puff pastry, also known as , is a light, flaky pastry, its base dough () composed of wheat flour and water. Butter or other solid fat () is then layered into the dough. The dough is repeatedly rolled and folded, rested, re-rolled and folded, encas ...

casing that is associated with most savoury pies (e.g.

steak and kidney pie Steak and kidney pie is a British dish. It is a savoury pie filled principally with a mixture of diced beef, diced kidney (which may be beef, lamb, veal, or pork) and onion. Its contents are generally similar to those of steak and kidney pudding ...

). In place of a pastry casing enclosing the pie, a topping of mashed potatoes (sometimes with

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

or vegetables such as

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s and

leek A leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of Leaf sheath, leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a "s ...

s 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 Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine ''hachis Parmentier'', is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or fre ...

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.Chambers Book of Days - February 24th, FISH AND FISH PIES IN LENT
/ref> The prior of Llanthony, Gloucester, baked

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...

and

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

into a pie as a gift to

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

in 1530. In 1752 one was sent to the Prince of Wales. The tradition was also recorded during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Gallery

File:Baked stargazy pie.jpg, The

stargazy pie Stargazy pie (also starry-gazy pie, starry-gaze pie) is a Cuisine of Cornwall, Cornish dish made of baked Sardines as food, pilchards (sardines), along with eggs and potatoes, covered with a pastry crust. Although there are a few variations us ...

is a traditional Cornish pie made with the heads of pilchards protruding through the crust. File:Fish pie.JPG, Fish pies are also popular in parts of Russia. File:Fish Pie with Sweet Potato Topping.jpg, Fish pie with sweet potato topping

Notes

References

* Murdoch (2004
''Essential Seafood Cookbook''
Pies, casseroles and bakes, pp. 254–295. Murdoch Books. .

External links

How to cook perfect fish pie
''The Guardian'', 27 January 2011. * Recipes fo
luxury fish pie
an
fisherman's pie
from the BBC Food website. {{British pies Australian pies British pies New Zealand pies Trinidad and Tobago cuisine Fish dishes Potato dishes Savoury pies British fish dishes