{{short description|Pie with the main ingredient being fish}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Fish pie | image = Fish Pie.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = | alternate_name = | country = Britain | region = | creator = | course = | type = Savoury pie | served = | main_ingredient = White fish, cheddar sauce, prawns, hard-boiled eggs | variations = | calories = | other = }}

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

== Origins == According to ''Cook's Illustrated'', the dish was likely created to make use of fish scraps during Lent.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Dunn|first=Steve|date=30 November 2021|title=Britain's Coziest Pie|url=https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/3953-britain-s-coziest-pie?j=74147&sfmc_sub=23207551&l=26_HTML&u=34946381&mid=7211371&jb=26042&sk=DA91AE5EF496429630336974F3F49B3E&extcode=LD22A4QAA&sourcekey=BD22014AA&cds_response_key=IED22AA4B&cds_tracking_code=&tag=cidnewsletter1-20&atc=cidnews&Survey_id=&mi_ecmp=%E2%80%8B&couponcode=|access-date=2022-01-25|website=Cook's Illustrated|language=en}}</ref> {{ill|John Murrell (cookery author)|lt=John Murrell's|la|Ioannes Murrell}} 1615 ''A New Booke of Cookerie'' contained recipes for eel and carp pies that called for scraps.<ref name=":0" /> {{ill|Jessup Whitehead|lt=Jessup Whitehead's|qid=Q127272476|short=yes}} 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.<ref name=":0" />

== Ingredients == The pie is usually made with fresh and smoked fish (for example, cod, haddock, salmon or halibut) or seafood in a white sauce<ref name=":0" /> or cheddar cheese sauce made using the milk the fish was poached in.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} Hard-boiled eggs are a common additional ingredient.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}} 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 shell that is associated with most savoury pies (e.g. steak and kidney pie).<ref name=":0" />

In place of pastry enclosing the pie, a topping of mashed potatoes<ref name=":0" /> (sometimes with cheese or vegetables such as onions and leeks added)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morelli |first1=Olivia |title=Recipe: How to make Richard Corrigan's fish pie at home |url=https://www.cntraveller.com/article/richard-corrigan-recipe-fish-pie-bentleys |website=Conde Naste Traveller |date=30 April 2020 |publisher=Condé Nast Britain |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />

==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.<ref>[http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/feb/24.htm Chambers Book of Days - February 24th, FISH AND FISH PIES IN LENT]</ref><ref name=":1" /> The prior of Llanthony, Gloucester, baked eels and carp into a pie as a gift to Henry VIII in 1530.<ref name=":1" /> In 1752 one was sent to the Prince of Wales. The tradition was also recorded during the reign of Queen Victoria.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Snodgrass|first=Mary Ellen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJGNAgAAQBAJ&q=%22fish+pie%22|title=Encyclopedia of Kitchen History|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-1-135-45572-9|pages=381|language=en}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery class="center" caption="" widths="220px" heights="160px"> File:Baked stargazy pie.jpg|The stargazy pie 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 </gallery>

==See also== {{Portal|Food}} * Stargazy pie * Shepherd's pie, an unrelated meat-based dish which also uses potato instead of pastry * List of pies, tarts and flans

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== * Murdoch (2004) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ro3e18nC6psC&q=%22Essential+Seafood+Cookbook%22 ''Essential Seafood Cookbook''] Pies, casseroles and bakes, pp.&nbsp;254–295. Murdoch Books. {{ISBN|9781740454124}}.

==External links== * [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jan/27/how-cook-perfect-fish-pie How to cook perfect fish pie] ''The Guardian'', 27 January 2011. * Recipes for [https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/luxuryfishpie_67647 luxury fish pie] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110501030021/http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fishermanspie_1914 fisherman's pie] from the BBC Food website.

{{seafood|state=expanded}} {{British pies}}

Category:Australian pies Category:British pies Category:New Zealand pies Category:Trinidad and Tobago cuisine Category:Fish dishes Category:Potato dishes Category:Savoury pies Category:British fish dishes