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Fish Pie

A savory pie with fish, oysters, and cream, baked in puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,081 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fish Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble the pie

  1. Remove all bones from the fish and cover the bottom of a pie dish with it.

  2. Add seasoning and a layer of oysters on top, using 12 oysters for every pound of fish.

  3. Cover with another layer of fish and pour white stock over the entire mixture.

  4. Sprinkle a little cayenne pepper on top.

  5. Cover with a light puff pastry and bake for half an hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before serving, pour in 1 cup of warm cream or white sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Fish + oystertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together496 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the pie and gives it its flavour.
Oysters
Add briny, savoury flavour and a tender, juicy texture when baked.
White stock
Provides moisture that keeps the fish from drying out during baking.
Cream or white sauce
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy finish to the pie.
Light puff pastry
Forms a crisp, flaky top that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Adding the cream or white sauce just before serving. The cream is added warm after baking so it stays smooth and does not curdle or split from prolonged heat, keeping its rich texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, oyster, pepper, cream, butter, shallot, flour):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, oyster, pepper, cream, butter, shallot, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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