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Fish Pie

A savory pie filled with fish, herbs, butter, and a mushroom ragout, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Fish Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the pie

  1. Scale the fish and cut into pieces.

  2. Line a pie dish with the crust.

  3. Place the fish in the dish with sweet herbs, salt, bruised spices, and butter on top.

  4. Cover with the crust and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 1.5 hours.

  5. Remove excess fat after baking.

Make the ragout

  1. For the vegetable ragout, stir butter and flour over heat until pale brown.

  2. Moisten with sherry and thin soup, then add mushrooms, salt, and herbs.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes, then add parboiled soft roes of carp and stew for 15 minutes.

  4. Pour the ragout into the pie.

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. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Salmon + roetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Fish + salmontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,078 recipes

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

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main filling and provides the dish's flavour and body.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the flour brown to form the ragout's base.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the ragout as it cooks with the butter and liquids.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma to the ragout, balancing the rich fish.
Mushrooms
Contribute savoury, earthy flavour and moisture to the ragout.
Soft roes of carp
Add a soft, creamy texture and rich flavour to the ragout.

The step that matters

Browning the butter and flour. Stirring the butter and flour until pale brown cooks out the raw starch taste and builds a roux that thickens the ragout. Cooking too briefly leaves a floury taste, while overcooking darkens and bitters it.

“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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