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Fish Pie

A baked dish of chopped white fish with suet, mashed potato, breadcrumbs, egg, and milk, topped with browned breadcrumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Fish Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove skin and bones from the fish and chop it coarsely.

Mix and assemble

  1. Add the suet, mashed potato, white breadcrumbs, and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Stir in the egg and enough milk to form a stiff batter.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a well-greased baking dish.

  4. Lightly cover the surface with browned breadcrumbs and dot with butter or dripping.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour, or until set.

  2. Serve hot in the baking dish or reheat if prepared overnight.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  5. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod or other white fish
Provides the main body and flaky texture of the filling.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set firm when baked.
Mashed potato
Adds body and softness, helping the filling hold together.
White breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help the mixture firm into a stiff batter.
Milk
Moistens the mixture so it forms a spreadable batter that sets when baked.

The step that matters

Stirring in enough milk for a stiff batter. Too little liquid leaves the mixture dry and crumbly, while too much keeps it loose and stops it setting firmly in the oven. Egg proteins coagulate on heating and bind the mixture, so the batter needs the right consistency before baking.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, egg, milk, butter, pepper):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, egg, milk, butter, pepper. 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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