Watery fish pie :-(

[ouch321]

Anyone had watery fish pie and managed to successfully identify the culprit and avoid it going forward?

Happened twice now; last time I thought it might be because I had chucked in some spinach so this time used peas and sweetcorn instead.

The sauce was thick enough when I stirred it in with the fish pieces and peas and sweetcorn but 30 mins in the oven later it was really watery when sitting down to eat. Bit frustrating

How to fix?

Did you make it with frozen fish? The bags say cook from frozen, but if you do it’s really watery. I defrost and drain the fish first.

If it’s not frozen, is the sauce cool or cold when you stir it in, because it will get much thinner when hot. Do you make your own sauce? Perhaps if you posted the recipe it would help.

Agree it may be the fish, though I find sometimes it happens when with fresh, as the moisture leaks out as it cooks.

Maybe the sauce needs more flour or cornflour (cornstarch) so it thickens as it cooks?

Fish was fresh and the sauce was fresh.

I used salmon, cod, smoked haddock and prawns. Poached in milk/cream for short while to get skin off and hen pulled apart and layered in oven dish.

Then added cooked peas, tin of sweetcorn, spring onion and chives.

Made a basic roux, added some of the milk/cream then added grated cheddar and got to a good consistency. Stirred it all in to dish and mixed it up.

Then added my mash which was 50 percent Maris Piperand 50 percent sweet potato with butter and cream. All looked good as it went into the oven. 30 mins later so watery.

Did you drain the veg properly before adding? I don't add any veg to my pie , just serve it with them on the side.

Could your oven be too hot? The fish might be releasing more liquid if you are overcooking it. Or your sweet potato might be letting liquid out, I always find sweet potato mash goes too liquidy. I'd do a normal mash personally.

I agree, any time I've made sweet potato mash it's really watery compared with normal mash. There's probably some trick about baking the potatoes instead of boiling them.

Otherwise, your fish pie sounds pretty much the same as the one we had this evening (we had been on the side, but yours don't sound like very "watery" veg). So the only other l thing thing I can think of is that it's the sweet potato!

I think the veg in the pie is the problem. Peas contain a lot of water

Sounds lovely, shame it came out watery as fish pie from scratch is quite a lot of work, must be disappointing. I would be eyeing the tinned sweetcorn suspiciously as when ever I cook item after draining more water comes out and as others say, the sweet potatoes. I also make my sauce thicker than I think that I am going to need it as the fish does release liquid when cooking. I’ve never had a problem with adding a few peas to mine though.

I never pre-cook my fish.
I cut it up & add to the dish in its raw state.

Add peas & a hard boiled egg!
Stir in the sauce & season.
Pile mash on top, stuff in the oven.
Fish cooks beautifully & it’s never soggy.

I poach the fish in the milk for a bit then remove. i cook through the peas in some butter and olive oil, slowly adding the flour. Then slowly pour the milk back in the pan (stiring all the time). The milk then thickens nicely. I then add the fish back with the cheese and chopped eggs. I spoon into the dish with a slotted spoon which means there is still a little of the cheesey sauce in the pan. Then add the mash and stick in the oven. If I use all the sauce, it can be too watery. Sometimes I use a frozen fish mix, sometimes fresh (all down to cost),