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Savory Pies
9/21/2024 | 27m 56sVideo has Closed Captions
Julia makes Cast Iron Chicken Pot Pie, Joe makes Fisherman’s Pie; science of eggplant
Hosts Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster make a simple Cast Iron Chicken Pot Pie. Science Expert Dan Souza demonstrates the absorptive power of eggplant. Test cook Joe Gitter makes host Bridget Lancaster a British classic, Fisherman’s Pie.
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Savory Pies
9/21/2024 | 27m 56sVideo has Closed Captions
Hosts Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster make a simple Cast Iron Chicken Pot Pie. Science Expert Dan Souza demonstrates the absorptive power of eggplant. Test cook Joe Gitter makes host Bridget Lancaster a British classic, Fisherman’s Pie.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Julia makes Bridget cast iron chicken pot pie, Dan explores the science behind eggplant's absorptive power, and Joe makes Julia fisherman's pie.
It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."
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♪♪ -Chicken pot pie -- it's got to be on the top-ten list of all-time-greatest comfort foods.
And just when I think that this dish cannot be improved upon, Julia walks in, and I think you're going to make a great chicken pot pie.
But what's different about it?
-We're going to make this in a cast iron skillet.
-Mm.
-We're going to start with the homemade pie dough.
-Okay.
-We have a food processor filled with some all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 cups.
So, we're just making the top crust.
-Okay.
-So, it's a one-crust.
We're going to add some sugar, a tablespoon, a little bit of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
I'm just going to buzz this together real quick.
Get those ingredients combined.
There we go.
All right.
This is shortening, 4 tablespoons.
It adds that flaky texture, but it doesn't have much flavor.
And that's where the butter comes in.
So, this, again, is 4 tablespoons of shortening cut into half-inch pieces.
We're just going to let this rip for about 10 seconds, until it's nice and incorporated.
-Okay.
-Now, also, I want to point out that the shortening and the butter have both been chilled.
So, I cut them up, and I chilled them.
That way, they don't break down as fast in the food processor.
-Right.
-So, here we have the butter.
This is 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter.
Cut it into a bit smaller-size cubes, quarter-inch.
Butter does have some water in it, unlike the shortening.
So, you really want it to pulse in quickly because once that water comes out, you start getting a tough pie dough.
So, we're going to pulse this in, about ten pulses.
We're looking for coarse crumbs.
-Okay.
-So, now we're going to add the water.
We're going to do it in a big bowl.
Again, this helps keep a nice, flaky pie dough.
Into a big bowl this goes.
So, here we go with the water -- ice water.
We're going to start with 3 tablespoons of ice water, just the water.
This is looking pretty good.
At this point, depending on the environment -- how humid it is, how you weighed everything out, like the flour -- you can add more water as you want to, but just do it a teaspoon at a time.
I just want it a little more wet.
-Okay.
-So, now we need to chill this in the fridge.
-Okay.
-We're going to chill it in a round shape.
That just makes rolling out easier.
So, here I have a nice piece of plastic wrap.
Now I'm going to wrap it up nice and tight.
Going for about a 4-inch round.
-Okay.
-We're going to let this chill in the fridge at least an hour.
And before we roll it out, I am going to let it sit on the counter about ten minutes just so that it's easier to roll.
-Okay, great.
-Into the fridge it goes.
This dough is nicely chilled, and I've let it hang out on the counter, again, about ten minutes.
Firm in the middle, but on the outside it's nice and soft.
Two nice, big sheets of parchment paper, sometimes a little bench flour.
All right, parchment on top.
We're looking for an 11-inch round.
Start in the middle.
Roll out.
All right, let's see.
Look again for about 11 inches.
See how we did.
Oh-oh!
Time to give this dough a pretty crimped edge so our pot pie looks good.
We're going to do that by folding the dough under.
And this dough has so much fat in it that it melts so nicely in the oven.
-Mm.
-So, if it has that little crack around the edge, no big deal.
-It's self-healing.
-[ Laughing ] It is!
All right, so many ways you can crimp a pie dough.
You could use a fork.
You could use your knuckles.
I'm partial to the fingertip method myself.
So, I'm going to use two fingers on one side and a pointer on the other.
-There you go.
I like that look.
-Yeah.
So, we're going to cut a few vent holes in the top -- I'm gonna make a pretty petal pattern -- to help prevent the pie dough from getting too soggy.
So, a key to making sure the crust on the top of this pie doesn't get soggy is to bake it before you put it on top of the stew.
So, we're going to parbake this, blind-bake this, all on its own.
-Hmm.
-Yeah!
So, sliding it onto a rimmed baking sheet.
Now, you really want to chill this before you bake it.
It really helps sturdy up the dough so it doesn't melt too much.
So, into the fridge for about 15 minutes.
-Okay.
-Here is the pie dough that has been chilling for 15 minutes.
We're going to put a little bit of an egg wash. Now, this is just an egg that we whisked together with a couple tablespoons of water.
We're going to brush it on.
Gives it a nice, glossy appearance.
Now is your opportunity, also, to add any flourishes, if you would like some fresh herbs, some pepper, or some nice, flaky sea salt, which is what I'm going to do.
-Mm.
-So, just a little bit goes a long way right on the top, and that's it.
Into a really hot oven, 400 degrees, about 20 minutes till it's nice and golden brown.
Oh-oh-oh, it smells like pie dough!
-Let me get a look at that -- absolutely beautiful.
-Mm-hmm.
You can see it's baked all the way through, and it has a little bit of golden right around the edges.
It's going to go back in the oven on top of the pot pie for a bit.
So, you don't want it fully baked at this point.
-Okay.
-So, we're going to let that hang out while we build the stew.
So, as I mentioned, we're going to build this in a skillet, a cast iron skillet.
This is a cute, little 10-incher.
And I've been heating this up over medium heat for three minutes.
So, in goes some butter.
This is 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter.
-Ooh!
-So, now we're going to add some basic aromatics.
Here I have two stalks of celery.
-Beautifully diced.
-Thank you.
I have an onion, nicely minced.
Let's get it all out of there.
I don't want to waste any.
Here I have some carrots, 4 carrots, peeled and cut into quarter-inch-thin slices... 1/4 teaspoon salt and a 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper.
So, we're just going to let these cook about five minutes or so till they're softened and just lightly browned.
I'll leave you in charge, captain.
-Fantastic.
I'm in charge of gravy.
-So, now we're going to talk about the chicken, the star of the show.
Here I have 1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
One trick in helping it cook evenly in the pot pie is to pound the thicker edge, because the thicker edge really does take twice as long to cook as the thinner edge.
Easy to do.
Put between two pieces of plastic wrap.
You don't have to go crazy.
Just gently pound the thicker end.
There we go.
All right.
-Mm!
-It's looking pretty good.
-Nothing smells better.
-It's true, right?
Now, in we're going to add a little fresh thyme.
This is a teaspoon of minced fresh thyme, but this is a perfect place to use dried thyme if that's what you have.
But you want to use less.
You want to use about a 1/4 of a teaspoon if you're using dried.
-Okay.
-We're just going to give this about 30 seconds.
-Oh!
-So, you can smell it.
Oh, yeah.
All right, now it's time to add some flour.
This is 6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.
And this is how we'll thicken the sauce into a nice gravy.
So, you just want to stir this around.
Make sure there's no big clumps.
And we're going to cook it for about two minutes.
Drive off that raw flavor and make it a little toasty.
And, again, that adds flavor to the gravy.
-Gorgeous.
-Mm!
You can see that flour's incorporated.
It's starting to stick to the bottom of this skillet and toast.
That's how you know it's time to add the liquid.
Here I have some chicken broth, 2 cups.
Add it slow to start.
Make sure you don't get a lumpy gravy.
-Right.
-All right, just whisking to incorporate all that broth, scraping up any of the brown bits on the bottom of the skillet.
Oh, that looks pretty good.
All right, time to add the chicken.
We're going to nestle the chicken right into the skillet and poach it.
So, slipping the chicken right into the sauce.
All right.
It all fits.
I promise.
I'm gonna spoon a little bit of the sauce over the top of the chicken.
We're going to cook this at a gentle simmer under the lid, about 15 minutes until the chicken's cooked through.
-Okay.
-When it's cooked through, it registers about 160 degrees.
Chicken's been simmering away.
Oh-ho-ho.
-Mm!
-Oh, it smells so good.
All right.
Again, we know the chicken is done because it registers 160 degrees.
-Lovely.
-Turn the heat off.
Now I'm going to take the chicken out.
I'm going to let it cool ever so slightly before we start to shred it.
Chicken has cooled, and I'm shredding away.
Easiest way to shred, I find, is to use two forks.
All right, that looks pretty good.
Now we can add all of this back to this pot pie skillet.
-Mm!
-Into the sauce it goes.
Oh, yeah.
There we go.
Stir that in.
We're going to add just a few more ingredients.
-Okay.
-Some peas -- you got to have some frozen peas.
This is half a cup.
No need to thaw them.
They'll thaw in the oven.
A little bit of cream, just to enrichen everything.
Quarter cup of heavy cream.
-Oh, yeah.
-Some parsley, a little bit of green, 3 tablespoons of freshly minced parsley.
And the flavor of chicken pot pie is not complete [sniffs] without a little bit of sherry.
-It's true.
-Yep.
So, just a tablespoon of dry sherry.
We're going to stir this in.
Oh, hello!
-Mm-mm-mm.
-All right, that looks pretty good.
Okay, now it's time to put the crust on the pie.
-Oh!
-[ Laughs ] Now, this is a great spatula, perfect for this.
Any large spatula will do.
Just take the pie crust.
All right.
So, into the oven this goes.
You want it to hang out in the oven only about ten minutes.
Still in a 400-degree oven.
We're going to finish browning this crust.
The peas will heat through, and the filling will get all nice and bubbly.
-Mm-mm-mm.
-Oh!
-Ooh, let me get the rack there for you.
-Thank you.
-A little bit -- there you go.
-Oh, thank you.
You can see it bubbling!
-Oh, my goodness.
-All right.
Oh!
Ahh!
-The smells are amazing.
-Right?
I'm going to cover this handle because it's hot.
-Yes.
[ Gasps ] -You can see it bubbling around the edge.
-Oh!
-So, we're gonna let it cool just ten minutes.
We're gonna eat it while it's warm.
-Right.
-Not this hot.
Time to dig in.
-So, this serves two, would you say?
-[ Laughing ] I know, right?
-Smells so good.
-I'm not holding back.
I'm giving you a whole, big wedge of this.
-Oh!
-Oh, look at that filling.
-All right.
-Absolutely gorgeous.
-This is my kind of food -- absolutely gorgeous.
-Mm-mm!
-Mm, okay.
I'm going to get a little bit of that filling first.
-Yeah.
-Mm.
-It's simple but flavorful.
-Really flavorful.
-Yeah.
-My fork's too small.
That's the only problem.
-[ Laughs ] -The chicken is super tender.
The shredded pieces, they grab on to that gravy, and they don't let go.
Mm!
-Mm-hmm.
And the pie dough -- super crisp and flaky.
-But buttery.
-Yeah.
-Light and buttery, beautifully crimped.
It's not heavy or soggy underneath.
It's just a little bit softer where it met the filling.
-Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
It's a perfect companion to the pot pie filling.
-No, that's as good as it gets.
-Yeah.
-This is as good as it gets.
It's a chicken pot pie that's been engineered for excellence.
And it starts by parbaking the top crust to ensure doneness, poach chicken breasts right in the sauce to create a savory filling, and top the filling with the crust right before finishing in the oven.
From "America's Test Kitchen," an improvement on chicken pot pie?
You betcha.
It's cast iron chicken pot pie.
♪♪ -Eggplant is one of the world's greatest vegetables with a texture unlike any other.
But it's so spongy, it can absorb a ton of oil when we cook with it.
A classic method for preventing this is to salt the eggplant before cooking.
The salt helps to soften the cellular structure, causing the air channels inside the eggplant to collapse.
And fewer air channels means less oil absorption.
Check this out.
I'm placing a cube of eggplant in each of these bowls.
This eggplant sample is raw, and this one has been salted for 30 minutes.
And what, you might be wondering, is in these bowls?
I'm glad you asked.
It's ferrofluid, which is an oil containing suspended nanoscale magnetic particles.
And when ferrofluid encounters a magnet, some very cool stuff can happen.
In fact, this entire segment was designed as an excuse for me to use a portion of the production budget to play with ferrofluid.
Now, let's use a magnet to see which of the samples absorb more oil.
The raw sample sucked up the ferrofluid like a sponge, while the salted sample absorbed far less.
So, if you want to control the amount of oil your eggplant absorbs, reach for the salt.
And if you just want to have a fun afternoon, reach for the ferrofluid.
♪♪ -Fisherman's pie is a traditional homey dish from across the pond, so who better to show us how to make it than our own resident Englishman, Mr. Joseph Gitter?
-That's right Julia.
We Brits, we love our savory pies topped with mashed potatoes.
-Yes!
-Fisherman's pie, or fish pie, as we call it in the U.K., is this amazing dish of seafood cooked in a creamy, herby sauce... -Mm!
-...topped with those mashed potatoes.
-I've actually never had it, so I'm excited to try it.
-Okay, so, the first thing we're going to do is make those mashed potatoes.
-Okay.
-So, I've got 2 pounds of russet potatoes here.
I'm just going to peel them.
We're going to cut these into 1-inch pieces.
It doesn't need to be exact but roughly the same size so that as they cook they'll all cook at about the same pace.
There we go.
And we're going to transfer these to a large saucepan.
Just gonna take this to the sink, and we're going to cover it with cold water by about an inch.
I'm going to add a tablespoon of table salt just for the cooking.
I'm going to bring this to a boil over high heat.
Then I'm gonna reduce the heat to a bare simmer.
And we're going to cook them until the potatoes are very tender, which will take about 8 to 10 minutes.
-All right.
-So, it's been about nine minutes now.
We're going to test them for doneness.
The best way to do that is to use a paring knife.
And you want to feel very little resistance.
So, that feels pretty good.
So, let's go to the sink, and we can drain them.
Got a colander here in the sink.
Return these to the pot.
-Oh, got a jumper.
-Got a jumper.
Leave no man behind.
Let's return them to the stove.
And you can see they're really steaming... -Mm-hmm.
-...which tells us there's some surface moisture on them.
We don't really want that because that gives us watery mashed potatoes.
-Mm-hmm.
-So, I'm going to set it over low heat, and we're going to cook them just for a minute, shaking occasionally.
So, you can see the steam has really slowed down now.
So, I'm going to mash these off heat now.
And we really want to just get them nice and smooth.
They don't need to be perfect.
You almost want, like, a hearty mash here, which goes really well with that creamy filling.
Okay, that's looking pretty good.
So, I'm going to add 3 tablespoons of butter.
Always add butter first.
When it starts melting, it'll coat those starch granules with fat.
And that will help prevent gluey mashed potatoes.
-Mm-hmm.
-I'm just going to keep on stirring that until you see no solid bits of butter.
We can add the rest of our liquid.
So, now I've got a 1/3 cup of heavy cream here.
-Mm-hmm.
-I'm going to whisk in one egg yolk.
-Interesting.
-So, an egg yolk is not a normal thing you'd add to mashed potatoes.
It's going to add some richness to it, a nice yellow color.
But it's also going to give us a little bit of lift because we're going to soufflé it.
We're going to broil it in the oven later.
-Mm-hmm.
-And that'll give us, like, a little bit of puff, a little bit of lift.
Add our cream mixture to the potatoes.
And now I'm just going to stir it all together until it's really nicely Incorporated.
That's done.
We can cover this to keep it warm until we need it later.
-Okay.
-Now, Julia, a good fish pie should have more than just fish in it.
-Okay.
-We've got some shellfish, as well.
You could use scallops or mussels, but we're going to use one of my favorite, which is some shrimp.
So, I've got 12 ounces of jumbo shrimp here.
-Okay.
-And we need to peel and devein them.
And we're going to use one of my favorite unitaskers for the job, some shrimp shears... -Mm-hmm.
-...that curve to match the shape of the shrimp.
-Yeah.
-So, you just open them up, slide it down the back of the shrimp, give it a couple of snips, and that opens it up.
-Mm-hmm.
-And then you can just peel off the skin.
If you're lucky, you can do it in one.
If you can't, you have to do it in two.
-It's all about the tail.
-Oh, there we go.
We got it in one.
-Nice.
-And then you can devein it.
This actually looks pretty clean.
If it's not, you might just want to take a paper towel and just wipe it away.
And then we want to halve these because this is a pretty big bite.
-Mm-hmm.
-So, I'm just going to take my shears and snip them in half crosswise.
Now, one of the reasons I love shrimp is because they have that amazing snappy texture... -Mm-hmm.
-...if they're cooked well.
But if they're overcooked, not so much.
So, in order to prevent that from happening, we're going to pretreat it.
I'm going to add a 1/4 teaspoon of table salt... -Mm-hmm.
-...and an 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking soda.
So, adding the baking soda is going to help prevent the shrimp from overcooking.
It will really help proteins in that shrimp hold on to the moisture better.
All right, I'm gonna wash my hands.
We're going to pop this in the fridge, and then we can get cooking.
-All right.
-So, now it's time to build our filling.
So, I've got 3 tablespoons of butter melting in a medium saucepan.
And we're going to add one leek sliced thin and 1 teaspoon of minced thyme.
We're going to cook this over medium-low heat until the leeks are meltingly soft.
It'll take about 6 or 7 minutes.
We're not looking for any browning.
-Okay.
-So, it's been six minutes, and the leeks are looking soft.
So, now we're going to add a 1/3 of a cup of white wine.
Now, white wine is such a great addition to leeks and to fish.
So, I'm just going to add it.
And we're going to cook it until the alcohol has completely burned off.
-Mm-hmm.
-So, the liquid will be almost totally evaporated.
-Okay.
-That'll take about five minutes.
So, it's been about five minutes.
You can see almost all the liquid has evaporated.
-Mm-hmm.
-Now we're going to thicken our sauce.
So, we can thicken it with a roux, which is flour cooked in an equal amount of fat.
-Mm-hmm.
-So, we've got 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour here that we're adding to the 3 tablespoons of butter that we cooked the leeks in.
And we're just going to stir it together.
Cook this for a minute to set those starches before we add the rest of our liquids.
So, I've got here two 8-ounce bottles of clam juice.
It's going to be a lot of flavor here.
[ Sizzling ] So, for the rest of our liquid, I've got 2/3 of a cup of heavy cream.
-Mm!
-That's what makes a béchamel.
We need the dairy in there.
-Mm-hmm.
-And we've got a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
I'm going to bring this up to a simmer.
We're going to cook this until it's very thickened, which should take about 10 to 30 minutes.
Okay.
So, it's been about ten minutes.
And you can see it's really thickened up.
-Yeah!
-Yeah, we were looking for the consistency of like a clam chowder, a thick clam chowder.
-Yeah.
That's a thick clam chowder.
-Yes, it is.
Now, that's thicker than what we want it, because we're going to add our fish directly to the filling.
-Aha!
-And as it cooks, it's going to release its juices, which is going to add flavor but also going to thin out the sauce.
-Ah, makes sense.
-So, now we're going to deal with the rest of our fish.
So, I've got 1 pound of cod here.
You could just take the view that this is not a particularly important dish, because it's a pie.
You can throw whatever you want into it, but if you want to elevate it, you get these nice, big cuts so we can get these beautiful, big chunks that are very even.
-Mm-hmm.
-Should be very satisfying to eat.
So, I'm going to cut these into one inch, which is pretty hefty.
So, I'm going to add this to the bowl with the shrimp.
And, finally, we need a smoked component -- smoked salmon.
-Oh, interesting.
-And I've got 4 ounces of that smoked salmon.
So, I'm going to cut this into half-inch pieces because we really want this to separate out and to spread its flavor throughout the dish.
So, let's add it to our sauce.
And we're just going to coat everything in that sauce.
I'm going to bring it back to a simmer.
And we want to cook things very gently here because we don't want to overcook the fish.
-Mm-hmm.
-We took that care with the shrimp earlier.
I'm gonna reduce the heat to low, and we're going to cook it very gently until the fish is just cooked through.
And we'll know by when the shrimp starts turning opaque... -Okay.
-...because that would be the last thing to cook.
And we're going to stir this every two minutes until it's cooked, which will take four to six minutes.
So, it's been just over four minutes.
We can check on our fish.
So, if we look at the shrimp, that is definitely opaque.
-Yep.
-And you can see the sauce is really thinned out.
-Nice.
-Let's kill the heat here.
And we've still got our nice, big chunks of fish from our captain's cut.
-Oh!
Beautiful!
-And let's stir in a 1/4 cup of minced parsley.
This really just adds some nice freshness to it.
So, you want to be just a little bit careful as you fold this in because we don't want to break apart the fish too much.
So, we can transfer this now to an 8-inch broiler-safe baking pan.
-Okay.
Ooh, it's hot!
-It is hot.
Want to smooth it out just a little bit.
So, this is our filling.
-Mm-hmm.
-This is our topping.
And the one challenging thing about this recipe is making sure that the topping stays on top.
-Mm-hmm.
-So, you need to be a little bit crafty with how you apply it.
So, I like to take a little dollop and then just anchor it against the side of the baking dish.
-Oh, interesting.
-And onto the next one and just anchor it to the first, and each time I'm smoothing it out so we don't have any cracks.
And then that way we can just work our way around the whole pie.
And we've got a lovely, smooth mashed potato on top of our filling.
And at the very end, just want to make sure you smooth it over.
-Nicely done, Joe.
-There we go.
And it's traditional to decorate it.
You know, you could use a spoon or a fork.
I'm just going to use a fork just to make a little wavy pattern here.
-Mm!
-And it doesn't need to be perfect now.
It's just, you know, give you a little bit of that textural contrast later.
So, to help with the browning, I'm going to add one tablespoon of melted butter.
So, we're only a few minutes away from eating.
-Ha ha!
-But, first of all, we need to brown it.
So, to do that, we're going to broil it.
-Mm-hmm.
-I've set the oven rack eight inches from the heating element.
And we're going to cook it until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
That'll take six to seven minutes.
You don't want to walk away from it because as with anything under the broiler, it can go from pale to golden to burnt in no time.
Let's see how we're doing.
-Oh-ho-ho, I smell that topping.
-Oh, yes, you do.
So, there we go.
So, this is very nicely brown.
I can hear it bubbling away.
So, this is hot -- too hot for us to eat now.
-Yeah.
-So, let's wait ten minutes, and then we're ready to serve.
-Okay.
-It's been ten minutes.
-Mm-hmm!
-We're ready to eat.
-I can't wait to give this a shot.
-First spoon is the best one... -Is it?
-...because you really get that lovely browned mash.
And then I just reach underneath, and then we get all the tender fish.
-Oh-ho-ho!
-So, it's almost like a self-sauced stew.
-Oh, my goodness!
-Got a little bit extra there.
-Mm.
Thank you.
All right.
-Let's tuck in.
-Yes, please.
Mm!
The topping is perfection.
-Mm-hmm.
-I want to get some of this gorgeous cod.
Mm!
It has a delicate flavor.
I was looking for the smoked salmon.
-Right.
-You can't really pick it out.
But there is this sort of very faint, smoky background that just gives it a little heft.
-Exactly.
It just suffuses all the way through it, and it's quite a concentrated fitting, as well.
-Yeah.
-It really comes together as one comfy whole.
-That shrimp has the perfect texture.
It's not rubbery, which is hard to do with shrimp because it's in there for quite a while.
-That's right, because we have to cook it twice, as well.
-Yeah.
It's that baking-soda trick in the beginning.
-Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
-Oh, Joe, I could see why you'd want to come home to this after school on a rainy day.
That topping, the perfect texture -- it's creamy.
You get a little of the structure in that soufflé from the yolk with the browning on top.
-Mm-hmm.
-Oh, Joe, this is amazing.
Thank you for showing me how to make it.
-You're very welcome, Julia.
-If you want to make this very British dish, start by using a combination of shellfish, fresh fish, and smoked fish.
Poach that fish right in the sauce.
Anchor the mashed-potato topping around the edge of the dish.
From "America's Test Kitchen," a very British recipe for fisherman's pie.
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