Taste test

FISH PIE

Is there anything more comforting than fish pie? But if you haven’t time to make your own, how do the commercially available versions stack up?

Donnybrook Fair Fish Pie, 380g, €7.75, 8/10

The closest to home-made we found, our testers liked the balanced flavour and consistency, but felt there were too few mussels and prawns. Good mash topping.

Avoca Fish Pie, 400g, €7.50, 7/10

This pie had a nice mix of fish — salmon, hake and smoked coley — and good flavour. The sauce had an assertive amount of dill, which is either a good or a bad thing depending on how one views this herb.

Kinsale Bay Food Company, 400g, €5.69, 6/10

This pie is made with salmon, white fish and smoked haddock, and has great flavour, but our testers found the consistency overly liquid. Gluten-free.

SuperValu Fish Pie, 450G, €4, 5/10

The SuperValu pie includes smoked cod and smoked haddock, and also pieces of firm tomato. It has a cheesy Parmesan topping — popular with some — but our testers were unimpressed with the use of concentrates and palm oil.

Cully & Sully Superior Fish Pie, 400g, €4.99, 4/10

“Comfortingly bland” is how our testers described this fish pie, which is gluten free. The packaging doesn’t state where it is made. The fish used are pollock, hot smoked salmon and smoked haddock.

M&S Gastropub Fish Pie, 400g, €7, 3/10

This “doesn’t taste of anything much” was the verdict of our testers after tasting this fish pie — that was despite the packet description of “cod, king prawns, smoked haddock and Lochmuir salmon with spinach in a cheesy sauce ...”.

Tesco Finest Fish Pie, 400g, €4.50, 2/10

This fish pie had quite a loose consistency and really lacked flavour.