Shepherd's Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional shepherd's pie made of? ›

Traditionally, shepherd's pie is made with lamb mince, vegetables and mashed potato. The meat is added to an aromatic combination of softened carrot, onion and celery, known in French cooking as a mirepoix, which is then loosened up with stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and bay leaves to make a tasty gravy.

Talk about satisfying. Ground beef, vegetables, and gravy are baked under pillowy mashed potatoes. If it's not yet already, this will soon be a family favorite recipe.

How do you keep shepherd's pie from falling apart? Make sure your casserole dish is the right size. You should also have firm mashed potatoes so it won't fall apart when you're serving. As you put the topping on, don't press too hard, using a gentle touch to smooth it out.

The terms shepherd's pie and cottage pie have been used interchangeably since they came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, although some writers insist that a shepherd's pie should contain lamb or mutton, and a cottage pie, beef.

Classic shepherd's pie is made with ground lamb, gravy, mashed potatoes, and veggies like peas, corn, celery, and carrots. Why is my shepherd's pie soggy? Avoid a soggy pie by simmering the meat mixture for at least 8 minutes. Be sure to cook down the mixture to remove excess moisture.

It's called cottage pie in the U.K. because they use beef and in Ireland since the shepherds tend sheep, it's shepherd's pie. No doubt, the English put out an excellent cottage pie, but in Ireland it used to be a delicacy since the Irish couldn't afford beef they repurposed any unused veggies and meat.

The easiest way to thicken shepherd's pie filling is by sprinkling a few tablespoons of flour into the ground beef mixture as it cooks before adding it to the baking dish. The starch in the flour will absorb the extra liquid and create a thick gravy.

Simply put, after making a weekend roast, unused meat was repurposed into a pie using affordable potatoes as a crust. This frugal, albeit clever, meal suggests the name “cottage pie” referred to the consumers of the dish—poor Irish peasants (remember, they lived in cottages).

How do you keep potatoes from sinking in shepherd's pie? Let the beef layer cool before you top it with the mashed potatoes. This is the number one way to keep your potatoes from sinking. Another tip is to not make your potatoes too runny because firmer mashed potatoes stay more level while baking.

The main difference between Cottage Pie and Shepherd's pie is cottage pie uses ground beef, and Shepherd's pie uses ground lamb. Both pies are cooked with vegetables and gravy and baked under a layer of mashed potatoes. To make Shepherd's pie using this recipe, simply substitute ground lamb.

Why is shepherds pie called chinese pie? ›

Most workers ate their meat, potatoes and corn separately but workers of mainly Asian origins, combined their rations to create shepherd's pie, a more communal dish. The French-Canadian railway workers liked this new concoction, adopted the dish, and called it “pâté chinois”, which loosely translates to Chinese pie.

According to the Oxford Companion to Food, once upon a time, Scotland made its shepherd's pies with pastry instead of mashed potatoes. Indian cooks once considered shepherd's pie to be a perfect dish for tiffin (a word used to mean a light snack in British India).

“Shepherd's pie” and “cottage pie” are used interchangeably, but technically traditional shepherd's pie is made with ground lamb and traditional cottage pie is made with ground beef.

I never shy away from the excuse to celebrate anything Irish. What's not to love about shepherd's pie? It's got ground beef, or lamb, with mushrooms, onion, corn, peas and carrots cooked in a delicious gravy sauce that's topped with a mashed potato crust that's baked in the oven.

Many people believe that the peasant housewives invented the pie as an easy way to repackage leftovers from their Sunday roast. The Shepherd Pie is thought to originate from Ireland and the northern parts of England.