Shepherd's Pie
Dig into one of the most hearty and comforting British classics. Shepherd’s pie is essentially a hot and savory casserole consisting of minced lamb or mutton, onions, celery, carrots, thick gravy, seasonings and of course that one sauce literally no one can pronounce —Worcestershire Sauce. All of the ingredients above are slowly simmered then placed under a roof of buttery, creamy and cheesy mashed potatoes, finally it is baked in the oven until the pie is ready for devouring. Some may say this is peasant food made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients, I think it’s a simple delicacy and a straightforward recipe. It’s great for weathering the….um cold weather. Endure, I mean endure!
History
Shepherd’s Pie originated from the sheep country in Scotland and Northern England. There are two running theories of how this type of savory meat-based pie came to be. Some say it was invented by shepherds in the 18th century. Others say it was housewives who created the pie as a way of repackaging leftovers from Sunday Roast to ensure the meat does not spoil without refrigeration. In early cookbooks, shepherds pie is also mentioned as a way of using leftover roasted meat of any kind and back then the pie dish was lined not just on the top, but also the sides and bottom with mashed potatoes.
But the original shepherd’s pie hailing from Scotland was actually baked in pastry crusts and used leftover roast meat combined with savory gravy to bring it all together. When the dish made its way from Scotland to Ireland, they skipped the pastry and used their abundance of potatoes instead, creating the modern-day mashed potato topping. While some people still make shepherd’s pie with pastry the way the Scots did, it’s much more common to make it Irish-style using mashed potatoes as the topping. Now that you know there is a huge Irish influence, with Saint Patrick's Day approaching soon, who is planning on making Shepherd’s Pie?
Variations | Local
Cottage Pie - you can only call it shepherd’s pie if it has lamb or mutton. Any pie made with beef, should be called cottage pie. The term “cottage pie” predates “shepherd’s” by nearly a century, but each was used synonymously with the other for a long time.
Cumberland Pie - exactly the same thing as shepherd’s pie or cottage pie, but if you want to top your pie with an additional layer of toasted breadcrumbs or mix it in with the mashed potatoes, you will have to refer to it as Cumberland Pie.
Gardener’s Pie - there is a shepherd’s pie for vegetarians too! It doesn’t have an official name, some people refer to it as shepherdless pie while others name it as garderner’s pie. The fillings also vary, from lentils to mushrooms to leeks and sweet potatoes.
Here is also a random fun fact. Earlier I mentioned meat pie is considered to be peasant food but it can get pretty pricey as well! The most expensive slice of meat pie was sold in Lancashire, UK, for over £1,000 a slice! It was made with Japanese wagyu beef filet, priceless Chinese matsutake mushrooms, Winter Black truffles, French Bluefoot mushrooms, and gravy made from two bottles of vintage 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine. To top it all off, it was garnished with edible gold leaf! It’s a Guinness World Record. Are you as shocked as I am? Here is the BBC news article from 2005.
Variations | International
Now, this wouldn’t be @TheSpiceOdyssey, if I did not talk about cultural diffusion and highlight different cultural variations. I take these concepts for granted because it’s part of my background (I studied Anthropology!) and forget that not everyone knows what I am going on about. Oops! The basic idea is that at some point in history, there was some kind of a spread/sharing of cultural items - it could be ideas, styles, religions, languages, technologies and in our case food between individuals, whether within a single culture or from one culture to another. This diffusion and advancement of cultural products could have happened due to many reasons - expansion, relocation/migration, hierarchical/class-based, contagious or stimulus.
For example, one of our recent post Afternoon Tea is a great example of hierarchical diffusion - influenced by social elites, this idea of an afternoon break involving tea and scones spread from one class of society to another. Then there is our very last post, Chicken Tikka Masala - a great example of stimulus diffusion, a newly innovated recipe that spread due to its attachment to another popular Indian dish called Chicken Makhni aka Butter Chicken! Ooo here is a great one! The viral TikTok Baked Feta Pasta taking over North America by storm - this is contagious diffusion where an idea spreads virally between person-to-person within a given population.
Okay so I can go on and on about this but let’s get back to the point of this post today. MEAT PIE! With common ingredients like ground meat and potatoes, there is no doubt that there would be so many versions of this pie around the world. Keep in mind, not all of these versions/variations were inspired or influenced by Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage pie - some just totally happened to be a product of their own culture and time. How amazing is that! Here are some I could think of off the top of my head.
Hachis Parmentier | France - a French casserole made with layers of mashed potatoes and beef, topped with cheese. It’s actually the French name for shepherd’s/cottage pie in France. Pretty much the exact same recipe but usually has local cheese like the Emmental, which is the French version of Swiss cheese. Ooo stop it!
Pâté chinois | Canada - the Quebecois and Acadian style shepherd’s pie. Traditionally, Pâté Chinois is made using canned creamed corn and the variations throughout Canada may also include reversing the layering of ingredients with potatoes at the bottom, then meat, topped with creamed corn. Once served, ketchup may be added.
Mubattan Kusha | Libya - fried or grilled potato slices are first layered in a casserole dish, then topped with a mixture of eggs and herbs, and finally, with a layer of meat. The process is repeated until the casserole dish is filled, the whole thing is sprinkled with breadcrumbs, then baked until golden brown. Yum!
Moussaka | Greece - an eggplant and/or potato-based dish, often including ground meat, which is common in the Balkans and the Middle East, with many local and regional variations. The best-known version in Europe and the Americas is the Greek variant. Doesn’t matter the Arab or Greek version, moussaka is a favorite comfort food in our household. Love both!
Tepsi Baytinijan | Iraq - consisting of eggplants, which are sliced and fried before placing in a baking dish, accompanied with meatballs, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Potato slices are placed on top of the mixture, and the dish is baked.
Bobotie | South Africa - Pronounced ba-boor-tea, the national dish of South Africa is a delicious mixture of curried meat, fruit and raisins with a creamy golden egg-based topping. Raisins…ew! I actually made Bobotie before (someone can dig up a picture from my personal IG highlights) and I just um forgot to omit the raisins and yeah that didn’t bode so well with my raisin-hating husband. Otherwise, it was pretty good!
Pastel De Papa | Peru & Chile - With potatoes on top, the casserole looks similar to the shepherd’s pie we know, but instead of vegetables, cooks often layer in chopped hard-boiled eggs, black olives and raisins. Sometimes, it’s wrapped in pastry dough and served up empanada style.
Potato-Meat Pies | Australia - in Aussie and Kiwi pie shops, savory hand-held meat pies are an iconic snack. They typically have a double crust but this recipe starts with flaky pie crust filled with delicious ground beef and gravy and is then topped with creamy mashed potatoes instead of a second crust. Now I’m hungry!
I feel like I covered every single continent. I actually did! All SIX continents! (Antarctica doesn’t count). Now if your culture has something similar to Shepherd’s Pie or if you can think of another meat pie dish, be sure to share it with us! We would love to try it and feature it on our food blog.
Recipe — Shepherd’s Pie
Serves: 2-4
Meat Filling
Ground Lamb - 1 lbs
Salt - 1 tsp
Heat a skillet or a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add ground lamb and cook, breaking up with masher or whisk, until reduced to small bits. Use a potato masher or large whisk to break up meat. Continue cooking the meat until it releases water, once the water evaporates it should render fat. If meat has rendered an excessive amount of fat and oil, use a metal spoon to ladle most of it out in a separate bowl, leaving just a few tablespoons in the pot. Continue stirring and scraping bottom of pot, until well browned. Remove the meat and set aside in a separate dish.
Vegetable Oil - 1 tbsp
Celery - 2 stalks, chopped
Carrots - 2, chopped
Onion - ½ large, chopped
Add vegetable oil to the leftover rendered fat/oil in the pot and heat until shimmering. Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pot, until just beginning to soften slightly, about 4 minutes.
Garlic - 2, minced
Mustard Powder - 1 tsp
Paprika - 2 tsp
Ground Black Pepper - 1 tsp
Cayenne (Optional) - 1 tsp
Add garlic and all the ground spices. Combine well with the vegetable until the spices are evenly incorporated and cooked, for 2 minutes. Add the cooked meat back in the pot and combine with the vegetables and spices.
Tomato Paste - 2 tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce - ¼ cup
Reduce the heat to medium and add tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Combine well and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the burning of the fond is imminent.
Note: Fond is the highly flavorful, browned bits of meat stuck to the bottom of a pan after sautéing. The culinary term fond, French for "base" or "foundation", refers to browned food bits which are deglazed with liquid such as wine or stock to produce a flavor base and/or sauce.
Note About Deglazing
The idea is to add a little bit of cold liquid into a very hot pan to loosen up all the fond. Fond is the cooked brown food particles stuck to the bottom of the pan after and they are the source of immense flavor. You can use either stock or wine to lift up and dissolve food particles that are stuck to the bottom after cooking or searing. This will add an additional layer of flavor to the dish.
For this recipe, I like to use a dry wine, preferably red to deglaze the pan. Although the alcohol is completely burnt off and will not intoxicate you, I understand a lot of our readers are averse to using alcohol in cooking because of their religion and/or lifestyle choices. It’s okay to omit the alcohol totally and you can skip this part and go to the next step, deglaze with 1 cup of beef stock instead and add 1-2 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar as the stock reduces.
Dry Wine (optional) - 1 cup, red or white
Deglaze with a dry wine of your choice and bring to a simmer over high heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until almost fully evaporated.
Note about wine: You can choose to deglaze with either red or white wine. Just make sure it is a wine with a high acidity commonly called dry but known in wine-speak as “crisp”. If you prefer the dish to taste bright, light with a hint of sweetness, go with white wine. The best white wines for a savory dish would be pinot grigio, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc. If you prefer the dish to have a rich, savory flavor and be darker in color, go for a red wine. The best red wines for this type of dish would be cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and merlot. Normally for a Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie, I would go with red but we just happened to be celebrating Valentine’s Day and opened a bottle of Pinot Gris from our last visit to Napa. Besides, as the weather is starting to get warmer in California, I wanted to keep the dish as light and bright as possible.
The alcohol in wine doesn't add flavor to dishes so much as it makes other ingredients taste better. It helps release flavor molecules in foods and assists in dissolving fats, allowing ingredients to reveal their own unique flavors in ways that other liquids (like water or broth) or fats (like butter and olive oil) cannot. When adding wine to a sauce, make sure you allow most of the alcohol to cook off; otherwise, the sauce may have a harsh, slightly boozy taste. As the alcohol evaporates and the wine cooks, it’s flavor becomes more concentrated, adding to the savouriness or sweetness to a dish.
Beef Stock - 2 cup
Once the wine has completely evaporated, stir in 2 cups of beef stock. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until reduced and quite thick, about an hour. This is important because the large amounts of collagen requires long cooking times to break down into a rich gelatin which adds a more flavorful and silky texture to the meat filling. Stir infrequently and scrape the bottom of the meat sauce making sure it does not brown/burn underneath. Taste for salt and add more if needed.
Note: if you are deglazing with beef stock, then in total you are using 3 cups of beef stock — 1 cup to deglaze, then later 2 cups for making the gravy.
Cornstarch - 2 tbsp
Make a slurry by combining the cornstarch in ¼ cup cold beef stock or cold water. Add to the meat sauce and combine well. The addition of cornstarch will gelatinize the meat sauce even more and add a shiny and more translucent finish.
Frozen Peas - 1/2 cup
Microwave 1 cup of water until boiling. Add the frozen peas and let it sit for 1 minute. Then toss the peas into a bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking. Drain the peas from the water and add it to the meat sauce. Stir and combine well, then turn off the heat.
Note: This process is called blanching which brightens and retains the vibrant green color of the vegetable, and helps prevent loss of vitamins. I personally do not like mushy peas and like them to be nice and vibrantly green so blanching is a great way to maintain the color and texture. Let the meat sauce cool a bit, about half an hour, then pour it in a tupperware and store it in the fridge. The meat sauce has to completely cool down before it is baked.
Mashed Potato Topping
Russet Potatoes - 4 -6 large
Peel the potatoes and cut them into big chunks. Set potatoes in a colander and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. Transfer to a large saucepan and cover with cold water by at least 2 inches. Season water with salt until almost as salty as the sea. Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until a knife easily pierces potatoes with no resistance, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander, then transfer into a large bowl.
Unsalted Butter - 6 tbsp
Egg Yolk - 1
Milk - 1/2 cup or as needed
English Cheddar - ¼ cup, shredded
Salt - 1 tsp
Add the butter and let it melt in the heat of the potatoes. Mash the potatoes, stirring in enough milk to get a slightly looser texture than you'd normally want for mashed potatoes. Add salt, grate in the cheese, add the egg yolks, stir until smooth. Keep the mash warm until you're ready to bake.
Assembling + Baking
Parmesan
Chives
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Set a 9-inch square or rectangle baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Add meat sauce, being careful not to fill more than halfway. Top with mashed potatoes, spreading them with a spatula to cover the surface completely. You might not need all of the sauce or the mashed potato, depending on the exact size of your baking dish. Using a fork, make some ridges on the surface that'll brown nice and look pretty. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if using
Transfer to the oven and bake until the potatoes are puffy and the filling is bubbling, about 30 minutes. For deeper browning, place it on a rack set about 6 inches under a hot broiler for the last few minutes of cooking, about 3-4 minutes. Watch closely to prevent potatoes from burning.
Once it is cooked and the top is browned to your liking, bring out the dish. Sprinkle some more parmesan and chives on top. Let it stand 15-20 minutes before serving.
Note: This dish can be assembled, wrapped with plastic, and refrigerated up to 2 days. Reheat in a 350°F oven for about 35 minutes, then use the broiler to brown the top.
I also ended up with some leftover meat filling and mashed potato topping, so I took a few ramekins and made individual batches. You can top it off with extra cheese like I did because why not!
Drinks Paired with Shepherd’s Pie
Alcoholic
Beer - With its hearty blend of potatoes, lamb, and peas, a traditional Shepherds pie is begging to be paired with a malty beer that's not too rich. Our top recommendation is Newcastle Brown Ale which has a smooth and deliciously malty flavour with a caramel and slightly nutty aftertaste. Another popular one is Founders Dirty Bastard, a Scotch ale with earthy notes of peat, caramel, and smoke.
Red Wine - Savory meat pies like these goes great with Red wine that is low tannin but acidic enough to cut through the gravy, but also feature earthy and spice flavors to complement the meat and veggies. Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Rioja, Sangiovese, and Côtes-du-Rhône are few red wines that are delicious with Shepherds Pie or Cottage Pie.
Non-Alcoholic
Tea - sure red wine and beer can work. But, really, this is a meal that should radiate warmth. A huge steaming mug of rusty tea like the Brits can only add to that. It is like throwing another log on this metaphorical real fire.
Cranberry or Pomegranate Juice - these two juices work because they contain tannins (just like red wine), which act as palate cleansers and cut through the heavy meat. Neither are so sweet that they’ll overpower the flavor of the savory pie.
Club Soda with Lemon or Lime - carbonation works well with fat because not only does it help cut through it, but it also acts as a palate cleanser to balance out its richness. Fancy up a glass of club soda with a big squeeze of lemon or lime and it’s an even better pairing, as the acid from the citrus also cuts through richness of meat and potato, balancing the flavors in your mouth.
Serving the Shepherd’s Pie
I personally think this is a meal on it’s own but having some veggies and greens and a nice starchy bread to soak up all the gravy is also an excellent choice. Here are some suggestions.
Vegetables - Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Parsnips
Starch - Sourdough, Soda Bread, Dinner Rolls, Yorkshire Puds
Green - Garden salad, Arugula
If you do recreate this recipe, be sure to tag us @thespiceodyssey on Instagram.
