Shepherd's pie

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Shepherd's pie
Homerton College - Shepherd's pie (cropped).jpg
Shepherd's pie served with peas,
a common accompaniment
Alternative namesCottage pie, hachis Parmentier
Type Meat pie
Place of originBritain and France
Main ingredients Mashed potato with minced meat
VariationsCumberland pie,
Shepherdess pie

Shepherd's pie, cottage pie, or in French cuisine hachis Parmentier, is a savoury dish of cooked minced meat topped with mashed potato and baked, formerly also called Sanders or Saunders. The meat used may be either previously cooked or freshly minced. The usual meats are beef or lamb. 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.

Contents

History

Shepherd's pies for sale Granville Island Market - Shepherds pie.jpg
Shepherd's pies for sale
Shepherd's pie in an English restaurant Bermuda (UK) image number 123 Shepherds Pie dinner dish at restaurant.jpg
Shepherd's pie in an English restaurant

Cottage pie

The term was in use by 1791. Parson Woodforde mentions "Cottage-Pye" in his diary entry for 29 August 1791 and several times thereafter. He records that the meat was veal but does not say what the topping was. [1] The dish was known in its present form, though not under the same name, in the early 19th century: in 1806 Maria Rundell published a recipe for "Sanders", consisting of the same ingredients as cottage or shepherd's pie: minced beef or mutton, with onion and gravy, topped with mashed potato and baked as individual servings. [2] [n 1] Sanders or Saunders could also have a filling of sliced meat. [4] [n 2] According to Jane Grigson in English Food, mincing originally meant chopping something with a knife. "But with the first mincing-machines, prison, school and seaside boarding house cooks acquired a new weapon to depress their victims, with watery mince, shepherd's pie with rubbery granules of left-over meat." [6]

In 20th-century and later use the term cottage pie has widely, but not exclusively, been used for a dish of chopped or minced beef with a mashed potato topping. [7] [n 3] The beef may be fresh or previously cooked; [7] the latter was at one time more usual. Well into the 20th century the absence of refrigeration made it expedient in many domestic kitchens to store cooked meat rather than raw. In the 1940s the chef Louis Diat recalled of his childhood days, "when housewives bought their Sunday meat they selected pieces large enough to make into leftover dishes for several days". [9] Modern recipes for cottage pie typically use fresh beef. [7]

Shepherd's pie

A recipe for shepherd's pie published in Edinburgh in 1849 in The Practice of Cookery and Pastry specifies cooked meat of any kind, sliced rather than minced, covered with mashed potato and baked. [10] In the 1850s the term was also used for a Scottish dish that contained a mutton and diced potato filling inside a pastry crust. [11] Neither shepherd's pie nor cottage pie was mentioned in the original edition of Mrs Beeton's Household Management in 1861. [12]

More recently "shepherd's pie" has generally been used for a potato-topped dish of minced lamb. According to the Oxford Companion to Food , "In keeping with the name, the meat should be mutton or lamb; and it is usually cooked meat left over from a roast". [7] As with beef, it was commonplace in the days before refrigeration to cook a Sunday joint to last in various guises throughout the week. Dorothy Hartley quotes a traditional verse, "Vicarage mutton", showing not only the uses to which the joint was put, but also the interchangeability of the terms "shepherd's" and "cottage" pie:

  Hot on Sunday,
  Cold on Monday,
  Hashed on Tuesday,
  Minced on Wednesday,
  Curried Thursday,
  Broth on Friday,
  Cottage pie Saturday. [13]

Hachis Parmentier

The dish Hachis Parmentier is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who popularised the potato in French cuisine in the late 18th century. [7] It is documented from the late 19th century. [n 4] It is usually made with chopped or minced lamb or beef; in either case it may be made with either fresh or left-over cooked meat. (The modern English term "hash" derives from the French hachis, meaning food "finely chopped".) [15] [n 5]

In some recipes a layer of sauté potatoes is put in the cooking dish before the meat filling and mashed potato topping are added. [17] A more elaborate version by Auguste Escoffier, named Hachis de boeuf à Parmentier, consists of baked potatoes, the contents of which are removed, mixed with freshly-cooked diced beef, returned to the potato shells and covered with sauce lyonnaise. [18]

Variations

There are no universally agreed ingredients for any of the three dishes. The 26 recipes cited in the table show the varieties of titles and ingredients recommended by cooks and food writers from Australia, Britain, Canada, France and the US.

Cook/writerName of dishMeat usedFresh or left-overRef.
Mary Berry Cottage pieBeefFresh [19]
Mère Biasin Hachis ParmentierLambLeft-over boiled [n 6] [20]
Paul Bocuse Hachis ParmentierBeefLeft-over boiled [21]
Robert Carrier Cottage pieBeefFresh [22]
Felicity Cloake Cottage pieBeefFresh, chopped, not minced [23]
Jean-Pierre Coffe Hachis ParmentierBeefLeft-over boiled, mixed with fresh calves' liver [24]
Elizabeth Craig Shepherd's pieLambLeft-over casseroled [25]
Jane Grigson Shepherd's pieBeef or lambFresh [26]
Michel Guérard Hachis ParmentierVeal sweetbreads and duck gizzards Fresh [27]
Mark Hix Shepherd's pieBeef and lambFresh [28]
Graham Kerr Cottage pieBeefFresh [29]
Tom Kerridge Cottage pieBeefFresh [30]
Jean Paré Hachis ParmentierBeefFresh [31]
Henri-Paul Pellaprat Hachis ParmentierBeefLeft-over [32]
Anne-Sophie Pic Oxtail ParmentierBeefFresh [33]
Gordon Ramsay Shepherd's pieLambFresh [34]
Jay Rayner Cottage pieBeef and porkFresh [35]
Gary Rhodes Shepherd's pieLambFresh [36]
Michel Roux, Jr. [n 7] Hachis ParmentierLambLeft-over roast [37]
Madame Saint-Ange Hachis de bœuf au gratinBeefLeft-over [38]
Joan SchwartzShepherd's pieLambFresh [39]
Delia Smith Cottage pieBeefFresh [40]
Martha Stewart Shepherd's pieBeefFresh [41]
John Torode [n 8] Cottage pieBeefFresh [42]
Antoine Westermann [n 9] Hachis ParmentierBeefFresh or left-over braised [43]
Anne Willan Hachis ParmentierBeefFresh [44]

Similar dishes

Fillings for other pies with a mashed potato topping are numerous, and include artichoke hearts and red peppers; [45] black pudding; [46] chicken and spinach; [47] chorizo; [48] curried chicken; [49] duck; [50] rabbit; [51] salmon; [52] salt cod; [53] turkey and ham; [54] and flaked white fish with shrimps in a white sauce. [55]

Other pies with non-pastry toppings include:

Name of dishPlace of originDescriptionRef.
Cumberland pieEnglandPies of this name exist in two versions: traditional Cumberland pies, still served in Cumbria, have a pastry case, but others have a lamb or beef or pork-sausage filling covered by mashed potato topped with cheese and breadcrumbs. [56]
Empadão PortugalMeat, often veal, stewed in a tomato-based gravy and layered several times between mashed potatoes. Poultry or fish is sometimes used instead of meat [57]
EscondidinhoBrazilThe name, indicating "hidden", describes the way sun-dried meat is covered with a layer of manioc purée. The dish often includes cheese and chicken; cod is sometimes used instead of beef. [58]
Pastel de carneUruguayThe filling is similar to that of a cottage pie, with the addition of sliced hard-boiled eggs. [59]
Pastel de papasArgentina, ChileSimilar to cottage pie; may also contain peppers. [60]
Pastel tutupIndonesiaMade with any of several meats, with vegetables such as carrots and green peas and boiled eggs, all topped with mashed potato. [61]
Pâté chinois CanadaAlso known in Canada as shepherd's pie, consisting of a bottom layer of beef, a middle layer of creamed sweetcorn, topped with mashed potato. [62]
Pióg an aoireIrelandThe Irish for shepherd's pie. [63]
Shepherdess pieOtherAlso called shepherdless pie: a vegetarian version made without meat, or a vegan version made without meat and dairy. [64]

See also

Notes, references and sources

Notes

  1. In 1845 Eliza Acton published her recipe for "Saunders", similar to Rundell's, but with a layer of mashed potato underneath the minced meat as well as one on top. Like Rundell, she uses pre-cooked meat but adds, "A very superior kind of saunders is made by substituting fresh meat for roasted; but this requires to be baked an hour or something more". [3]
  2. The name "Saunders" is still used in at least one cookery book for a similar dish made with corned beef. [5]
  3. Jane Grigson noted that to make the dish go further some recipes put in a bottom layer of potato before adding the meat and top layer. [8]
  4. It is listed on a bistro menu in Le Petit Moniteur universel, 29 June 1892: "Escargots. Fraise de veau. Ravigotte. Navarin pommes. Salé aux choux. Hachis Parmentier. Œufs, saucisses. Poulet rôti chaud". [14]
  5. In his Grand dictionnaire de cuisine (1873) Alexandre Dumas wrote, "When you have veal, beef, chicken, game or scraps of meat left over from dinner the night before, all you have to do is chop these left-overs neatly, and there are tools for that, until the whole forms a complete mixture." [16]
  6. In Mère Biasin's version, rather than a single layer of ragout and a single layer of potato, there would be several alternating layers of each, with a potato one on the top. [20]
  7. "For me, the best shepherd's pie is made with leftover roast lamb, either shoulder or leg. In fact, I remember my sister and myself holding back on a Sunday lunch in case there wasn't enough left to make the pie." [37]
  8. Torode comments, "The great cottage pie – whoever worked this one out was a genius". [42]
  9. Westermann adds fennel to the mashed potato topping. [43]

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References

  1. Woodforde (Vol III), p. 295; and (Vol V), pp. 335, 347, 371, 378, 389, 393 and 410
  2. Rundell, p. 39
  3. Acton, p. 195
  4. Hughes, p. 49
  5. Crook, p. 84
  6. Grigson (1992), p. 141
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Saberi, p. 717
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  12. Beeton, index pp. viii–ix, xiii and xxx
  13. Hartley, p. 160
  14. Anfossi, Marc. "Un bistro – fin de siècle", Le Petit Moniteur universel, 29 June 1892, p. 2, column 5
  15. "hash" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  16. Dumas, p. 619
  17. Saulnier, p. 143
  18. Escoffier, p. 391
  19. Berry, p. 198
  20. 1 2 Hayward, p. 126
  21. Bocuse, p. 53
  22. Carrier, p. 30
  23. Cloake, Felicity. "How to make perfect cottage pie" Archived 13 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine , The Guardian, 21 October 2010
  24. Coffe, p. 312
  25. Craig, p. 182
  26. Grigson (1992), pp. 140−141
  27. Guerard, pp. 108–109
  28. Hix, p. 165
  29. Kerr, p. 102
  30. Kerridge, p. 193
  31. Paré, p. 13
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  42. 1 2 Torode, p. 100
  43. 1 2 Westermann, p. 154
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