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| Here is my Cottage Pie, not really very good... |
What I grew up calling Shepherd's Pie is not really Shepherd's Pie, it is Cottage Pie; in the UK and Ireland Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb or mutton while our Cottage Pie is made with beef. The French call Shepherd's Pie pâté chinois or pâté à l’anglaise, but they differentiate between the two, as we should. If you live in a cottage and you have a cottage garden then why not make cottage pie for supper? What we call supper some people call dinner; but supper is our last meal of the day, the third meal of three. At supper you sup if you are sipping a bowl of soup, or not, and it comes from the Middle English, mid-1200s AD, to eat. We have three meals a day, breakfast (when the fast of sleep ends), lunch (which some people call dinner or used to call dinner back when we were farmers and needed a large midday meal). And supper. People today have snacks and are referred to as grazing, eating all day and anytime you want like a cow in the field; no wonder we're so fat.
My grandfather, from Blackburn, Lancashire, I am told by my mother, used to eat tongue and other animal parts we wouldn't want to eat. Maybe the words breakfast, lunch, and dinner are a part of my northern English heritage, working class and less trendy than the south of England. But breakfast, lunch, and dinner are, for the most part, what they're called in Canada. When my mother passed away in 2014 I inherited a copy of Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book (the 1923 edition) from her, it had belonged to her mother who moved to Canada around 1911. I understand that Mrs. Beeton never actually tried out her recipes before publishing them in her cook book, and most of her recipes would not satisfy the taste of people today. Mrs. Beeton's Shepherd's Pie is unlike any recipe for Shepherd's Pie that I have seen, many of the ingredients in today's recipes are absent from Mrs. Beeton's book; they are plain and simple cooking. My copy of her book is well-worn and contains this recipe for Shepherd's Pie:
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| Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book (1923) |
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| In the left column is Mrs. Beeton's recipe for Shepherd's Pie |
Now, I turn to my Cottage Pie. I don't really know what I've done wrong but it wasn't all that good. I've done better in the past. Where did I get the idea that I should place a layer of frozen peas or corn between the mashed potatoes and the meat? My layer of mashed potatoes was too thin, I ended up with a large slice of meat and very little potato, but I love potato. The ground beef, the leanest variety, came out kind of thick and hard... Overall, a disappointment. Three out of ten.
4 comments:
Your grandparents didn't only eat tongue. Offal - liver, kidneys, lights, fries, sweetbread, brains, hearts... - all have distinctive and pleasant tastes and if you find a good butcher can be bought cheaply. You can adapt Mrs. Beeton's recipes. Unless you're feeding an invalid, don't bother with tripe, though!
A meat-based thick stew underneath, with flavouring vegetables (you can make a very good vegetable equivalent with lentils - peas and beans don't work as well) underneath covered in mashed potato in about equal proportions is the way to do it. Again, if you want a change from potato, use other root vegetables- turnips,Jerusalem artichokes, swedes, parsnips in the mashed top. Serve with greens or cabbage or other simple vegetables.
Thank you, Roger! I've done something wrong re. the meat underneath the mashed potatoes, need to add some kind of liquid. I'll keep in mind your other suggestions.
Did you cook the meat separately first as a stew? It's much better if you do so: the mince needs about 40 minutes cooking before you put the mash on top and only 20 minutes in the oven to warm through.
Incidentally, if your grandfather was from Blackburn, Lancashire, he's from tripe country. I haven't been there for years, but there used to be butchers that sold nothing but tripe.
The whole family was from Blackburn, Chews, Parkers, Richards, and Holdens; they all came over to Canada around 1910-1920. I follow your instructions re. making Cottage Pie, but I am missing some key ingredient that keeps the meat moist and stew-like. I will look for other recipes online. BTW, my brother visited Blackburn about three years ago. My only "visit" is by watching "Hetty Wainthropp", a pretty good show.
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